-Caveat Lector-
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 23:37:59 -070
>From Sean:
>Well. My senior honors government/economics class is well into the first
>chapter now, and something's disturbed me about our textbook. Section 3 of
>the book gives a basic run down of different economic systems and how they
>work. There is a section for Democratic Socialism, it states how it works,
>gives some of the pros, then a few cons. There is a section on Communism,
>it states how it works, gives a couple pros, and a buttload of cons. Then
>there is a section on capitalism. Capitalism is described at length as far
>as it's basic functions and how it relates to the state, then it lists a
>whole shitload of pros...but zero cons. With bias and propaganda even in
>simple school textbooks, it's no wonder that we have such a hard time
>getting people to listen to us. This is part of the root of out problem,
>and it needs to be fought.
Ah yes the ol' textbook = capitalist propaganda thing. Yep that is what they are for
unfortunately. It is difficult to find a textbook at for high school that doesn't
laud the "great" achievements of capitalism. And usually with the textbook you get
teachers that just repeat what the holy book has given them. All too sad. But
really that is what these subjects were created for. To teach you a little something
about the world (but not too much!) and instill the idea that system is the best ever
and it has no flaws, except maybe things like labor and environmental laws, taxes
etc. Given the fact that the majority of people don't go to college and possibly
have these walls broken down (though this doesn't mean that people in college don't
continue to think the same as they do in high school) it builds a good core of people
who don't question the system. Partly because they are not given the knowledge to so
by our school system. This is what Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci calls "bourgeois
hegemony". And it is all too real.
But things like the historical profession were created just for the exact reason of
spreading nationalism. Before the 19th century there was no "history profession"
i.e. where you go to college to get a piece of paper that says you are a professional
historian. In the 19th c. in Germany and later in this country the historical
profession was started to spread nationalism, and of course capitalism (just like in
the Soviet Union, textbooks praised the greatness of the Soviet socialist system.
All they taught about the US was that it had homeless people and racism). But that
is what the historical profession was about until around the 1960s where history was
used at a increasingly to critique the system, rather than support it. But many
textbooks have missed this revolution in the profession and I think by conscious
choice. I don't think it is a conspiracy by the government, schools, or teachers,
but I do think that textbooks that do show a different viewpoint, that is if you can
find one, are seen as too controversial and frankly I don't know of many k-12
teachers who could handle anything different than what the textbook gives. They just
don't have the knowledge to teach anything different from the "party line." I have
always thought that Zinn's _People's History of the US_ would make a fine high school
history textbook. But I don't see many schools adopting that book as an alternative
viewpoint. I have always thought that there should be an attempt to show both sides
in order to emphasize critical thinking skills (really in my opinion what the high
schools should be teaching) and that subjects like history and political science are
interpretations, not science based on facts. There are no meaningful facts in
history
"But if the designing of the future and the proclamation of the ready-made solutions
for all times is not our affair, then we realize all the more clearly what we have to
accomplish in the present--I am speaking of a ruthless criticism of everything
existing, ruthless in two senses: The criticism must not be afraid of its own
conclusions, nor of conflict with the powers that be." -- K. Marx
** David McReynolds for President! **
--
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