Week 10 Blog Post
Week 10: Curriculum Design, Equity, and Social Justice
This week’s reading called “The Racial Politics of Curriculum Reform” discussed a brief history of the efforts to diversify textbooks in the U.S. First, the author points out the four main reasons why conservatives attacked textbooks in the 1950s: communism, internationalism, sexual depravity, and race. The fear of Communism aligned with the fear of racial integration and representation in public schools. Connecting these two ideas was a little hard for me to understand, but what I take away is that many white people feared those who made efforts in changing the status quo and challenging norms that had been established for decades. The author states, “Thousands of Americans converged on local school board and classrooms to protest textbooks’ allegedly “communistic” bias toward public housing, progressive taxation, and other markers of presumed left-wing subversion” (Pinar). I did not feel like the reading adequately explained this historical link, but I assume from this quote that there was a general fear of liberal ideas and thoughts (such as racial integration in public schools) during the 1950s because it was associated with communism.
There are two main reasons why the NAACP and others advocated for textbook reform: “First, activists pointed out that accurate history textbooks might help persuade stubborn whites to revise their racist views. Second, activists pointed out that if the school curriculum texts continued to mispresent African Americans and their experience in America, black children would suffer ‘feelings of separateness and inferiority’” (Pinar). I still think these reasons are valid and important to consider when creating/selecting a curriculum.
Schools must include diverse voices in their curriculum so that students can gain empathy and understanding of others’ experiences. Students should be reading literature and learning about history that is “unconventional” so that they learn hard truths, different experiences, and the opinions and ideas of others. How can we expect any progress to occur if we do not teach tolerance, acceptance, and understanding in our schools? Also, students need to have a curriculum that is representative of who they are so that they can celebrate and better understand where they came from and how those issues evolved to be relevant in the present. Curriculum must be local to an extent so that it can meet the needs of different populations of students and so students can feel represented within their classrooms. But it also must be diverse and multicultural everywhere so that students are constantly exposed to different perspectives and viewpoints.
I believe that many people opposed fair and accurate historical representations of race in textbooks because it made white people look bad. The true history of this country is often embarrassing, ugly, and grim, but it is necessary to confront, own up to, and reflect upon in order to move forward. According to the reading, a white Virginian in 1970 opposed textbook reform. She stated, “Give us some history to be proud of” (Pinar). However, when that history is skewed to highlight accomplishments and erase wrongdoings, it is inaccurate and misleading; therefore, it is unethical. Students must be exposed to the darker sides of history as well as the accomplishments and celebrations of people of all races if we expect any kind of progress as a society.
First of all, thank you very much for sharing. Although American history textbooks are renowned for their openness and pluralism of values, it is also true that they distort historical details or convey certain values to readers. As long as textbooks do not abandon the ambition of carrying values, pseudo-history will inevitably exist; but "openness" guarantees not only the existence of lies, but also the permission to crack them. I think that American textbooks should not boast of knowing the truth, let alone judge a historical event, but should encourage students to constantly explore multiple interpretations of historical events, maintain an open vision, and deepen the understanding of human nature, which is the essence of education.
ReplyDeleteHi Sydnie!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I highly agree with you that schools must include diverse voices in their curriculum. I believe that learning history is to let young generations understand the past and learn from the past so that they can make progress. We should not arbitrarily tamper with historical facts, because history is one of the important prerequisites for students to build their cognition. In addition, we should not shy away from discussing racial issues. Instead, we should guide students in a more open and inclusive perspective in order to protect our students from “feelings of separateness and inferiority”.
Thank you for your post. I agree with you that the curriculum should include diverse voices and be multicultural. I think this can make all students feel a sense of belonging and engagement in the curriculum when they are learning, which will promote their learning motivations. I also agree that students should be exposed to various perspectives of history, including the dark side and the accomplishments. This can help students develop their critical thinking, instead of considering the problems just from one perspective and believing one single view on the issues. And thank you for your sharing again.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sharing. I think we should face the history. And we should have diversity books for different students to meet their need. Today is a multiculture and diversity world. We should understand each other and we should face the world we meet now. Each of us is equal now. Educators,should develop the confidence in the inside and should let students know we are all human beings, we are the same and we should respect each othe in today's world. Be more patience and everything will be fine.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this heavy and serious topic. It reminds me the curriculum design of history in Japan. The young generations in Japan do not know their true history during the second world war, such as Nanjing Massacre, sex slaves. In their history textbooks, the government mentioned their aggression to China as reasonable defense. The young generations in Japan view their country as victim, because they were attacked by two American atomic bombs, because they do not know the real history and the reasons behind the bombs. Facing and accepting the history and the truth needs courage and responsibility. It is a long journey for changing the situation.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! I think the diversity in curriculum design really needs to be re-evaluated. This article also connects well with the "single story" TED talk that I watched. Every story is typically one sided and displays "stereotypes". She gave examples about how text books would look different if the story was told from many view points. I think textbooks should start displaying more than the " white persons" viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteTextbooks often times serve as students first look into the world on a larger scale. Often times, textbooks are not designed with diversity of any form in mind. Our world is constantly changing and textbooks should match the the experiences that we all bring to the table and not just the majority. It makes instruction even more of a difficult task when students are not connected to the material in a textbook because they cannot relate to the material. It can sometimes be as simple as the names used in math word problems being familiar to multiple cultures. Another example I like to refer to is a segment in star basketball player Lebron James tv series, More than an Athlete. He refers to a time in school where the teacher kept referring to a pantry. He never lived in a space where his family had a pantry and he felt that he could not relate or participate in the discussion. These instances happen often for our learners in regards to information that they are spoon fed from textbooks.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I really like your thoughts about this article. There is a sentence that impressed me “The true story of this country is often embarrassing, ugly, and grim, but it is necessary to confront, own up to, and reflect upon in order to move forward.” I agree with you. But what I want to say is that history not only can show people what was wrong, but to give people a chance to advise it. Showing the history can make people think and make sure that they won’ t make the same mistake. That is what the function of history should be. That is what you said: “Students must be exposed to the darker sides of history as well as the accomplishments and celebrations of people of all races if we expect any kind of progress as a society”
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