Editorial: Textbooks water down history lessons

TC PALM ^ | 3/13/04

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

If high-school students seem bored by history, consider what they get to read. A panel of scholars perused the pages of this country's history textbooks and found weighty volumes filled with shallow writing masked by colorful illustrations, bright graphics and copious quantities of white space.

"These books include so much about so many topics and people that it is nearly impossible for teachers or students to know what information or themes are of greatest importance. All resort to an approach that may be described as 'if this is Tuesday, we must be studying the Hittites.'" reports the 10-member panel, led by Diane Ravitch, a historian with the Brookings Institution and a former U.S. secretary of education.

Or, in the words of a famous review from bygone years, "These are not books to be tossed aside lightly. They are to be hurled with great force."

The sad state of high-school history studies has been amply exposed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which shows that only about one in 10 high school seniors achieves a "proficient" level in the subject.

Ravitch & Co. believes the problem begins with texts. And the Fordham Foundation, which published the "Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks," identifies political correctness as a contributing cause.

"Because textbook publishers bend over backward not to offend anybody or upset special-interest groups, so much in today's history texts is simplified and sanitized. No judgments need be made. The result: fat, dull boring books that mention everything but explain practically nothing," says Fordham President Chester E. Finn Jr.

More broadly, Ravitch's panel observes, "One cannot escape the possibility that textbooks are dinosaurs. The rapid advance of technology is likely to make the present system of producing textbooks obsolete. It is hard to imagine that the textbook in its current form will survive another generation.

"Wisdom suggests that we begin thinking about better ways to kindle students' interest in learning and understanding."

Who knows, they might actually learn to love history — real history — and our society won't be condemned to repeating so many mistakes from the past.

[Just mythoughts]

A check as to WHOM it is that has the positions of writing these "history" books would be an interesting study.

I happen to know of one such person who is "anti-capitalist" socialist whose job it is to write the history books.

10th grade World Cultures history books are exactly as this article states. There is no depth rather vague pointed ideas. Example in discussing the French Revolution they write about the system of government prior to the revolution and that the economic system was in chaos because of high taxes on the 3 Estate. Then they blame King Louis in the next section for not raising the taxes to fixed the failing economy.

Talk about double-speak!

[So Cal Rocket]

A few years back my oldest daughter brought home her High School US History Book... I flipped to the chapter on WWII and looked for the name Adolf Hitler. It was mentioned one time - however there were 3 pages on how poorly the Japanese-Americans were treated in the internment camps.

My daughters now attend private schools

[King Black Robe]

BTTT.

[expatguy]

Im constantly amazed by this endless self abasement by Americans.

I know of no other country in the world that hates themselves so much.

What happened in the last 20 years and why?

[Arpege92]

"...however there were 3 pages on how poorly the Japanese-Americans were treated in the internment camps."

Although it was completely wrong for the U.S. to put Japanese Americans into internment camps, I'd say they didn't even come close to the suffering American POW's experienced at the hands of the Japanese during World War II.

Like you, I too put my son in a private school. I had no other choice!!!

[The Great RJ]

Textbooks, especially history textbooks, are filled with watered down politically correct pap. My children's American history textbooks in sections covering the American Revolution went out of their way to equalize the role of some obscure African American or American Indian group giving them equal status with Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin when in reality they might warrant only a footnote if they actually played any role at all. Science textbooks are filled with factual errors, gross distortions of scientific principals and environmentalist pseudo-science.

The outsourcing of tech jobs to places like India also has as much to do with the lack of adequately educated and work oriented young people as it does with cost.

[Republic_of_Secession.]

The sad reality is that "history" text books have become nothing more than -mainly Statist- propaganda tools.

[Marie]

You have to be just as careful with homeschool texts. Either their full of tree-hugging anti-dead-white-guy information or so shallow as to be completely pointless.

[SedVictaCatoni]

I know of no other country in the world that hates themselves so much.

You should see how the British teach their own history.

[billbears]

"Because textbook publishers bend over backward not to offend anybody or upset special-interest groups, so much in today's history texts is simplified and sanitized. No judgments need be made. The result: fat, dull boring books that mention everything but explain practically nothing," says Fordham President Chester E. Finn Jr.

Some of us have recognized for a bit longer than since yesterday Chester

[proxy_user]

I agree that textbooks are out.

If I were to homeschool children, I would not use them.

Here's the kind of stuff I would use:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0940450429/qid=1079200190/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-4978875-4489445?v=glance&s=books#product-details

You might as well hear what really historical figures had to say about what they thought they were doing, and learn to judge for yourself.

[Marie]

Thank you so much for the resource! Bookmarked!

[Redcoat LI]

That would appear to be a major advantage of homeschooling,the ability to choose your own source material,and not have to rely on those ridiculous "textbooks" produced by the ultra P.C educrat establishment.

[squidly]

I'm a big history buff, particularly military history, but I didn't learn much of it in school during the '70s and '80s. The textbooks we had then were little better than these, if any better at all. Had to do it on my own time.

[BIGZ]

History as taught in the schools in the United States is the root cause of many of our problems, especially racial problems. History as taught in our schools gives the perception that all slaves transported to the new world landed in the United States. The reality is that the African Slave was fostered by the Muslims and the original slave movement was Africa East not Africa West.

10 to 12 million slaves is the accepted number of slaves that were transported from Africa to the New world, of these aprox. 5% ended up in what is now the United States but again history as taught in the American schools, makes the United States the only culprit, and the eventual final destination of all 10 to 12 million slaves.

A true accounting of what the actual facts arewould ease racial tensions considerably. The United States from it's inception was against slavery and led the world in its abolition. This fact will never be known by young minorities and makes one wonder if this is not the agenda of the educational system?

[usmom]

I use The Story of the World which is classically based. It is based on a 4-year cycle starting with the Ancients, then MIddle Ages, Renaissance and finally modern. It is well-narrated, definitely not watered down and has excellent book recommendation and activities to go with it. My 7 and 9 year old daughters just learned about the Black Death- not only what it was, but how it changed society and history. IN my two years teaching them we have gone in to more detail and depth of history than I remember in all my years of public schooling, and it's not that hard to do!

[tdadams]

A rewrite of this story appeared in my local paper. It didn't surprise me at all.

Here's a clip from that story:

     Ellington, who earlier served on a similar study, said some textbooks contain egregious misinformation or omit key facts altogether.
     One book’s only mention of Winston Churchill in an extensive discussion of World War II was his election results, Ellington said.
     “It’s hard to imagine kids knowing anything about world history,” Ravitch said. “If you miss a day, you miss a continent.”

[BroncosFan]

Modern Israeli texts stand second to none in self-loathing, which provides a lovely synergy with the Pal's textbooks and their endless recitations of every possible anti-Semitic cliche.

[SAMWolf]

A few years back my oldest daughter brought home her High School US History Book... I flipped to the chapter on WWII and looked for the name Adolf Hitler. It was mentioned one time - however there were 3 pages on how poorly the Japanese-Americans were treated in the internment camps.

I saw the same in my kids history text books. All the evils of slavery and oh, by the way, we fought a war over it. WWII was Japanese internment camps and nukes. Everything after WWII was about Vietnam War protests at home, the Civil Rights movement,and the Womens movement. The Revolution was about stealing the land from the Indians, after the Civil war was more stealing of land from the Indians and Mexicans. I never saw such a PC history.