Twentieth-Century Textbook Wars: A History of Advocacy and Opposition

ISBN-13: 9780820452289 / Angielski / Miękka / 2003 / 189 str.

Sadovnik, Alan R.

Opis

When critics initially attacked textbook publishers for selfishly pursuing profits and employing flawed models of pedagogy, zealous advocates were able to rebut these philosophical arguments. Additional disputes erupted about the ways textbooks depicted nationalism, religion, race, and gender. Armed with precise examples of offensive textbook features, confrontational opponents could not be easily dismissed. Although publishers who wished to align themselves with national sentiments were willing to make changes, they were cautious because the criticism was heterogeneous and shifting. To ensure that their materials embodied the attitudes and values of most of their clients, they made expedient adaptations in reaction to clearly specified social criticism. Although grounded in business principles, this ability to deftly make precise, well-timed responses accounted not only for twentieth-century textbooks' financial longevity, but for their widespread public approval and indisputable classroom prominence.

O autorze

The Author: Gerard Giordano is Dean of Education at Utah State University. He has written a column in a national journal, served as a book review editor, and been appointed to the editorial boards of prominent journals. He has written nearly two hundred reports that have appeared in national journals. He is the author of two tests, numerous chapters, and four previous books. His most recent book, a history of twentieth-century reading education, was published in 2000.