The Plight of Arab Americans in Education

The Plight of Arab Americans in Education

There is a popular movie out that shows an Arab-American getting on a plane and an older lady behind him starts freaking out and calling him a terrorist.   She causes such a scene that the flight attendants remove the Arab-American from the plane.   Sadly, in this post-9/11 world, this is how many Americans view people from the Middle East.   We call them “towel heads” or some other derogatory name. We consider all Middle Easterners terrorists and are scared of what the might do or who they might be working for.   As the old saying goes, “It only takes one bad apple to destroy the whole bunch”.   Such is the case for many Arab-Americans, who are lumped into the terrorist group in a guilt by association type of deal.  
From events such as the Iran Hostage Crisis , the bombing of the World Trade Center in the early 90s and the events that happened on September 11, Arab-Americans have long been feared in this Country.   Our views have been shaped by terrorist groups that comprise only a small percentage of Arabs.   However, these are the groups that are seen the most on television or read about in newspapers.   These groups have so shaped our view in America that it is hard to see Arab-Americans as anything but terrorists.   We as educators needs to break down this stereotype with our students.   We must show them that the typical stereotypes are not true and they must be accepting of people of other races.  
Muslims are working hard to make Americans realize that not all terrorism is tied to Islam.   [You may want to mention Cooper’s name here.] “If you're talking about terrorism…this is not Islam…. Islam teaches that you cannot discriminate because of race or culture” (Cooper, 1993).   Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States, not just among Arab-Americans but also among other Americans who have embraced its teaching.   There is an estimate of 1.1 to 7 million followers of Islam in America and if it continues on its trend it could...