Schools expect textbooks to be a valuable source of information for students. My research suggests, however, that textbooks that address the place of Native Americans within he history of the United States distort history to suit (5) a particular cultural value system. In some textbooks, for example, settlers are pictured as more humane, complex, skillful, and wise than Native American. In essence, textbooks stereotype and deprecate the numerous Native American cultures while reinforcing the attitude that the (10) European conquest of the New World denotes the superi- ority of European cultures. Although textbooks evaluete Native American architecture, political systems, and home- making. I contend that they do it from an ethnocentric, (15) European perspective without recognizing that other per- spectives are possible.6 Z) X8 q4 T O6 x6 Q
2 q# A6 _! L) _' ], J! n8 l/ g One argument against my contention asserts that, by nature, textbooks are culturally biased and that I am simply underestimating children's ability to see through these (20) biases. Some researchers even claim that by the time students are in high school, they know they cannot take textbooks literally. Yet substantial evidence exists to the contrary. Two researchers, for example, have conducted studies that suggest that children's attitudes about particular (25) culture are strongly influenced by the textbooks used in schools. Given this, an ongoing, careful review of how school textbooks depict Native American is certainly warranted.9 L4 w% p* }# C( L4 Y2 A( u
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1. Which of the following would most logically be the topic of the paragraph immediately following the passage?
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2 W- o" [ K( e0 | (A) Specific ways to evaluate the biases of United States history textbooks
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(B) The centrality of the teacher's role in United States history courses5 L9 P M8 E* C: C* R6 p, R$ V
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(C) Nontraditional methods of teaching United States history
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7 } B+ C7 P- z (D) The contributions of European immigrants to the development of the United States
% K* i6 @4 W1 A. X (E) Ways in which parents influence children's political attitudes
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( D& M/ N6 ]; H8 s) a0 A 2. The primary purpose of the passage is to
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(A) describe in detail one research study regarding the impact of history textbooks on children's attitudes and beliefs about certain cultures) l& r8 N p/ r1 Z% [7 y% H' V' e6 v
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(B) describe revisions that should be made to United States history textbooks3 S: P) i$ @$ z% ^
2 a: m/ _, {$ }, I) L" P0 h (C) discuss the difficulty of presenting an accurate history of the United States
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(D) argue that textbooks used in schools stereotype Native Americans and influence children's attitudes) U$ z4 D6 L: O; [
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(E) summarize ways in which some textbooks give distorted pictures of the political systems developed by various Native American groups |
发表于 2012-8-15 22:16:44
