Textbooks and Political Correctness - Political Discussion

Home | Community | Message Board

You are not signed in.
New Account

Forum Index Search Posts Trusted Vendors Highlights Galleries FAQ User List Chat Store Random Growery

This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.

Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop:

Golden Teacher Liquid Culture For Sale

Feminized Cannabis Seeds

Buy Bali Kratom Powder

Red Vein Kratom

Jump to first unread post

Pages: 1

Phred
Fred's son

Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months

Textbooks and Political Correctness

#1676664 - 07/01/03 10:47 AM (20 years, 9 months ago)

I've posted here before my opinion that a lot of the more loopy posts appearing in this forum cannot be entirely blamed on the authors, but on the appalling American school system the US government (here referring mostly to State government, of course) uses to indoctrinate its youth. Diane Ravitch, author of "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn", gives us some specifics in her column at http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003695 . Here are a few excerpts to whet your appetite:

-- I compiled a list of over 500 words that are banned by one or more publishers. Some are relatively obsolete, like "authoress" or "geezer," but others are everyday words that one is likely to encounter in the newspaper, like "landlord," "senior citizen," "dogma," "yacht" or "actress" (what would the late Katherine Hepburn have made of that?).

-- In Michigan, the state does not allow mention of flying saucers or extraterrestrials on its test, because those subjects might imply the forbidden topic of evolution. A text illustrator wrote to say that she was not permitted to portray a birthday party because Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in celebrating birthdays. Another illustrator told me that he was directed to airbrush the udder from his drawing of a cow because that body part was "too sexual."

-- A review of my book in the Scotsman, an Edinburgh newspaper, said that a well-known local writer for children sold a story to an American textbook company, along with illustrations. The U.S. publisher, however, informed her that she could not show a little girl sitting on her grandfather's lap, as the drawing implied incest. So, the author changed the adult's face, so that the little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap instead. A contributor to a major textbook series prepared a story comparing the great floods in 1889 in Johnstown, Pa., with those in 1993 in the Midwest, but was unable to find an acceptable photograph. The publisher insisted that everyone in the rowboats must be wearing a lifevest to demonstrate safety procedures.

-- A freelance writer sent me the "bias guidelines" for a major publisher of texts and tests. The "bias guidelines" consist of advice to writers and editors about words and topics that must be avoided, as well as specifications for illustrations. Like other publishers, this one requires adherence to gender and ethnic balance. All lessons, test questions, and illustrations must reflect the following ratios: 50-50 male-female; 45% Caucasian; 25% African American; 22% Hispanic American; 5% Asian American; 5% American Indian and others; and 3% "persons with disabilities." These figures do not total 100%, nor do they represent actual U.S. Census numbers, but the principle of representation is well understood by writers and editors. American society, as represented in the textbooks, is perfectly integrated by race, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability.

-- When it comes to illustrations in textbooks, certain images--women cooking, men acting assertive, scenes of poverty, and old people walking with the aid of a cane or a walker--are likewise considered unacceptable. The specifications for photographs, I have learned, are exquisitely detailed. Men and boys must not be larger than women and girls. Asians must not appear as shorter than non-Asians. Women must wear bras, and men must not have noticeable bulges below the waist. People must wear shoes and socks, never showing bare feet or the soles of shoes, and their shoelaces must be solid black, brown, or white. People must never gesture with their fingers, nor should anyone be depicted eating with the left hand. Things to avoid: holiday decorations and scenes in which a church or a bar appears in the background.

-- Even after its national humiliation a year ago, the New York State Education Department still manages to make mistakes. On the last administration of the Regents' English examination in January, the state asked high school seniors to write about a poem by Matthew Arnold. However, the examination did not mention the name of this famous poem ("Dover Beach"); it inexplicably offered only one stanza of the four-stanza poem; and it changed or misquoted an important line. Instead of Arnold's exclamation, "Ah, love, let us be true to one another!" it stated, "Ah, friend, let us be true to one another!"

-- As the example shows, bowdlerization is not only dishonest, it leads to dumbing down of language and ideas. And of one thing I am convinced: The widespread censorship of language and ideas in education caused by the demands of advocacy groups will not end unless it is regularly exposed to public review and ridicule. The next time someone in a publishing office or a state education agency suggests deleting a literary passage from a test or textbook because it contains the word "anchorman" or shows a witch flying around on a broomstick, perhaps someone in the room will say, "Wait, if we do that, people will laugh at us."

Pinksharkmark's comment -- I honestly don't know whether to laugh hysterically or weep uncontrollably. I can't help but notice that the terms "brainwashing" and "propaganda" get tossed around casually so much in this forum that they have pretty much lost all their meaning, but if ever there was an appropriate example of such practices, this is it.

pinky

--------------------

Extras:

Similar Threads	Poster	Views	Replies	Last post
Political Correctness?	RandalFlagg	655	7	09/22/03 03:24 PM by monoamine
50 Things You Can Do To Annoy The Politically Corr	Ellis Dee	885	6	09/12/02 01:40 AM by Innvertigo
Dems political strategy is to demonize Christians ( 1 2 all )	Ellis Dee	5,035	35	02/16/23 11:43 AM by tyrannicalrex
Blacks urged to form independent political movement	lonestar2004	1,196	10	06/09/05 12:30 PM by Silversoul
Faking It - A Brief Textbook Of American Democracy	Evolving	870	1	01/20/04 11:43 AM by Annapurna1
Politics Schmolitics	CJay	369	0	06/20/05 08:21 AM by CJay
Religion a part of politics? ( 1 2 3 all )	sir tripsalot	4,308	45	09/25/02 01:57 AM by Lallafa
Palestinian textbooks brainwash children to kill ( 1 2 3 all )	Ed1	5,734	44	11/10/04 08:40 PM by ricyjo