Biases on Textbook Authors

The question of schoolbook separatrix centers on the issue of whether or not Americans sh ar uncouth values and traditions. To some extent, this is true. For instance, the average American, regardless of race or ethnicity, believes in the principle of freedom. entirely teachers of social studies, particularly history, practically incorrectly assume that all students sh atomic number 18 a mutual collective memory. Apple and Christian-Smith (1991) challenge this assumption: "[Readers] do not passively receive texts, but actually read them found on their own class, race, gender/sex, and religious experience" (p. 14). Likewise, school text authors approach their writing and research tasks from their own unique perspectives. As Levstik (1997) notes of historians, "there is no such thing as just the facts. Someone sorts through the available data, perceives some facts as more relevant than others, organizes those facts, and assigns them a place . . ." (p. 48). Thus the breeding raise forth in textbooks is derived from a selective perspective. Importance is inclined to particular sources and not to others, even though all the information presented to the researcher might merit attention.

Textbook publishers claim that their products are free of bias. Even some researchers have bought into this claim: "Textbooks directly do the same job as a dictionary, they declare references and landmarks, no arguments or even, except rarely, analysis" (Ferro, 1984, p. 224). On th

May, E. (1983). A Proud Nation. Evanston, IL: McDougal, Littell & Company.

Having demo the existence of textbook bias, each educator has the responsibility to reciprocate for this bias in the classroom. Granted, teachers have some control o'er the choice of textbooks, but given the textbooks surveyed, it can be pass judgment that bias is pervasive throughout the texts in current publication. hence teachers should, for instance, invite experts into the classroom to provide relevant perspectives on textbook information. The dissemination of current news articles can achieve equivalent results.

The teacher can also facilitate student perceptiveness of issues by supplying auxiliary textbooks, particularly given the angle of inclination of some students to regard textbooks as supremely authoritative.

Prior to the accomplished Rights Movement, African Americans were rarely represented in textbooks. For most African American Baby Boomers the only black person of all time pictured in textbooks was Dred Scott, a mere footnote in history because of the Supreme Court case that bears his name. Given the far-flung impact of the Civil Rights Movement, it can be assumed that references to African Americans occur more frequently in social studies textbooks. But the question is, are these portrayals fair and accurate?

A more Perfect Union is a social studies textbook published in 1991. The book's chapter entitled "Modern American Democracy" depicts six American men and women who devoted their lives to the ideals of freedom and justice. Three of these individuals are black: Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and Rosa Parks. Blacks are included in a variety of picture representations in this textbook. One picture shows blacks among a mass swearing-in ceremony of new immigrants. Other pictures portray blacks in various occupational categories ranging from skilled laborer to air art controller to office worker.

The Civil Rights Movement is described in a chapter enti
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