-Caveat Lector- ============================================================== Critics say emphasis on diversity hampers basic learning Copyright � 1999 Nando Media Copyright � 1999 Associated Press By ANJETTA McQUEEN WASHINGTON (November 13, 1999 1:34 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - In books used to teach schoolchildren how to read, adventure tales like "Black Beauty" and "Sinbad the Sailor" have been replaced by selections on World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps. New culturally diverse stories also confuse young children with foreign words and phrases that take up additional instruction time and attempt to shape their views on race, sex, class and disability. A Harvard researcher who has studied three generations of textbooks says many books are focusing too much on cultural diversity and not enough on laying a foundation for reading, writing and thinking. "Children hop from culture to culture, century to century," Sandra Stotsky, a deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts education department and a research associate at Harvard University's graduate school of education, said Friday. "You are not introducing them to a good literary foundation. You are introducing them to linguistic chaos." Stotsky analyzed test scores and examined dozens of textbooks, published for decades by a variety of companies. In first through sixth grades, pupils are expected to increase their vocabularies and hone analytical skills they will need for science, math and literature courses facing them in junior high and high school. Stotsky said cultural diversity is dealt with best after children have mastered the basics of language. Multiculturalism refers to schools' efforts since the 1970s to help pupils of diverse backgrounds by including their history and culture in lessons formerly focused on Europe and North America. Supporters acknowledge too little time exists in a school day to teach everything, but insist there is room to teach basic skills and cultural variety. "You can write simple stories representing a variety of cultural backgrounds just as you can write a wide range of simple stories from mainstream middle America," said Claude Goldenberg. He is a professor of teacher education and associate dean in the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach, which works to incorporate diversity into the what prospective teachers learn. Stotsky's research comes as policy-makers deal with low scores on reading tests, employers' complaints about high school graduates and growing college remedial classes. New reading books are squeezing in diversity by simplifying vocabulary and shortening sentences and paragraphs, Stotsky told a luncheon sponsored by the Institute for Research in English Acquisition and Development. That Washington-based group is critical of bilingual instruction and affirmative action. Stotsky said she didn't expect the same problems with character education, a program popular with conservatives that uses lessons to stress trustworthiness, respect and other values. "There isn't any special cultural or ethnic vocabulary that goes with character education," she said. "You can find certain virtues - friendship, self-discipline - in a multitude of literary selections." =================================================== in "Readings in Language and Literature" (1997) by Sandra Stotsky she notes that "multicultural" texts tend to introduce a variety of foreign words and proper names of little use in learning English. She noted that a unit of D.C. Heath's grade 6 reader, called "Meeting the Challenge" grouped the following selections: (1) A 12-year-old New Jersey girl opens Little League baseball to girls. (2) A Chinese fairy tale featuring the courage and ordeals of a youngest son rescuing his widowed mother. (3) A 12-year-old girl survives a winter in the Montana wilderness before being rescued by Indians. (4) An adventure story about a girl who sets out to find a wild boar. (5) An African American girl leads a group of teen-agers out of slavery [fiction, set in 1855]. (6) A teen-age girl and her father survive a plane crash at sea. (7) An Inuit brother and sister face incredible challenges to bring home a killed caribou back to their starving family. White boys were totally excluded from the ranks of courageous young people. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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