Indian Identity in American Schools

Link to an interesting article by C. Alex Alexander

Indian Identity in American Schools

He states that the common American man does not have a true picture of Hinduism

The average American teacher’s knowledge of Hinduism, which is the core component of India’s cultural heritage, is often stilted by the sensational portrayals of that faith by our mass media

 …and the Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist temples in the US should form a National Consortium to tackle issues concerning representations of their religious traditions in our school systems.

You should not be surprised if you had heard from your children that they had not heard anything good about India or its many religious traditions from any of their teachers. I wonder how many of them were told by their teachers that India is the largest democracy in the world with a secular form of government, that it is a country that has never had a military coup, never invaded another country, allowed Christianity to thrive even before it spread to Europe, gave haven to Jews, Christians  and Zoroastrians when they fled from the onslaughts of Islam, and gave birth to Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. They also may not have heard from their teachers that India is the seventh most industrialized country in the world, and that it contributed a great deal to ancient mathematics, astronomy, bronze casting, surgery, and vaccination, Yoga, Ayurveda etc.