DOCUMENT RESUME ED 313 268 SO 018 637 AUTHOR Gagnon, Paul TITLE Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect. INSTITUTION American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.; Columbia Univ., New York, N.Y. Teachers College.; Freedom House, Inc., New York, N.Y. SPONS AGENCY California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento. Bureau of Adult Education.; Department of Education, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 87 NOTE 133p.; For related documents, see SO 019 821, SO 020 352, and EJ 357 591. Prepared in conjunction with the Education for Democracy Project. AVAILABLE FROMEducation for Democracy Project, American Federation of Teachers, 555 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001 ($4.98). PUB TYPE Books (010) Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Content Analysis; *Democracy; *Democratic Values; High Schools; Instructional Materials; Social Studies; *Textbook Content; Textbook Evaluation; *World History ABSTRACT Content weakness in textbooks is a major obstacle to effective social studies teaching. Chapters 1-3 of this book provide the Education for Democracy Project's Statement of Principles, a consideration of history's role as the core of social studies education, and the role of textbooks in teaching world history. Chapters 4-14 examine five selected world history textbooks in terms of included information about and treatment of:(1) the purpose of history instruction;(2) the Greek legacy; (3) Rome's fall and legacy;(4) Judaism's and Christianity's basic ideas; (5) the Middle Ages as a source of representative government; (6) the 17th century English Parliament;(7) ideas from the Enlightenment; (8) the American and French Revolutions; (9) major ideas of the 19th century; (10) nation-states, nationalism, and imperialism; (11) World War I; (12) totalitarianism; (13) U.S. foreign policy; and (14) democracy in the world since 1945. This book concludes that these world history textbooks tend to neglect democracy's ideas, principles, origins, needs, and significance and that, when included, these concepts are not systematically presented. Teachers may not be able to rely on world history textbooks to convey and teach the concepts of struggles for freedom, self-government, and justice. (JHP) *************************************w********************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************.************************* WW1 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS U S DEPARTMENT MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Office of Educational Resi EDUCATIONAL RESOU CENTER )( This document has 1 M. received ',cm the P1 originating it Minor changes have I reproduction TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or owl, ment do not necessi INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC." OERI position or polic DEMOCRACY' BY PAUL GAGNON UNTOLD STO What World X)/ AN(;!;lccl DEMOCRACY'S UNTOLD STORY What World History Textbooks Neglect BY PAUL GAGNON A Publication of the Education for Democracy Project Published by the American Federation of Teachers @copyright 1987 3 EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY is a joint proj- ect of the American Federation of Teachers, the Educa- tional Excellence Network, and Freedom House. The American Federation of Teachers is a union with a membership of 660,000most of whom are classroom teachers, higher education faculty, and other school employees. The AFT is committed to helping its members bring excellence to America's classrooms and full profes- sional status to their work. The Educational Excellence Networkheadquartered at Teachers College, Columbia Universityis a coalition of several hundred educators and scholars devoted to the improvement of American education. Freedom House is a national organization that monitors political rights and civil liberties around the world and that has spent 40 years educating the public about the nature and needs of democracy and the threats to it. Funding for Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect has been provided by the U.S. Department of Education, the California Department of Public Instruction and a variety of private foundations. Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect may be ordered by writing the Education for Democracy Project"TM, at the American Federation of Teachers, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. For pricing information and an order form, see page 143. © 1987 by the American Federation of Teachers. All materials published by the Education for Democracy Projectrm, including Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect, are protected by copyright. How- ever, we hereby grant to all direct recipients permission to reproduce the material contained herein for distribution. Textbook Advisory Committee The following people assisted and advised Mr. Gagnon by reading and commenting on early drafts of Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect. Diane Ravitch Hazel Hertzberg Advisory Committee Chairman Professor, History and Education Professor, History and Education Teachers College Teachers College Columbia University Columbia University Bill Honig John H Bunzel California Superintendent Senior Research Flow, of Public Instruction Department of Political Science Hoover Institute Elizabeth McPike Stanford University Editor, American Educator American Federation of Teachers Mary Butz Chairman, Social Studies DepartmentDonald Stewart Edward R. Murrow High School President, New York, New York The College Board Patrick Daly Stephan Thernstrorn Vice President, Professor, Department of History American Federation of Teachers Harvard University Retired Social Studies Teacher, Dearborn, Michigan Public Schools Gladys Twyman Social Studies Teacher, Carl Gershman Sylvan High School President, Atlanta, Georgia National Endowment for Democracy Tlwmas Gregory Ward Bernard R. Gifford Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, Dean, Graduate School of Education Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia University of California: Berkeley Alan T Wood Visiting Assistant Professor, History Whitman College 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction o I. Education for Democracy: A Statement of Principles.. 13 II. The Problem of What Must Be Taught 25 III. Textbooks and the World History Course 33 N. Why Study History 7 43 V. The Legacy of the Greeks 47 VI. The Fall and Legacy of Rome 53 VII. The Basic Ideas of Judaism and Christianity 59 VIII.The Middle Ages as a Source of Representative Government 65 IX. The Triumph of Parliament in the 17th Century 69 X. Ideas from the Enlightenment 75 XI. The American and French Revolutions 83 XII.The Major Ideologies of the 19th Century 91 XIII.Nation-States, Nationalism, and Imperialism 99 XTV. World War IBefore and After 105 XV.Totalitarianism, Left and Right 113 XVI. Appeasement and Democratic Foreign Policy 123 XVII. Democracy in the World Since 1945 131 Conclusion: Democracy's Untold Story 137 INTRODUCTION This book is for my fellow teachers, and for future teachers, of history and social studies. In it I assume we agree on three things.First,that teaching about democracy and its adventures is one of our most important tasks. Second, that teaching it well is difficult to do. Third, that one of our greatest obstacles to doing so is the weakness of our textbooks. Most of this teacher-to-teacher conversation, then, isa critical review of five much-adopted textbooks in world history, comprising the first half of a larger study. The second half, to be published later, will review textbooks in United States history and American government I do not offer here a comprehensive review of style or scholarship, but a response to a singleques- tion: How helpful is each text in teaching the essential ideas and institutions of democracy, its development over time, and its present condition at home and elsewhere in the world? I hope these pages will help you evaluate, and takean active part in choosing, books for your own schools. I hope you will gain usefi'l suggestions for making up syllabi and lessons,as well as for adapting texts and materials to your own teaching goals in your own ways. This is not a text or a manual, buta set of reflections in which I hope you will find interesting and effec- tive ways to develop in your students the historical perspective and political sophistication upon which any seif governing society must depend. This book is also for others who play a part in educating citi- zens: publishers, text authors, state and local school board members, principals and supervisors, college faculty members who prepare future teachers, parents, and students. All ofus 111 9 7 have a stake in the outcome of debates now raging over the quality, and equality, of American education in general and of education for citizenship in particular. What are these debates? How might they affect our work? We can hadly start in mid-air, leaping to the matter of text- books, without facing up to a number of larger, prior questions: Why beconcerned about thequalityof education for democracy? What is wrong that has to be remedied? What do citizens need to know? What sort of curriculum would help them learn it? How might teaching conditions need to change to promote such learning? Nowhere are these issues better addressed than in Education for Democracy: A Statement of Principles. Issued in spring 1987, it serves as the guiding charter for the many-faceted Education for Democracy project, sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, the Educational Excellence Network, and Freedom House. This