The school textbook: geography, history, and social studies 0713002212, 0713040432

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William E. Marsden

Woburn Education Series General Series Editor Professor Peter Gordon For over 20 years this series on the history., development and policy of education, under the distinguished editorship of Peter Gordon, has been evolving into a comprehensive and balanced survey of important trends in teaching and educational policy. The series is intended to reflect the changing nature of education in present-day society. The books are divided into four sections - educational policy studies, educational practice, the history of education and social history - and reflect the continuing interest in this area For a full series listing, please visit our website: www woburnpress.com Educational Practice Slow Learners A Break in the Circle: A Practical Guide for Teachers Diane Griffin Games and Simulations in Action Alec Davison and Peter Gordon

Music in Education: A Guide for Parents and Teachers Malcolm Carlton

The Education of Gifted Children David Hopkin son Teaching and Learning Mathematics Peter G Dean Comprehending Comprehensives Edward S Conway

Teaching the Humanities edited by Peter Gordon Teaching Science edited by Jenny Erast The Private Schooling of Girls: Past and Present edited by Geoffrey Walford International Yearbook of History Education Volume 1 edited by Alaric Dickinson. Peter Gordon Peter Lee and John Slater

A Guide to Educational Research edited by Peter Gordon

THE SCHOOL TEXTBOOK:

GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES William E. Marsden University of Liverpool

ijjii

WOBURN PRESS LONDON • PORTLAND, OR

First published in 2001 in Great Britain by WOBURN PRESS Crown House. 47 Chase Side. Southgate London N14 5BP

and in the United States of America bv WOBURN PRESS c/o ISBS 5824 N.E Hassalo Street Portland. Oregon 97213-3644 I Veb site: w w w wobu rn press ..coni

Copyright 0 2001 W E Marsden British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: Marsden. William E The school textbook: geography, history and social studies. - (The Woburn education series) 1 Textbooks - Great Britain - History I Title .371 3'2 094 * 1 ISBN O-713O-O22I-2 (cloth) LSBN 0-7130-4043-2 (paper) ISSN 1462-2076

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Marsden, William E The school textbook: geography, history and social studies / William E Marsden. p. cm. - (Woburn education series. ISSN 1462-2076) Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index ISBN 0-7130-0221-2 (cloth) - ISBN 0-7130-4043-2 (pbk ) I History-Study and teaching (Elementary )-Cross-cuhural studies. 2, Geography-Study and teaching (Elementary )-Cross-cult oral studies 3 Social sciences-Study and teaching (ElementaryPCross-cultural studies 4 Tex tbooks-Cross-cultural studies I Title II Series

LB 1583 M335 2001 372.89 044-dc21

2001026286

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any fornt or by any means electronic , mechanical, photocopy ing, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher oj this book

Typeset by Cambridge Photoselling Services Cambridge and in 10 5/12/5 Times Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd. Bodmin, Cornwall

Contents List of Illustrations

vi

Preface

vii

Acknowledgements

ix I

I

Introduction

2

Reviewing the American Experience

13

3

British Historical Perspectives

33

4

The British Anti-Textbook Ethos

55

5

Matter: Continuity and Change in Subject Content

71

6

Method: Continuity and Change in Pedagogical Processes

93

7

Mission: (1) Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping

128

8

Mission: (2) Nationalism and Internationalism: Schooling for War and Peace

148

9

Mission: (3) Propaganda, Indoctrination and Censorship

167

0

Choosing and Using Textbooks

190

1

National Curricula, National Standards and Textbooks

215

References

239

Index

299

Illustrations The illustrations comprise extracts taken from the following school textbooks Page Figure 1, A.J Herbertson, The Oxford Geogr aphies: The Senior Geography, p la. 78

Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4.

Figure 5.

T Pickles, The World, pp 88-9. G G Chisholm, Longmans School Geography, pp 292-3. J.R Lanaler. Pictorial Geography for Young Beginners, p 4. 102

A. J. Herbertson, An Illustrated School Geography. p. 117.

H J. Mackinder, Elementary Studies in Geography: Our Own Islands, pp. 34-5. Figure 7.. L.W. Lyde, Man in Many Lands An Introduction to the Study of Geographic Control, p. 83.

