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lunabee34I am teaching a Humanities class. This is a very cool class that starts in antiquity with the ancient Mesopotamians and ends in the early Renaissance. We examine art, music, literature, history and religion/philosophy from these time periods and a variety of cultures. The goal of the class is to expose students to ancient cultures and also to help them chart the progression of Western culture from its ancient roots to the present. When I was an undergrad in the Honor's College, I took a version of this course that lasted for four semesters that was one of the best experiences I ever had in college. I'm supposed to teach this class in a semester which seriously limits what I can do. The class demographic also includes learning support students (students that must enroll in remedial classes because they cannot pass the reading or writing entrance exams) which means that I cannot require the students to read or write nearly as much as I would like and as befits the mission of the course. Ideally, this class would be team taught as the class I took as an undergrad was because while I am qualified to discuss literature, I am not a historian. Next semester this course will be linked with Western Civ 1 in a learning community, which while not quite team teaching, will be a vastly superior experience for the students, I think.
However, this is where I run into a problem. Because I am not a historian (I'm not a historical dummy; I have pretty good general historical knowledge), I rely very heavily on the textbook. I do a fair amount of supplemental research but at the end of the day, I have to trust that the historical information in the textbook is accurate because I'm teaching six classes and trying to write my dissertation at the same time.
At my college, everyone has to use the same textbook. The book we are using, CULTURE AND VALUES: A SURVEY OF THE HUMANITIES VOLUME ONE SIXTH EDITION ed. Lawrence Cunningham and John J. Reich, was adopted before they hired me and apparently the professors that teach this course have been trying to get the text changed ever since. [There was a lot of red tape involving a former college president that I won't go into unless asked in comments.]
Now I see why.
I just taught "Chapter 6: Jerusalem and Early Christianity." Look long and hard at that title and notice which religious tradition is notably absent. That ought to tell you right there what's to come.
Let me excerpt for you the first two paragraphs of this chapter:
One of the interesting ironies of history is the fact that, more than three thousand years ago in the Middle East, a small tribe-turned-nation became one of the central sources for the development of Western civilization. The fact is incontestable: The marriage of the biblical tradition and Graeco-Roman culture has produced, for better or worse, the West as we know it today. The irony is all the more telling because these ancient biblical people did not give the world great art, significant mustic, philosophy, or science. Their language did not have a word for science. Their religion discouraged the plastic arts. We have the texts of their hymns, canticles, and psyalms, but we can only speculate how they were sung and how they were accompanied instrumentally. What these people did give us was a book; more precisely, a collection of many different books we now call the Bible.
This is what I am supposed to teach my students? What they are supposed to read and believe? That Judaism contributes nothing to global culture until another religious tradition co-opts it? That Judaism is only valuable as a source [commodity] for Western consumption? That the Jewish tradition only deserves 6 pages in this entire textbook?
I am, frankly, speechless with disgust. Thankfully we finally pushed hard enough and will be using a new text for the fall. I have not yet examined it but it has to be better than this.
So here's where I want y'all to help me out. If you are a teacher, don't use this text. It's problematic in other ways as well--like the fact that Africa and Japan apparently don't exist and neither do the Americas.
Secondly, do you know of any good resources online about Judaism that I can use to supplement my teaching if the text we've adopted is as fail worthy in this regard? I can find tons of information, of course, but I have a hard time determining if the information I've found is accurate.
I'm not lj cutting this because I want you all to see it.
However, this is where I run into a problem. Because I am not a historian (I'm not a historical dummy; I have pretty good general historical knowledge), I rely very heavily on the textbook. I do a fair amount of supplemental research but at the end of the day, I have to trust that the historical information in the textbook is accurate because I'm teaching six classes and trying to write my dissertation at the same time.
At my college, everyone has to use the same textbook. The book we are using, CULTURE AND VALUES: A SURVEY OF THE HUMANITIES VOLUME ONE SIXTH EDITION ed. Lawrence Cunningham and John J. Reich, was adopted before they hired me and apparently the professors that teach this course have been trying to get the text changed ever since. [There was a lot of red tape involving a former college president that I won't go into unless asked in comments.]
Now I see why.
I just taught "Chapter 6: Jerusalem and Early Christianity." Look long and hard at that title and notice which religious tradition is notably absent. That ought to tell you right there what's to come.
