Who should be choosing the textbooks that are used in
America’s public schools?
Should it be the state department of education for each of
the states? It is in the state of Texas where the same books are used at every
grade level throughout the state. Should it be the federal government? That is
a difficult question to answer because the Founding Father left the education
issue out of the Constitution and relegated it to the individual states. That
would have been fine until Common Core came along and the federal government is
now dictating what is to be taught in mathematics and Language arts in
America’s school curriculum. Is federal textbook selection next?
The state of New Jersey has been in a somewhat unique
situation. There are over 600 independent school districts that are controlled
by either elected or appointed school boards. These boards had the
responsibility of approving textbook selection for its schools. So it was
entirely possible that districts near to each other used very different books
for the teaching of certain subject. Board members tried to choose texts that
would mirror the sentiments of the community.
In other states, the decision is left up to each county
where the county superintendent is the chief school administrator and oversees
book selection.
But the issues of bias, political agendists and book banning
have crept into the decision process. What should children be exposed too and
who should in truth, should make the decision?
When I first started teaching middle school social studies in the
1970’s, the school principal allowed me to select the books and she went ahead
and approved them for use in my classroom. Of course political correctness was
not an issue then. Today it is. That is one reason I enjoyed teaching in the
college classroom. The university allowed a high degree of academic freedom for
textbook selection. Where a basal text was required, the professors were permitted
to require ancillary books of their own choice- often ones that they wrote. In
courses that professors created, there was complete freedom. Other professors
presented an array of supplemental books and allowed the students to choose which
ones they wanted to read.
This issue is not going to disappear. Concerned parents,
teachers and community leaders should keep a watchful eye on the textbook
selection process.
c.2015 J. Margolis
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