DOCUMENT RESUME *I:- #. ED .324 439 s, 009 064 = . TITLE -7- Asia in American Textbooks: Al Evaluation. INSTITUTION ASIA Society, New Jork, N.Y. SPONS AGENCY Foid.Foundation, New Tork,'N.Y. RUB DATE Mai .76 NOTE 342p. i- / . .4.. EDRS PRICE . MF-$0.83 HC-$18.07'Pius PoStage.. DESCRIPTORS '4,Asi is-"tory; *Asian. Studies; Educational Needs; . ,Eiem ntary Secondary EducationvEvaluation Methods; . .fluman'sm; Illustrations; Language Styles; National . 1 Surve s; Sex Discrimination; *Social Studies; ' 'Textb ok Bias; Textbook Content;'*Textpook' Evaluation; TextboOks N ABSTRACT This' report evaluates the treatment of Lisa in American elementary and secondary school textbooks. The study was undertaken by the Asia Society. Guided by a detailed questionnaire, 103,schola'rs,.-teachers, and others with Asian expertise reviewed "306 bOoks commonly used in J3he 50 states during 1914-75. This book summarizes the process of evaluation,. the .findings of the individual readers, and the Asia Society's barn conclusidns and recoinendations for action as a result of theit findings, Materials were examined for their accuracy, authenticity, underlying' assumptions and approaches, humanistic and human interest, style and .tone, sexist, 'format and illustr4tiong, bias, and recognition of innate dignity of Asian .c.ulture. Overall ratings and qualifications of adthors and- consultants are presentpd. Appendices include a listing of the books reviewed, the questionnaire used in the study,.a -list pf the readers, and the' names of the Asia Society's staff.(Author/RM) .. ****************************************************4%****************** -At Documents acquired by ERIC include. Manyinformfal unpublished, * materials not available-rtom'other soUrceq. ERIC makes everyeffort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, itemsof'marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects thequality * * of...the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makesavailable * * -via the IERIC,Document Reproduction Service (EDRS).EDRS:is.not * responsible for thequality of the originaldocument.'Repioductions * * supplidd by EDRS are the best that can be made from theoriginal. * **********44**************************i******************************** US DEPAXIMENT OF PUDAST3t- EDUCATOON AMLfAtE NATIONAL tkiliTUTE OF EDUCATIOW t THIS DOCUMENT .K&S DEEM REPITCP 0 DUCE') EXACTLY AS AECEIVE0 SILVA THE PERSOWoatatcatti1va00C3tiG 4 AttsG IT 11.0NTS OF VSE 01 OPINIONS STATED 00 NOT ikEt:Ess&atEr REPRE- SENT OFFICIAL AIATOftACoestrnsTE OF EDOCATON POSITION OR POLICY t I -KgmtssiOteptccuct tl-es covt-, Aiwa) ktitrms has awl attoci? Lear*eta ECIIC SSG CArsANZATIORScetnisswg _tisrekocasweaste,i7*Atiotw.x. _ =run at Ezi_catxRATHER FEPF10 0.1O-Ot CuTSCE r.sE ESC StSTEI sue- , ODES PaPsrcs Og THE 1:110TrAIGHT 00NER AS* IN.AMERICAN.TEMBOOKS: f AN EVALUATiON-- The Asia Society, Inc. S 4 c ep t S //- / r. t 4- 1 N I e Asia Sdciety, Inc.Me 112 East' 64th Street New York, N. Y.: 10021 - j / .0* .b One evening; while.' was alone in the little "east room" on the Inner Court Osini, my sister, came to see me. 1, "lime books are so strange." she began with disapprovaL 1 "They contain no classical words and no sentences of any profound meaning. Do wt---TTY:te ieve that they wilt 011C day make you a wig man?" "I gape so." 1 answered. - "And what do you learn from these book" she asked with an air of superiority, fingering one Oge after an- other. "I thibk it is a pity for you. You after all, gifted; Sou have read Tsung -yong. You have learnt many old poems by heart, and have even copied Yulgok's anec- t dotes. But now, with this new learning, you are wasting yourself on worthless things." Osini, was an intelligent girl: She liked reading and t ' knew many of the anecdotes and novels written in the old style; her speech was rich in classical Korean words imfa minas -even to my mother. People considered her-the crest of us children, and indeed she was-the only oneho often found fault with me. She drought my han ting .rniserahre. my language without, beauty or digni For' this reason I tried to avoid talking with ha. itI. mkt th.-tt the new learning is oin king diflerent.' I told her at last. it -teaches you how to build .railways which will enable people to travel over _thousands of % - miles' It teaches you to estimate how far off the moon is, or how- to make use of, the power of the lightning to pro-. 6 duce light " "That does not make you a wise man," she said with concern. I "These are the new times." I continued, "brighter ones after our long, dark sleep A fresh breeze has awakened us. -A ,Now it is spring. after a long winter: That is what they say." For a long while Osini 'seemed lost -in- 'thought and i hdlv listened to, me. "And how far is it from us to this country which they call Europe"- she asked me at last. \''.1. "That I has en't learnecryet, but it must be Many times ten thousand miles." . I . 