Let me excerpt for you the first two paragraphs of this chapter:
One of the interesting ironies of history is the fact that, more than three thousand years ago in the Middle East, a small tribe-turned-nation became one of the central sources for the development of Western civilization. The fact is incontestable: The marriage of the biblical tradition and Graeco-Roman culture has produced, for better or worse, the West as we know it today. The irony is all the more telling because these ancient biblical people did not give the world great art, significant mustic, philosophy, or science. Their language did not have a word for science. Their religion discouraged the plastic arts. We have the texts of their hymns, canticles, and psyalms, but we can only speculate how they were sung and how they were accompanied instrumentally. What these people did give us was a book; more precisely, a collection of many different books we now call the Bible.
This is what I am supposed to teach my students? What they are supposed to read and believe? That Judaism contributes nothing to global culture until another religious tradition co-opts it? That Judaism is only valuable as a source [commodity] for Western consumption? That the Jewish tradition only deserves 6 pages in this entire textbook?
I am, frankly, speechless with disgust. Thankfully we finally pushed hard enough and will be using a new text for the fall. I have not yet examined it but it has to be better than this.
So here's where I want y'all to help me out. If you are a teacher, don't use this text. It's problematic in other ways as well--like the fact that Africa and Japan apparently don't exist and neither do the Americas.
Secondly, do you know of any good resources online about Judaism that I can use to supplement my teaching if the text we've adopted is as fail worthy in this regard? I can find tons of information, of course, but I have a hard time determining if the information I've found is accurate.
I'm not lj cutting this because I want you all to see it.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 01:23 pm (UTC)According to this asshat, nobody knows how to sing the hymns I sing. That the Torah, which is one of the greatest works of art throughout the centuries and was pretty much the reason for the art of caligraphy in the west and illumination, did not in any way contribute.
Basically, this guy says that I don't exist. So, as a bisexual Jew I am aparently covered in fucking white out.
I am. Not having a really good day/week/month about Christianity appropriating my entire religion and culture and going 'lalalala, but it's so old and forgotten and useless'.
Thank you, though, for being disgusted. Which sounds as weird today as when I said it a few days ago (because it's totally all right to pray for a friend's Jewish soul; it's expected after all, to save us!), but I mean it. I am fucking grateful that people look at shit like this and go what the freaking fuck and try to change it.
I don't have any particular suggestions for where to look for teaching tools yet, but give me time to calm down and ask a few people. And calm down.
Er. Sorry for being confusing and angry in your journal :/
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 03:39 pm (UTC)It's just, I take my responsibility as a teacher very, very seriously. It's not a job for me. It's a vocation. And I know that for many of my students, I will be the only source of information they get on a lot of topics--from how to write an effective thesis to Hinduism to queer literature. I know that I have biases and that I have privilege and that sometimes I even deliver misinformation to my students because I'm unknowingly working from inaccurate sources. I am not a perfect teacher. But I try so damn hard because I don't want the only things my students ever hear about Islam to come from a Rush Limbaugh diatribe or their preacher's pulpit. It is one my most deeply held missions as a teacher to counter the half truths and misinformation and outright falsehoods they've encountered in their lives about other cultures. I try to create an environment of exploration and inquiry and inclusion. I think the mission of this class is a good one--to demonstrate that Western culture did not spring fully formed from the perfect brow of blonde Renaissance Jesus but rather has its antecedents in many cultures that have contributed valuable theological, philosphic, literary, artistic and scientific knowledge to the global stores. In fact, this class is supposed to help the students see us as part of a global community.
Because I'm not a historian or a religion scholar, there are many holes in my knowledge. Now, Victorian lit, I could natter on at you about all day long, but Judaism, not so much. Which is why, when I can't rely on my textbook not to be made of utter idiocy, I feel so damn stupid. What else have I been teaching these kids that's wrong or offensive in some way? I do a lot of supplemental reading and studying for this class, but I can't become an expert in thousands of years of history across cultures in three months and so I am just so damn frustrated and angry.
I really am sorry for upsetting you but I want to get this right. I owe it to my students and you flisters have never steered me wrong when there's something I need to know.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 04:47 pm (UTC)t is one my most deeply held missions as a teacher to counter the half truths and misinformation and outright falsehoods they've encountered in their lives about other cultures. I try to create an environment of exploration and inquiry and inclusion and I really am sorry for upsetting you but I want to get this right.
I would rather be upset and know you got it right, then go on blissfully unaware of the issue either have it go uncorrected for your students, or be unable to help. Not that I can do a lot, but honestly, the simple fact that you want this corrected? That's like balm on a burn.
*hugs back, hard*
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 05:40 pm (UTC)*hugs hugs*