The education of Middle Eastern Americans requires the consideration of a range of interconnected issues, including religion, politics, and media. For example, although the region is not homogeneous, the terms Middle East and Middle Eastern American are often perceived as interchangeable with Islam or Muslims, thus religion needs to be considered. In addition, despite the fact that geographically the Middle East refers to [Page 1499]a landmass approximately the size of Brazil, it is a region of the world that is of great political interest to the United States, thus politics needs to be considered. Further, because so much of what the public understands about the Middle East is acquired through mainstream news media and popular culture (such as movies), issues related to representation in media ...