Thursday, May 29, 2003 | 8:39 a.m.
LYNNE CHENEY, wife of Vice President Richard Cheney, ran a red flag up our education pole back in 1995. In an article written for The Wall Street Journal, Cheney's opening paragraph read as follows:
"Imagine a version of American history in which George Washington makes only a fleeting appearance and is never described as our first president. Or in which the foundings of the Sierra Club and the National Organization for Women are considered noteworthy events, but the first gathering of the U.S. Congress is not ..."
It was a wake-up call that caught the attention of millions of parents and teachers. That was Cheney's opening shot, but it wasn't necessary for the Clark County School District, which had already set higher goals for the history books used here.
Now, eight years later, Professor Diane Ravitch of New York University has expressed her concern about what is and isn't being included in school history books. I first read her views in the Los Angeles Times this month. The paragraphs that caught my attention told readers:
"... the textbooks reflect the relativistic views that permeated higher education during the last decade: All cultures are equal; none is better than any other; we are not to judge other cultures' ways of life.
"Most alarming was discovering that many of the books contain dangerous half-truths and distortions. They do not speak honestly about some of the world's most tyrannical regimes. Over and over, they depict the brutality and avariciousness of Europeans and white males in the United States, while presenting glorified portraits of other nations and cultures."
Later I purchased Ravitch's book "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn." Ravitch points to the pressure put on book publishers by both the left and right political, religious and social extremes. An example of rules some publishers give writers is the following:
"Writers for McGraw-Hill are warned that if they pay too much attention to figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, and Jackie Robinson, it is only because they are 'acceptable to the European-American establishment.' The guidelines recommend in-depth discussion of figures such as Paul Robeson, Carter G. Woodson, Paul Dunbar, Nat Turner, Angela Davis, and Jesse Jackson, 'who are considered controversial by some.' "
The author shows an understanding of the pressures publishers feel when writing: "Textbook publishers were in an impossible situation. On the one hand, they were pressed on all sides to be studiously neutral by removing every point of view and every potential controversy from their books; on the other, fundamentalist parents complained that the textbooks' neutrality was a failure to take a stand on behalf of correct morality. The harder the textbook editors tried to make their products inclusive of all points of view without endorsing any, the more impossible it was to satisfy both the Christian New Right and those who did not share its fundamentalist theology."
Ravitch reviewed the history standards of 49 states and found that history is making a comeback. She lists Nevada as one of 14 states that insists on strong U.S. history standards. This probably can be attributed to active parents and strong local school administrators in the Silver State during the 1990s.
We should be happy that people like Cheney and Ravitch keep reminding us of what some of our children are being fed by books purchased with the money of taxpayers. Their roles in education can help steer us away from having slanted history presented in textbooks. For example, the books used to teach youngsters in Saudi Arabia and several other nations have helped promote Islamic extremism and terror.
Arab nations aren't the only states that have these problems. Today there is a heated debate going on in Gandhi's India where some new textbooks promote Adolf Hitler as a hero. You can bet sooner or later the Indian educators will demand new textbooks.
By the way, have you read the history textbooks used in your child's school?
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