Proposed Textbooks Called Inaccurate, Stereotypical

New history and social studies books proposed for California elementary and junior high schools contain many inaccuracies, misinterpretations and racial and religious stereotypes, a parade of speakers told a state curriculum review committee Wednesday.

Much of the criticism came from representatives of Jewish and Islamic organizations, who told the History-Social Science Committee of the state Curriculum Commission that the books proposed for kindergarten through eighth grade should be rejected or revised substantially.

The committee will make recommendations to the full Curriculum Commission, which will decide Friday which books to recommend for state purchase. The final decision will be made by the State Board of Education in October.

Much of the critics’ fire was directed at a sixth-grade textbook published by Houghton Mifflin, “A Message of Ancient Days,” which was the only sixth-grade book recommended for adoption by an evaluation panel appointed by the Curriculum Commission.

Parts of that book are “fraught with factual inaccuracies,” said Annette Lawrence of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles.

More important, Lawrence said, the “text’s relentless and unbalanced contrasting of Christian teachings of love and faith with Jewish obedience and ritual, while excluding discussion of Judaism’s rich ethical heritage, has created a text that is an advocate for Christianity.”

State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) told the committee that the books contained “objectionable and erroneous information about Islam.”

Torres, who represents many Muslim constituents, said the textbooks “convey a false image . . . paint Islam as a new radical religion, which is not so, (and) minimize the contributions Islam has made to history.”

Mohammed Khan of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Santa Fe Springs said violence against American Muslims is increasing and added, “I think the seeds of this prejudice start in the textbooks.”

John B. Massen of San Mateo, an atheist, complained that the new textbooks devote too much space to religions and not enough to the nonbelieving point of view.

Diane Napper, an elementary school teacher in Woodland, said a book submitted by Holt, Rinehart & Winston “could be very damaging to the self-esteem of a Fundamentalist Christian child” because it implies that conservative Christians are “emotional and hysterical.”

Another Fundamentalist parent complained that the new books accept evolution as fact, not theory.

Several representatives of gay and lesbian groups said homosexuals were totally ignored in the new histories and social studies books.

Kevin Davis of San Francisco told the committee that many famous historical personages have been gay or lesbian and that “mainstream history” would have to acknowledge this sooner or later.

Not until midway through the procession of 90-odd speakers were words of praise spoken about the new books.

Gilbert Sewell, director of the American Textbook Council, said his organization had reviewed all the books submitted in California and had concluded that the Houghton Mifflin series, for kindergarten through eighth grade, “sets the standard for a new generation of social studies textbooks.”

Houghton Mifflin was the only major publisher to submit a full set of elementary books that were designed to meet California’s drastically different history-social science curriculum, which was adopted three years ago.

Among other important changes, the new curriculum includes the serious study of religious history for the first time.

“We knew it would not be easy,” John Ridley, editor-in-chief of the Houghton Mifflin elementary division, said Wednesday.