"Most textbooks, produced by a handful of giant commercial publishers, are exposing generations of children to cultural and history amnesia that threatens the very basis of American free institutions and liberties, warn leading historians who are calling for better-defined, more rigorous state teaching standards," writes George Archibald in The Washington Times:
Social studies textbooks used in elementary and secondary schools are mostly a disgrace that, in the name of political correctness and multiculturalism, fail to give students an honest account of American history, say academic historians and education advocates . . .
Publishers acknowledge having buckled since the early 1980s to so-called multicultural "bias guidelines" demanded by interest groups and elected state boards of education that require censorship of textbook content to accommodate feminist, homosexual and racial demands . . .
"They aim not to engage students' imagination, but to bolster their self-esteem," says Diane Ravitch, author of The Language Police:
Harry Potter has triumphed because his author understands the power of story. If the story is good enough, children will take a flashlight to bed so they can keep reading after the lights are out. Unlike textbook publishers, who must screen everything before they print to avoid giving offense.
We blogged about the dumbing down of public education a couple of months ago. It's worth repeating the words of Michael Knox Beran in his City Journal article "Self-Reliance vs. Self-Esteem":
It is we, not the Victorians, who are weakly sentimental when it comes to educating children.
The textbook companies take the path of least resistance, responding to the squeakiest wheels, of course, as we blogged here a couple of weeks back in response to a Front Page article about a worrisome trend of Dhimmitude amongst textbook publishers: What do Osama and hot dogs have in common?
[via Betsy's Page]
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