80 99

104

Figure 6.

108 109

Figure 8

A.B Archer and H Thomas, Geography: First Series, Book 4, p, 52.

110

Figure 9

L. Brooks and R Finch, Golden Hind Geographies The British Homeland, pp. 34—5.

112

Figure 10 H. Rugg and L Krueger, Man and His Changing Society. The First Book of the Ear th, pp. 3-4

Figure 11. R.C Honeybone and MG Goss, Geography for Schools.: Britain and Overseas, pp 136-7 Figure 12 R J. Unstead, Looking at History: The Middle Ages, pp 36-7 I24 Figure 13 R Unwin. Openings in History: Medieval Britain. Section 17 Figure 14 C.R L Fletcher and R Kipling, A School History oj England, p 240 140 Figure 15 J H Yoxall, The Pupil Teacher s Geography, p. 32 Figure 16. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Building America: Illustrated Studies oj Modern Problems, Vol XI, p 10 vii

115 117

126

152

176

Preface The impetus for this book stemmed from a Congress of the International Geographical Union in 1996, at which American members of the IGUs Commission on Geographical Education gave notice of an international project on the theme Geography Textbooks and Education Reform, draw­ ing on the experience of different countries. I was invited to write a Br itish chapter To my astonishment, in undertaking the background research, I discovered that no comprehensive text had ever been written in Britain on the subject of the school textbook This seemed to me good enough reason to attempt to plug the gap. A key decision was how much to cover My main academic interest and indeed relevant skills lay in geographical and historical education, and in historical perspectives on school curricula. As there was relatively little domestic guidance on how to write a book about textbooks I decided also that the international perspective, most particularly drawing on the Amer ican experience, was as essential as the historical perspective, in providing neces­ sary contexts. While the book draws upon 'international perspectives’, it should be emphasised that I am writing from the standpoint of what I believe to be lacking in the British educational situation and from this par­ ticular slant. At the same time, I hope that the British context will be of some interest to readers in the United States and elsewhere A more specific choice was of which school subjects to cover. As my teaching and research interests have long been in both geography and history, I had little trouble in starting with these. Bearing in mind the importance of the American dimension in the book, however, it seemed essential to consider also social studies textbooks, particularly in that context There is additional justification for this three-fold choice in that as a group geography, history and social studies textbooks have for long exhibited common features, and have equally been strikingly different from those in mathematics, science, modern languages and English, among others I have focused on two centuries of continuity and change. Chapters follow mostly a chronological structure, starting with the early nineteenth century, then usually combining the late-nineteenth and pre-First World War period of the twentieth century, followed by the inter-war period, and finally that of the post-Second World War In some cases this last period is divided between the pre- and post-1960s decades, the 1960s being an important threshold time in curriculum history Some chapters address more particularly the American dimension, obviously Chapter 2 and much ix

The School Textbook

of Chapter 9, and some the British, obviously Chapter 3 and Chapter 11 But in most comparative studies are made of both The European context also figures quite frequently, though in a more sporadic way For the latter; I have tended to rely on the considerable number of publications in English In autobiographical mode, I might mention that my work over thirty years in teacher education was involved with fulfilling two responsibilities: one was that of teaching pre-service students and mediating the associated relationships with schools; and the second was the academic research world While 1 took both seriously, I regret retrospectively that I kept these roles too separate For all the time I have been in teacher education, I have authored or co-authored school textbooks, and also many articles and academic monographs I feel more than a little guilty however that, like many of my peers, I kept the former activity rather under my hat. It was not referred to, for example, in either of my methodological texts on geo­ graphical education. This book is therefore to an extent seeking to achieve a redress It is my hope in fact that it will be of interest to both theoreticians and practitioners

