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Texas shouldn’t teach students that Palestinians are the bad guys [Opinion]

Houston Chronicle

Originally Posted: July 25, 2019

Sanaa Ghanim is a senior in the Southern Methodist University Human Rights Program, where she is researching the role of education in shaping perceptions of the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She enters law school in August 2020, and plans to concentrate on international law.

The Texas state curriculum for high school social studies leaves students with the impression that conflict in the Middle East boils down to this: The Palestinians are the bad guys, and the Israelis are the good guys.

The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies used to require that public school teachers “explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict.”

In November, the Texas State Board of Education softened that a bit, changing the requirement to “discuss factors contributing to the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the rejection of the existence of the State of Israel by the Arab League and a majority of Arab nations.” READ MORE