Take a Stand on Textbooks!
How outdated and archaic were your textbooks when you were in school? Since textbooks are so expensive to print and things change fast in social studies and the sciences, I remember my teachers supplementing our textbooks with newspaper articles and mimeographed “ditto” packets. But it’s one thing to need a supplemental packet on the Berlin Wall coming down because it just happened last week. It’s another thing to need be reading from a brand spanking new edition of a textbook that denies the existence of climate change.
From Friends of the Earth:
“The fight to stem global warming — perhaps the greatest fight in our species’ history — has an ominous new front: our public schools.
Friends of the Earth has received a copy of American Government, published by mammoth Houghton Mifflin, which is used in AP government classes in high schools nationwide. The latest edition’s chapter on “Environmental Policy” contains a discussion of global warming so biased and misleading it would humble a tobacco industry PR man”
My favorite of the quotes listed is this chipper little gem:
“On the one hand, a warmer globe will cause sea levels to rise, threatening coastal communities; on the other hand, greater warmth will make it easier and cheaper to grow crops and avoid high heating bills.” (p. 559)
I’m so glad that we can ignore dangerous weather patterns, species die off, threatened food sources and a whole mess of other problems to look on the bright side. We’ll pay less for heat.
One of the best ways to solve the issue of climate change and improve the health of our planet is to teach children about environmental stewardship, give them the facts, and arm them with scientifically valid and responsible information they can use to make a difference. Please speak up. Help Friends of the Earth take a stand.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Unbelievable. Was Ann Coulter a co-author?
My governor has been notified.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
wow. wow….
April 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
… and when talking to women, make sure you speak slowly and clearly so they understand you. Ha, great post. my question is: what do i do with all of these old college books that I, at the time, didn’t have the heart to sell back for $2???
April 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I think a better way to help reduce climate change and its effects is to stop publishing books. How many trees do we kill? How many gallons of diesel does it take to move books from one place to another?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a bookophile just like the next blogger and I like my paper books, but there has to be a better way to teach than the manner we have now.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Mickey — You rock.
Danielle — I know!
Kir — I’ll look into the textbook thing. I’ve got some in the basement too.
HH — I don’t think there will ever be anything as great as cuddling up with a cup of tea and a good paper book, but I totally agree that when it comes to teaching — especially teaching subjects that are so rapidly changing — printing out big expensive text books doesn’t seem like a good solution anymore.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Speaking from an insiders’ point-of-view: the writing of some texts is deliberately tailored to certain market sectors in order to ensure adoptions and sales. Is that not the saddest thing you have ever heard? History, politics, science rewritten to suit governmental needs? This is no joke - Texas gets its OWN political science books!!! Even in sociology, concepts and ideas are sometimes “toned down” or taken out at the editor’s/publishing house’s discretion.
So…yeah. All one can do is READ and LOOK at what you and your kids are learning from…and supplement the hell out of it if needed.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Wow. That is absolutely awful!