Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 This article talks about the revisionist history that Texas is adopting, and we have discussed that here before, but this article points out that because Texas orders more textbooks per capita than any other state, many textbook companies make all the textbooks to match the Texas curriculum. SCARY!!! I hope that WA follows CA in passing a law saying that Texas "history" books cannot be used in our state. I will do whatever I possibly can to make sure that the crap they want to pass off as history goes nowhere near my kids classrooms. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl...-history</a>
Originally Posted By Labuda I sure hope that the trash they're doing here doesn't screw up YOUR children's education, too, Jenn! I am SOOOOO upset with our BOE here. I can't put it into words.
Originally Posted By DAR They still use textbooks to tell kids white hetero males are the cause of all the world's problems.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***They still use textbooks to tell kids white hetero males are the cause of all the world's problems*** Looking at it in percentage terms, DAR, we are.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 "Which is why I ask do you need textbooks to explain that?" Are you really anti-textbook now? What exactly do you propose teachers use in class? Are the kids supposed to learn history through osmosis? Personally, I think history books should teach history; nothing more, nothing less. They should not teach revisionist history, they should not offer commentary on what is right or wrong. They should teach facts; this happened on this date involving these people.
Originally Posted By Mr X Actually Jenn, if you want to know something crazy...*I* am definitely opposed to history textbooks of ANY kind. Why? Because they are ALL slanted in one way or another (revisionist history, as you might put it). Now, to your last sentence I suppose I'd be okay with, essentially, a book of important dates (but NOT "this happened" either, not even a description beyond some sort of headline). With the internet being the amazing tool we have to use, frankly I think textbooks are unnecessary. Kids should learn history through PRIMARY sources such as letters, speeches etc, supplemented perhaps by news sources of the time where appropriate...
Originally Posted By Mr X Caveat, ancient history would be harder to handle in this manner, I'm okay with textbooks in that case. But certainly the whole of American history (including the rest of the world since that period began) can be sourced and brought into the classroom for a lively discussion without ever needing to crack open a textbook.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance Textbooks are no longer needed, they should do away with them entirely. There are plenty of better methods to teach and learn, not text books which cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars and become outdated in a years time.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance My husband is in his last year of an accounting bachelors degree. Every term his books cost hundreds of dollars. Every term he doesn't open his texts because the teachers don't even use them for teaching. They use their own lessons and slides and things posted on their website. But they still assign a book every term. It's just a money making scheme for the text book companies.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>But certainly the whole of American history (including the rest of the world since that period began) can be sourced and brought into the classroom for a lively discussion without ever needing to crack open a textbook.<< And so every American history class would be slanted by each teacher's own biases and opinions. (rather, even MORE slanted). I get what you're saying about textbooks being expensive and with certain biases, but teaching American history via pure discussion makes it far, far more likely that teachers will come up with all kinds of versions of Mr. Peabody's Improbable History.* *History lesson for younger LPers: Mr. Peabody was a cartoon dog who, along with his human Sherman, traveled through history via the Wayback Machine to assist historical figures all leading to painful puns at the end of each episode. See? Not all great history is in books! ; )
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance There could be approved online lessons the teachers teach from.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "...because Texas orders more textbooks per capita than any other state, many textbook companies make all the textbooks to match the Texas curriculum. SCARY!!!" I just finished a course about how US history is taught incorrectly much of the time, and a couple weeks were spent discussing text books. While it may sound scary that the Texas standards are 'revisionist' and require book publishers to change their books, the exact same thing happened when California changed its standards about 15 years ago. Their standards were much more liberal than most other states, and most companies stayed away, since they knew that any books published for the California standards would not be approved by most other states. Only one publisher (Rand-McNally???) stepped up to the challenge, creating a series of textbooks specifically for the California curriculum. Since California is the largest state by population, it orders the most text books. Also, unlike many states where individual school districts or even individual schools choose their books, California (like Texas) requires the same books to be used statewide. A few other states have also started using the California books over the last few years, but they are still considered revisionist by many. The Texas books are on the other side of the spectrum. Their standards are so conservative that many states won't accept their books, even ones that are specifically written by publishers to comply with the Texas standards, due to the high volume of books purchased for the state. As with most things that involve politics, the truth is somewhere in the middle. The Texas books will get some things wrong, and the California will also get things wrong. But if either state was given total control of the standards for the country, it would just go out of control. There are hundreds of special interest groups that lobby to get their information into textbooks. While it may be what's making the books too heavy and dull for kids to read, it's also helping give a more balanced overall impression of history. I really can't see how to get a national standard for history education (and I don't think there should be, since different places have different events of significance that deserve more focus), but having the Texas/California battle with the publishers helps keep the books as balanced as possible. No matter what is published, people will be upset. Having two large states with differing views helps keep things as neutral as possible for the future generations.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***And so every American history class would be slanted by each teacher's own biases and opinions. (rather, even MORE slanted)*** If a teacher is slanted, it's not as though they'll let something as simple as a book (or a required curriculum, for that matter) stop them from twisting things around. They can simply claim the book is wrong and biased (heck, it works for Fox News!). But if a book is in AGREEMENT with a teachers' slant, well then they can claim that it MUST be true, since it's all right there in black and white (which is actually some version of grey). ***but teaching American history via pure discussion*** Except I didn't say that. I said use original materials (or at the VERY least, news of the day and not just some historians opinion on what happened from decades or centuries later). Why can't materials such as those be found? And if you're worried about rogue teachers, allow the school board to select the "important" events that must be taught, but still requiring original sources. THEN, if the teacher is slanted but the student clever, they can deduce it for themselves using the original materials (even if they don't choose to challenge the teacher on it). Sorry K2M, gotta disagree with you on this one.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***There are hundreds of special interest groups that lobby to get their information into textbooks*** BINGO! They can't tamper with original sources (nor secondary sources such as related news coverage). Still disagree with me K2M?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>if the teacher is slanted but the student clever, they can deduce it for themselves using the original materials<< I guess I am not understanding what you mean by original materials. What original materials do you have in mind for various topics?
