How a Small Group Can do The Best Work

ICCNC: The 19th of May 2016 was for Iranian people a good day, especially those who live in California. Several months of effort went into the success at the end of the day.

Teachers, students and others from Iranian communities proved to California Department of Education that  the Persian Gulf should not be called the Arabic Gulf. A historic name can not be replaced with a fake.

California Department of Education wanted to rename the Persian Gulf to the  Gulf of Arabia. The Persian Gulf has had that name for thousands of years.This would have been a gross distortion of history for secondary schools if it was done in California.

We don’t  know who put forward the proposal to change the name but we did not want any trace of distortion to enter the history books in California. I don’t know what was behind the deal.The United Nations recognizes this area as the Persian gulf.

It may be that the Arabic nations wanted to remove the name of Persian Gulf and put the Gulf of Arabia in the school books.

This move prompted a group of Iranians, especially Iranian Teachers from the City of San Jose and the Bay Area. This heartfelt petition was prepared and started collecting signatures from Iranians in the region. It was very welcomed and many Iranians signed the petition to protest the change.

On the 19th  of May at the Capitol building, we signed in for the hearing to protest the decision of the California Department of Education.

One of the attendees asked the panel what right does California have to rename to Persian gulf?

Another said even before the Ottoman empire had control in 1450 it was called the Persian Gulf.

An Iranian professor from the University of Sacramento said we are all citizens, our children should not lie and we should not give them false information. We want them to live in a country that is free of lies and dishonesty. And in my own books if they are given false information, it is unfair and How do we expect them not to lie in their future life.

When this happens, your children will be protesting the incorrect information in their school books.

After 5 o'clock in the evening of 19th May after the panel hearing, we were all happy Iranians. They found that this protest is accepted and the next year there will be no word on Arabic Gulf.

If this law had been approved in California and had the California Department of Education published that information in the books, then it would have created many problems. The state of California is very important in the United States. Many states follow the California Department of Education’s lead. Perhaps in the following year other states would have followed California and

changed this information, and a few years later books for European students might also have  changed. But this small group in California has stopped this from happening.

Iranians have a proverb: If you do not solve minor problems quickly, they will be transformed into a major crisis But Iranians living in California were able to solve the problem.

Perhaps the source of the to shovel because it can not get cell Elephant

This is How a small group can do the best work.

by: Abolhassan Mokhtabad