> Rick Froman wrote: > I would not doubt, from the voluminous evidence available, that textbooks > used in public schools, written by committees, are dreadfully bad. I would > not be surprised to find a cursory and incomplete and even slanted > representation in a public school textbook given what passes for textbooks > these days. Therefore, given the generally poor state of affairs, I wouldn't > take the reports of any textbook's inadequacies as proof of a "vast, > left-wing conspiracy." And, of course, a conspiracy is not necessary as long > as most everyone believes the party line.
This thread reminded me of a study I read back in grad school. In 1990 Warren A. Nord published an article in "The Educational Forum." At this time he was the director of the Humanities and Human Values program at the University of North Carolina. I no longer have the article, just my notes from it. In his study he reports that he reviewed 30 high school textbooks in American & world history, economics, and biology. His conclusion was that the way text books are written today creates the impression that after the Civil War the US became a secular society and religious values and belief became absent. He noted that over time authors and publishers increasingly removed religious context from textbooks, in some cases for understandable reasons (e.g. evolution instead of creationism). In other cases he suggested the removal did not seem to be warranted. Example: in one of the history textbooks he perused there was a story of a young Jewish boy, who climbs off his donkey and utters a prayer to God (for what reason I don't remember). Nord noted that in subsequent editions of this textbook the story was changed to a simple prayer (with no reference to why or who/what he was praying to) to the most recent edition where the boy "thinks to himself." ************************************************************************ Jim Guinee, Ph.D. Director of Training & Adjunct Professor President, Arkansas College Counselor Association University of Central Arkansas Counseling Center 313 Bernard Hall Conway, AR 72035 USA (501) 450-3138 (office) (501) 450-3248 (fax) "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" -Eleanor Roosevelt ************************************************************************** --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
