Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Via 
sparkindarkness, here:
California has just passed a law requiring school to teach about the contributions of LGBT people, disabled people and Pacific Islanders to California and United States history. (95% of the coverage seems to be focused on the LGBT angle, incidentally, and it's the only bit that
sparkindarkness mentioned.) Contributions from other groups had already been mentioned in previous legislation, so this is an amendment to add more groups.
Text from the bill as it now stands:
When adopting instructional materials for use in the schools, governing boards shall include only instructional materials which, in their determination, accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society, including:
(a) The contributions of both men and women in all types of roles, including professional, vocational, and executive roles.
(b) The role and contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and the United States.
(c) The role and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in the total development of California and the United States.
Apart from the weirdness that apparently the persons with disabilities don't have to be Americans--and neither do the Pacific Islanders--I have my doubts about the advisability of ensuring good teaching by quota. If this law is followed sensibly it might ensure that textbooks are broad and inclusive in their scope, but it seems more likely to lead to lots of wrangling and nitpicky counting. My faith in the educational establishment is not great, no.
Good history doesn't leave out important parts of the story. But can good history be brought into existence by legislative fiat? I suppose we'll see.
This entry was originally posted at http://naraht.dreamwidth.org/453708.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
sparkindarkness, here:
California has just passed a law requiring school to teach about the contributions of LGBT people, disabled people and Pacific Islanders to California and United States history. (95% of the coverage seems to be focused on the LGBT angle, incidentally, and it's the only bit that
sparkindarkness mentioned.) Contributions from other groups had already been mentioned in previous legislation, so this is an amendment to add more groups.
Text from the bill as it now stands:
When adopting instructional materials for use in the schools, governing boards shall include only instructional materials which, in their determination, accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society, including:
(a) The contributions of both men and women in all types of roles, including professional, vocational, and executive roles.
(b) The role and contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and the United States.
(c) The role and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in the total development of California and the United States.
Apart from the weirdness that apparently the persons with disabilities don't have to be Americans--and neither do the Pacific Islanders--I have my doubts about the advisability of ensuring good teaching by quota. If this law is followed sensibly it might ensure that textbooks are broad and inclusive in their scope, but it seems more likely to lead to lots of wrangling and nitpicky counting. My faith in the educational establishment is not great, no.
Good history doesn't leave out important parts of the story. But can good history be brought into existence by legislative fiat? I suppose we'll see.
This entry was originally posted at http://naraht.dreamwidth.org/453708.html. Please comment there using OpenID.