Restoring America



USING SKEPTICAL INQUIRY INSTEAD OF IDEOLOGY TO DEFEAT TEXTBOOKS

By:  Susan Haughton

As a member of the 1998-1999 Alabama Social Studies Textbook Committee, I was one of several conservative activists involved in the defeat of an unprecedented number of K-12 textbooks.  Despite the best efforts of high-powered and highly paid lobbyists hired by textbook publishers, dozens of textbooks were overwhelmingly defeated by the state textbook committee It is no secret that any attempt to defeat textbooks or get offensive books off required reading lists is typically met with loud and inflammatory accusations of  "censorship."  Typically liberal media leads the attack, screaming hysterically about book banning.

Unfortunately, when it comes to effectiveness in defeating textbooks and required reading lists, well-meaning conservatives often fall into the trap of defending their positions based on a moral stand which is anathema to liberals and others involved in the education establishment. 

Faced with this dilemma in Alabama, we took another tact.  Knowing we could not defeat every textbook presented to us, although most of them deserved to be, we targeted the most egregious and set out to defeat them by exposing them as mistake-laden, poorly written books full of errors, false claims and political correctness.  To this end, one of the most critical elements of our success can be directly attributed to The Textbook League, which was established in 1989 to support the creation and acceptance of sound schoolbooks, and its editor, Bill Bennetta, who was a tremendous help in our efforts to defeat the worst of texts.   The League is most definitely not a right-wing or conservative organization; instead, it is an apolitical organization solely dedicated to the improvement of textbooks, which is why is it uniquely valuable as a credible source.

One chief activity of the League is the publication of The Textbook Letter, a bimonthly that is distributed to subscribers throughout the country. Many readers of The Textbook Letter are officials in state or county agencies, in local school districts, or in individual schools; others are members of college departments of education; still others are private citizens who take a serious interest in the quality of education.

The heart of The Textbook Letter consists of reviews, expert analyses of middle-school and high-school books that publishers are selling right now, with emphasis on books in history, geography, health, sexuality and all the sciences. These book reviews are augmented by evaluations of classroom videos and by articles about topics that are important to people who must chose instructional materials.  To subscribe or read many of the reviews available on the Textbook League's website, go to www.textbookleague.org.

If you are involved in a textbook or reading list fight in your school district, please contact me at gop2004wh@aol.com for first-hand ideas on how to win the book war without losing the public relations battle.

Reprinted under the
Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law


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