Parents across Tennessee are taking on the state’s political and educational establishment, aiming to get rid of the recently implemented Islam-centric seventh grade Social Studies standards.
A group of parents in White County, about 100 miles east of Nashville, are taking the fight to the seven publicly elected county school board members in that county who approved the purchase of the new Islam-centric textbook that elaborates on those standards, myWorld History and Geography: The Middle Ages to Exploration of the Americas, published by Pearson Education.
A similar grassroots rebellion between 1999 and 2002 prevented the state’s establishment Republican Governor, Don Sundquist, from imposing a state income tax on Tennesseans. In 2014, that prohibition was made permanent in an amendment to the state’s constitution approved overwhelmingly at the ballot box by voters.
The current uprising pits Tennessee parents against Republican Governor Bill Haslam, the Tennessee Department of Education, the large and powerful multinational textbook publisher Pearson Education, the state’s educational bureaucrats, unaccountable local county school directors, and their far too compliant local school boards.
The involvement of Pearson Education is particularly controversial since its parent corporation, London based Pearson PLC, is partially owned by the Libyan Investment Authority. With 3 percent of Pearson’s outstanding stock, the Libyan Investment Authority is one of its largest shareholders.
The Washington Times recently reported there is a financial connection between the Libyan Investment Authority and the Council on American-Islamic Relations: (continue reading)