4' "Once upon a time the Princess Sogun married into a' country without any flossgs. II couldn't, he- there, could 4 it?" "No; that was only the land of the Huns. 'Do you believe they have flowers in Europe like our. lilies, forsythias and azaleas?" "I don't know." . "Do you believe they have a south wind there? Do they sit in the moonlight drinking wine in 'brder to write4. j poems?" .- "I cannot tell." ."Then Non don't know anything worth knoviiitg," she .1 summed up, disappointed, 4 From The Yalu flows by Mirok Li, an autobiographical novel about life in early 20th-ce ury Korea. (Thee Grass Roof by Younghill Kangand The Yalu Flows by Mirok Li, reprinted in -ale edition by, Norton Library, -1975, with . .,an introductio by BonnielL Crown) - . , 1 5 5- :,. r . 0.4 -- "Textbooks are only_toold ofinstruction,, but' iii the United States they are extremely influentidl tools. --,rA no small number of schools, wisely or unwisely, they virtually-determine the course,-of study; in all schools they are usea7417---- -organizational bases for what is taught to pupils, and as such they fluence pupils' minds and attitudes both directlyrand in - indirec . Analysis of whaY-representative textbooks Sty abOAt" a topic and of the way they say it, is oneimportant ex of the substantive content of the,4chool curriculum.Such,annalySis is especially revealing about thetreatment 'of the Far t beet. se most American teachers have not hadspecial "training in the fid of Asiatic-studies, The textbook, in too many cases, i the lor reservoir of information for teachers and pupils'aliiebou an area,of.the world which has not, until recently, or even n w' commonly, been,treated adequately or objectively in ini* utions of higher education and in centers of teachertraining."' (Wilson, Howard E.4,,ed. Treatment of Asia in America !Textbooks, Committee on Asiatic Studies of.the American Council A EducatiOn and the American Council, Institute of Pacific kelat ons,1 1946.) 1 2, "At this time'of national concern over consumer protection, the largest,single group of unprotected' consumers is made up; of the 50 million school children who are being required to learn from educational materials almost all'of which have been inadequately developed and evaluated." (P. Kenneth Komoski, President of Educational Products.Information Exchange, May 1971, before U.S.. House of Representatives.) 4 - JO, 4 ...school texts are the important books. After all, they are the ones the-lawsays kids must read....Children cannotbe expected to cluestiontextbooks which, uAlike nursery tales, are assumed 9. literall)f correct in every way. Books now reflect the flaws of out society, 4 but we hope to make=sure they don't , perpetuate-them." (Bradford Chambers, ditqcor Of,the Council on inter-Racial Books forChildren," f : Inc., in Carnegie Oarterly, Fall 1974) , c go. O 4 . joy . to fi : FOREWORD -- `This volume reports on what The Asia Satiety believes to.be the most extensive evaluation ever.atiOapted of the treatment of Asia in American elementary and secondary school t xts. The study was supported by The Ford , . - * ^ , . ,_ . - . - . - --Foundation. Guided by a a-eta-II questionnaire, -103 ScbtaSts, teat-hers, and-11thers with Asian- expertise reviewed 306 books in-common use in the , .. 50 states in 1974-75. This book summarizes the process of the evaluation, ,..:...., ... 4 . .. -- the findings of the individual readers, and the Society's own-conclusions o - and recotmendations for action as a result of thelr findings..- A distillation of the report, intended for widd.distributIon to teachers, publishers, writers, teitbook selection.committees,.state edutation . depagtments,. teadher training.,progrgms, and gove'r'nment agencies, 1.S being . ,. published separately, 4!*. - / there is one principal lesson to be derived from the investigation, . - % . it is that formidable challenges still lie ahead fof those'Who,like The P c - 4 .4, s . l . ,,Asia Society, have embraced the goal of deepening American understanding - : , ,, , t ; ,.' of Asia. _ . , . ' . 1 , ' ...- . The'Society is deeplY.indeiitgd- toBonnip R. Crown, director of its. , . ,. - Educationnl Resources/Asian Literature PrOgrat, for having conceived this . , , . path..tbOaki9g study. and carriedit to its successful conclusion. The task - .. , ' . could not have Imen.accorplished, however, without the dedicated, collaboration ... -.; q _ of he awn staff associates, LorettaRyan and Cindy Rau, and of those , , . i' - _. : professibdals in the field who read the textual materials with cake and , 7 discrimination. To them, and is) The Ford Foundation, the Society expresses its,yeartfelt gratitude. j PhilitTaltt president 0 0 Table of .Contents 0. FOREWORD I. INTRODUCTION 1 Selection,of Textbooks O-rdering of Books 7 - Development of the Questionnaire 8 , Selection of Readers .12 GeneAl ReadeAs 13 Reviek Procedure 14 First Finding 15 / 17 . -.., II. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIALSTUDIES : , 9 1 . TEXTS WITH AS!AN CoNTENT .