Books Often Give History a Facelift

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has a few qualms with the textbooks that children in their state are reading. They, along with several other political groups from both the left and the right, are lobbying and trying to influence the Texas state Board of Educations decision on which history textbooks to include in their curriculum. With Texas being the state which buys the second largest number of texts in the U.S., this decision will impact the textbooks that children throughout the country will be reading. The Texas Public Policy Foundation is lobbying that European Americans be featured in a more flattering light and that minorities not be glorified. Other groups desire that no stereotyping or generalizations be present in the text at all. With widespread standardization of testing and curriculum in this country, the decision made in Texas will make a large impact on classrooms around the country.

Reflection: Do you think that it is appropriate that the state government make the decision as to which textbooks will be allowed into the classroom? Do you think that any books or texts should not be allowed in the classroom, why or why not?

Answer: This is an issue which I find particularly interesting. I do not agree at all with a state government being responsible for choosing which books are acceptable or not. I feel that this approach to choosing appropriate curriculum is hugely biased and does not allow for dissenting opinions. I also feel that it sells the individual teacher short. It is also disturbing that because Texas is such a huge purchaser of textbooks that their decision will in turn affect the books that are sold around the country. I do not agree with the desire of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to make European Americans look better in texts and minimize the recognition of minorities. I would hope that when I am in a classroom, I would not have to conform to teaching these kinds of views which I don’t personally believe. This is not to say that I would only teach views that I believe in but I feel it is necessary to teach dissenting viewpoints in reference to events or issues when they are in fact relevant to the time and the issue at hand.

I understand that it is of great concern to many people what their child is exposed to in their education. I also feel that many people are entirely too wrapped up in their own politics to realize that it is important that their children are exposed to many different opinions, viewpoints, and politics. I believe that if a teacher is able to identify shortcomings of certain texts and is able to build upon those and use those shortcomings as a kind of strength in their lesson, then it should not be such an issue. With teachers receiving more and more training for their jobs, is it not possible that we help them evaluate texts, recognize stereotypes in texts, and help them develop the skills necessary to teach our children the historical truths despite discrepancies in the text? It was James Banks that called for the taking of multiple perspectives on classroom topics in order to promote a more multicultural classroom. I feel that allowing political officials to choose our schools texts is going to stifle the multitude of viewpoints that could be experienced from other texts. In the case of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, it seems that should their advice be followed students will only be exposed to that group’s personal and political beliefs and viewpoints.

On the other hand, if texts begin to lean toward not taking any kind of political stance or try to avoid any kind of generalization about time periods or people in history then we will be missing out on important information. I don’t mean to suggest that our children should be reading horribly misleading books about historical subjects but perhaps everyone should forget their own personal attitudes toward history and advocate books that delve into the relevant views for each issue or event. In my opinion if everyone who was involved is represented in the text and this is accompanied by their viewpoints then the issue or event has been amply discussed.

I generally think that any book should be allowed into the classroom. I think that if a teacher is well versed in the subject and is effective in the classroom they can take controversial or even potentially offensive material and make it into something that will enhance the learning experience. There are plenty of things out there that we don’t want our children to experience, but much of the time we can do nothing about that. Isn’t it better that we have our children exposed to these things in a place where a responsible adult is there to explain the implications of what is in the text, the repercussions of peoples actions are, and point out the positive lessons that can be derived from those words.

Submitted by: Sarah McDonald, American University
Source: Richard Rothstein “Books Often Give History a Facelift” The New York Times, October 02, 2002.