Textbook Reform Initiative
Youth Stories

I stared at her in disbelief as she began to explain how the social caste dictated by Hinduism divides people in India.  Taking a furtive glance around the classroom, I realized for the first time that I was the only Indian there.  Looks of confusion creased the brows of the students around me and I frowned.  I should have known, I thought to myself, and raised my hand.  The teacher looked at me and waited a few moments before calling on me. 

“Yes?”  I swallowed, then changed my mind about what I was going to say.
“Er…I’m Brahmin,” I offered lamely, and she bobbed her head thoughtfully. 
“That’s nice.  Maybe you can explain it to the class sometime,” she said, and she continued on with the lecture.

After school, I went home and told my parents about what we had learned in class that day.  Our family sat around the dinner table. 
“What’s caste?” my younger brother asked. 
My dad soon realized the difficulty of explain caste to a 6 year old and was bombarded in a deluge of questions. 

I thought about school, about my peers and the looks on their faces as my teacher had introduced Hinduism hand in hand with the caste system.  I thought about it then in anger.  I think on it now in sadness. 

With inaccurate information about our Hindu religion and Indian culture everywhere we turn, and family members who can’t always quite answer our questions, how are we to stand up for ourselves when others question our beliefs?

In elementary school I actually thought that we worshipped cows and belonged to a polytheistic religion because I didn’t know better. Through several Hindu youth camps, spending time along with my family at an ashram, as well as reading a few books myself, I began to see Hinduism with the admiration it deserves.

If a 5,000 year-old religion seemed old, imagine my surprise on hearing about an eternal way of life! Some of us may live our lives saying we are Hindu, but never know the meaning of it. Some of us may end up turning away from our religion and denying our roots. Only a handful of us will ever know how lucky we are to be followers of Sanatan Dharm, and will slowly but surely discover its greatness and divinity. This is why I may consider myself lucky.

Instruction I receive in school on Hinduism often mentioned that Hindus pray to many gods, cows, and even snakes. I was taught that Hinduism is polytheistic. This is incorrect, yet it is often repeated to make our religion look ridiculous and backward.

I remember wanting to believe that Hinduism is logical and reasonable; I found it made sense only after reading books outside of school. I feel that students who are taught the correct information about India’s history, whose length and greatness are unfathomable, will appreciate and respect Hinduism and India.

I will never forget an incident I had in class with my teacher in middle school. There had been a bee flying inside the room and instead of killing it, I had suggested that we set it free outside. My teacher glared at me and said, “What’s the matter, are you afraid we are killing your uncle? If that’s the case, we should set him free.” Comments like this from people I admired, such as teachers, embarrassed me and forced me to stay silent. I could not argue because I did not know where to start.

Since then I have learned that our religion is scientific, logical, and practical. Though pointed questions from teachers and peers persist, learning the truth about Hinduism has provided answers to my personal questions and has given me confidence in our religion.

The religion of Hinduism is sometimes portrayed as one of peace, though is often vilified for promoting a caste system and having rituals. American textbooks books only recount the battles from the Mahabharat and Ramayan and often portray Hinduism as a collection of Greek-like myths. Loving and playful aspects of Hinduism are not explained or even mentioned, though they are the most important and beautiful components of Hinduism.

Hindu children must learn what their religion means instead of feeling insecure and ignorant as this can damage their confidence in the verity of Hinduism. I therefore support a reform in our public education system that will promote a correct understanding of Hinduism.

In the higher grades I would lose friends and be called names such as cow lover, ground worshiper and other despicable things. For the first time in my life I felt like it was bad to be a Hindu.

As my classes started to read more about India I was amazed at what was in the textbooks. I could not believe someone could really write those things about a culture that they probably have no connection to. I tried to speak up and tell people that the books were wrong but I quickly learned that just doesn't work as no one wanted to listen. I would come home crying because I just could not stand to hear so many mean things said about the religion and culture I love so much.

In my 5th grade class my teacher was totally against me being Hindu and made my daily life miserable. At the beginning of the school year she asked the class if any of us were vegetarians. Not wanting to be a spectacle, I did not raise my hand and then she said, "Good, because I don't like vegetarians." My stomach sank as I could not believe any one could ever say something so mean. The year went on and she made other comments like that.

Then we had a class project to do in which you had to chose to eat a piece of fish or not. Being vegetarian I could never think of eating fish, so I had to tell my teacher. It was very difficult as she gave me a very hard time about this. In front of the class for 5 minutes she tried to get me to eat fish, knowing that it was against my religion.

It is not easy to be a Hindu today, but it is because of what Hinduism teaches about tolerance and kindness that I am able to cope with the problem of being confronted at school by prejudiced teachers and students. I hope this will change some day and make life easier for people who embrace religions other than Christianity.

My high school experience with the way Hinduism is taught was far more pleasant than my college experience. At the University of California at Santa Barbara, I took a world music class. During the Indian topics, the Hindu religion was briefly discussed by the professor. I remember him saying the most absurd and derogatory things about Hinduism. He said things like “Krishna was an epic hero,” and that the Mahabarat was a “mythological poem.”

Any Hindu knows that Krishna is supreme God and that the happenings of the Mahabarat are historical facts. After hearing such things I did not know what to do or say. I was angry and confused as to whether I should approach the professor or not. Because of such scenarios, I stayed far away from religion and world history classes at the University, hesitantly leaving the problem to persist.

I have now graduated from UC Santa Barbara and am working for an accounting firm in Los Angeles. It is my hope, that other students who go through the education system in America can get a real understanding about Hinduism and Indian culture. The only way that this can happen is by going the root of the problem; that is changing what the textbooks say. Schools should present correct and authentic information about Hinduism. Those books that are published by biased, prejudiced, and unqualified writers should be removed forever.

The roots of Hinduism were told to be the mixing of the war-like Aryan nomads and the docile “native” Indians. Then, the new race of people created a religion called Hinduism. This false theory makes it seem that our religion is not divine or eternal but an adaptation of primal rituals conjoined between two opposite races. This could not be further from the truth, but if all the books preach the same propaganda, what is a student to conclude?

One vivid image that I have as a child is being told that Hindus worship cows. Not in such nice words, but a classmate of mine reiterated this belief in a taunting and belittling style. I have also been in a class where reincarnation was discussed and watched the students laugh as the teacher made a caustic remark of the fallacy she believed reincarnation stood for.

After reading on my own, I realized that not only is Hinduism a religion to be proud of, but it is the essence and truth of all. If Hindu students read their school books, they can easily become confused and frustrated with not only their religion and culture but also with themselves.

It is very difficult to sit quietly in classrooms while our religion and culture are continuously being degraded and followers of Hinduism humiliated.

At first I didn’t realize why everyone looked at me differently, but eventually
I figured it out.