WHY WE CAN'T WAIT
textbooks, tolerance and today's students
WHAT WE ARE TEACHING OUR STUDENTS IS NOT ONLY AND SANITIZED--IT'S INACCURATE
Companies and advocacy groups routinely edit textbooks. Their 'checklists' of inappropriate topics include: stereotypes, religious inferences, prayer and gender roles just to name a few.
WHAT ARE WE SO AFRAID OF?
Offending someone, anyone and everyone. Our country was founded on ideas that center around freedom. That very right is being hijacked by our education system. The sanitized version of information that is being conveyed is inhibiting our right to freedom of speech by taking away the tools necessary to express that right.
Lackluster test results
International results on tests put American students at the bottom of the proverbial barrel in achievement
http://www.edexcellence.net/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs/Mad%20World_Test2_8.pdf
Loss of the ability to think critically and analytically
Ravitch asserts, "There is no evidence that textbook adoption contributes
to increased student learning. In fact, the vast majority of
adoption states are also in the bottom half of all states when
it comes to NAEP reading and math scores "
Vocabulary
Without words humans cannot communicate effectively. If they are too afraid to speak for fear of offending a race, ethnic group or religion, how can we have honest conversations? Discussion drives education. Textbook editing is taking the teeth out of discussion tools.
WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
Complete overhaul of the entire system is required. The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adaptations recommends that the more intimate the process becomes, the better the result. This author suggests even allowing individual teachers to choose and purchase the books they will employ in their curriculum.
WHY WE SHOULD NOT WAIT--
" Textbook adoption distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission. "
http://edexcellence.net/publications/madmadworld.html