Textbooks: A Revolution in the Classroom

Some time ago I discussed the battle between reading techniques–whole language versus phonetics–in the schools as one of the problems hindering students from becoming better readers. There is another revolution that has been taking place in the classrooms that many of us are not aware of. The type and quality of textbooks used in the classrooms have changed drastically resulting in a shift in philosophy in what and how the student learns.

It seems that not only are students experiencing difficulty in mastering the skills of reading, but they are also being indoctrinated with “multicultural education.” This new experiment in teaching language in our schools is discussed in detail in a new book by Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Losing Our Language: How Multicultural Classroom instruction is Undermining Our Children’s Ability to Read. Write, and Reason, published by Free Press, 1999.

Over the past several decades educrats favoring progressive education in collusion with publishing houses have been stealthily doctoring students’ readers in the elementary schools to shape what they feel should be taught students in disregard to desires of parents.

Dr. Stotsky argues that “most of the recent changes in the content of the elementary readers and in the teaching methods outlined in them have been introduced as part of an approach to the curriculum development called multiculturalism….(it) was proposed as the only approach that could broaden the horizons of American schoolchildren and inculcate respect for racial and ethnic minority groups. It was also proposed as the only meaningful way to address the academic deficiencies of minority children.. Today, it has a clear racebased political agenda, one that is anticivic and antiWestern in its orientation.”

Instead of achieving its intended goals, two negative results have happened. Almost all readers used today in the classrooms are written using vocabulary below the normal grade level of previous years. Comparing textbooks from previous years with the ones being used today, a sharp decline can be seen in both vocabulary and grammar.

In other words, readers have been “dumbed down” to meet the lower achievement level of less astute students or so-called minority students. This affects all students in giving a false impression of doing better than accepted standards. What parent will argue with “As” and “Bs” on their child’s report card not realizing that they are based on lower academic standards?

The other negative factor is that instead of learning more about our own country, the United States, its heroes and innovators that made her a great nation, more attention has been “focused on minority students’ perception of self and the social groups to which educators saw them belonging”. The new readers abound with stories and references to ethnic groups and cultures around the world at the expense of first having students understand who they are and their culture. This has resulted in teaching children to consider political and social issues prematurely above academic achievement.

Dr. Stotsky reminds us: “What children are taught to read and how they are taught to read influence not only what they can read in the elementary and secondary schools but also what they can read in later years….What parents should ask themselves in whether this is the philosophy they want dominating reading instruction in their children’s schools. Do they want their children to learn first what their social class, gender, and ethnicity are and how society views them….? And should teachers concentrate on developing egos (self-esteem) or concentrate on developing their children’s minds acquiring knowledge and analytical skills? These are the
goals at stake in today’s school wars. (Part II, Tuesday, March 21).