Diana Steinmeyer

COMM 3010

9/4/02

Outside Of Class Writing Assignment

Michael Sullivan, in the August 26^th edition of The Dallas Morning News, argued that Texas should continue the open textbook selection process. Sullivan asserted that Texas should censor social studies textbooks used in public education to emphasize patriotism.

As the second largest customer in textbook sales, Texas holds great control over which textbooks are printed and adopted across the United States. Currently in Texas, a list of qualified textbooks is compiled annually by the State Board of Education from which local school systems may choose. This process of textbook selection, however, has become corrupt by the influence of a single interest group. This interest group has caused textbook authors and publishers to present a limited, censored view of American history. Texas should propose a law that would eliminate this corrupted power from the state and mandate that textbooks be selected by local school boards.

Inclusion of minority demographics in textbooks promotes understanding necessary for survival in a diverse society. Exposure to non-American cultures and political systems in textbooks enhances sensitivity to minority groups in the United States. Minority rights are unaccepted by society until a majority of individuals are educated in the injustices against the minority groups. John Mack Faragher, a history professor at Yale, stated that “There was no women’s history until there was a woman’s movement, there was no African-American history before there was a civil rights movement. Historical practice is very much determined by the things that people are concerned about” (Stille, 2002, p. 70). This uncovering of oppression informs students and decreases uneducated bias of voting adults in the future.

Knowledge of failure will promote success for the future. Analysis of flaws in American society in the past and present creates an opportunity for solutions. Unprejudiced observations prepare students to think critically, to judge fairly the community in which they reside. Inclusion of positive and negative aspects of American history aids in the removal of influenced ethnocentric beliefs in schools. Bierema & Bing (2002) found that students must compare everyday controversial experiences with the study of unaltered history and “challenge the ways in which they view and interpret those experiences to overcome ethnocentrism” (p. A1). Students with an enhanced understanding of the motivations and meanings of different cultures will aid the US in forthcoming controversial foreign relations.

Unrestricted educational information encourages the continuation of free thought and democracy. Students can examine and effectively critique the history of the United States when the entire text is taught. Samantha Smoot (2002), executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, emphasized that “In the land of the free, students should learn from textbooks that challenge them with information, not books that reflect only a narrow point of view” (p. A15). Patriotism is rejected if applied by force; patriotism is obtained through experience such as exercising one’s freedom to choose what to believe in politically, religiously, or morally.

Allocation of textbook selection power amongst local school boards in Texas will allow individual communities to decide which textbooks are practical for use. The opinions of one group do not represent the views of the entire state. The textbook decision must be made with respect to all interest group agendas; the choice of what to teach students affects the country’s future and representation as a free nation.

References

Bierema, L., & Bing, J. (2002). The global pendulum: in which direction is

your globalization pendulum swinging? The Future Search Conference has some

answers [Electronic Version]. Business and Management Practices, 56, 70.

Smoot, S. (2002, August 26). Extreme religious conservatives have power to block

books. The Dallas Morning News, p. A15.

Stille, A. (2002, July 29). Textbook publishers learn: avoid messing with Texas

[Electronic Version]. The New York Times, p. A1.