Textbook Review: Are American Social Studies Textbooks Racist?

What is American social studies? The technical definition according to the U.S. American National Council for the Social Studies is: “an integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence.” However, this definition serves concern within the sector of diversity. Are American social studies classes studying the diversity within civic competence or only learning about the American culture? Minorities in America are faced with disappointment every day in American schooling due to the lack of divergent materials. Being a critical user of school social studies textbooks shows the biases surrounding American social studies education. Students should consistently ask questions such as: Is the author right about this statement, what kind of language do they use when explaining minorities, and is this textbook providing multiple points of view? Teachers should be wary of the treatment of minorities and provide multiple points of view in order to create citizens that are diverse, critical thinkers. I chose to analyze an American social studies book called, The World and Its People in order to illustrate the issues regarding modern day social studies biases.

In the textbook, there were multiple chapters regarding culture. The 18th chapter titled, “Japan and the Koreas,” caught my eye as I read it due to the lack of information and seemingly discriminatory content. It is known that Japanese and Korean citizens are a minority in America, however, it seems odd for two completely different groups to be assimilated into one whole chapter of the book. Not to mention the Korean people are not even mentioned in the chapter. In my eyes, this can be taken offensively by Korean and Japanese people. Not only are the two nationalities grouped together, but the content focuses on United States superiority. For example, in the subsection, “Japan’s History and Government,” the author focuses on the theorized impact that the United States had on Japan’s trading privileges stating on page 528, “In 1853, the United States government sent a fleet headed by Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to demand trading privileges. In response to this action and other outside pressures, the Japanese started trading with other countries (Boehm, 2005). This simple, but violating quote demonstrates the underlying United States superiority effect on students. For example, when the author says “other outside pressures” and explains that the primary reason for open trading privileges with Japan is because of the United States, the author is promoting bias ideas. How could one possibly know if the pressures from the United States actually caused Japan to start trading with other countries? How come the “other outside pressures” are not even mentioned? These questions challenge the biases presented within the textbook.

In conclusion, American social studies materials sadly focus on United States superiority and ideas. As a freshman in college, it saddens me to see the lack of diversity present in American literature used in schooling. One textbook does not due minority groups justice. Other factors that can be assessed within American social studies can include the diversity among textbook authors or any materials in general that are used to teach “civic competence.” A class such as “Diversity in American Education” should be present in early and secondary schooling. The lack of substantial awareness regarding multicultural education is unbelievable. I have seen the lack first hand, even at the college level. There have been few sources written by minority groups that I have studied so far in college and even less that I studied during my high school and early education. Instead of simply reading from textbooks, teachers should be questioning students about the text. For example, students should be required to assess the bias in the text and should be learning from multiple points of view in order to draw their own conclusions. The best way to learn is for one to critically think about what they are learning instead of reading a robotic, biased textbook.

References:

Boehm, R. G. (2005). The world and its people. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.