x

Acknowledgements In the first place, for the third time I acknowledge with gratitude the support of the Nuffield Foundation Small Grant Scheme for Social Science Research, which was devoted in particular to covering the expenses of many visits to the British Library, British Newspaper Library, and other repositories Obviously these collections did not cover some of overseas material I required. For help with this 1 must thank most warmly the support of colleagues in two institutions in particular. The first is the GeorgEckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, where the Director, Professor Dr Ursula Becher, and her colleague Dr Falk Pingel, were unfailingly welcoming and supportive. The same was the case with David Ment, Director of Teachers College Library Collections, at Columbia University, and his colleague Bette Weneck, Manuscript Curator As I combined my visit to New York with a brief holiday, their help in expe­ diting my search and the photocopying of relevant materials from their superb historical collection was vital. In this country, I also am pleased to thank librarians and others at the British Library, the British Newspaper Library, the University of London Institute Library, and at the University of Liverpool Among other individuals I must acknowledge, the obvious starter is the editor of the Woburn Press Education Series, Professor Peter Gordon, whose support over four books I have written for the Press has always been unobtrusive, constructively non-interventionist and encouraging I also owe a particular debt to Dr Peter Knight of the University of Lancaster, who has read and commented on a number of chapters with great insight, both as an historian and as a researcher interested in the textbook field. I have also been helped greatly by Dr David Lambert of the University of London Institute of Education, whose recent research on textbooks and textbook use is so promising. I also acknowledge the stimulus of two geo­ graphical education colleagues who have stood out from the trend of so many peers and over a long period have written constructively about text­ books, namely John Lidstone and David Wright Graham Butt’s study of the National Curriculum Geography Working Group, Eleanor Rawling’s and Rex Walford’s comments on the same, and Rob Phillips’ on the History Working Group have also been much appreciated. The support of colleagues in the IGU Commission on Geographical Education, too numerous to mention, has always been an encouragement. Here I would obviously pick

The School Textbook

out the American initiators of the textbooks and educational reform project, Sarah and Bob Bednarz and Jo Stollman, who really started me off thinking about writing this book. Jo Stoltman has also helpfully commented on my discussion of the American standards debate.

xii

1 Introduction Sir Oracle in pedagogy cries: 'Throw text-books out oj the window Teach every subject as ij there were no text-book in the universe '

(EE White. (1901) The Art of Teaching.. p.117)

BACKGROUND: COMPARATIVE RESEARCH INTO TEXTBOOKS

Textbooks are still the most widely used resource for teaching and learn­ ing in British schools (see Westaway and Rawling, 1998, p 36), Even in the post-Plowden (1967) heyday of progressivism in primary education, hostile in principle to textbooks, government inspectors found three-fifths of upper junior classes used them in their geography and history lessons (DES, 1978, pp. 73-4). Yet the most conspicuous feature of attitudes in British educational circles towards school textbooks has remained a high level of negativism and/or neglect. Stray remarked that ‘textbooks have rarely been taken seriously as an object of study' (1994, pl), while Wilkes described them as 4 the most despised literary genre of all’ (1997, p. 44). Graves observed that research output was ‘pitifully small’ (1997a, p. 62). While criticism of textbooks has always been evident, it has in recent decades in Britain become more strident, both formally, in the educational literature, and informally, as ‘a puzzling and continuing feature of many conferences and conversations’ (Wright, 1996a, p 13) In pre- and in-service courses, the advice given to students and teachers, if any, has been either to discourage or even renounce textbook use (Lidstone, 1992, p. 177) The received wisdom remains that textbooks undermine professionalism, typify an undesirable transmission model of teaching and learning, and are gener­ ally incompatible with progressive educational practice. Such opinion embodies at the very least a thought chasm between elite definitions of what is deemed to be educationally appropriate, and the views of practising teachers, reliant to varying degrees on textbooks, and a factor in explain­ ing why research in education ‘does not seem to have been very well received by the teaching community’ (Lidstone, 1988, p 282) On a broader front it prompted Hargreaves to suggest that teachers are able to be effective in their practice in almost total ignorance of the research infrastructures of the educational theorist (1996, p. 2). ‘Is there any hope of ending this

The School Textbook disheartening and debilitating lack of a dialogue?’ he queried (1999a, p.240) Research into textbooks has long been a more respected locus of interest in the United States than in Britain, though Cronbach and his team in the 1950s were indeed anticipating Hargreaves’ concents, regretting the yawn­ ing gaps to be discerned between educational ideology and classroom prac­ tice, ‘inhabiting two separate worlds of discourse’ which had lost contact with each other (1955b, p. 188). Much of the theoretical debate was empty because not based on evidence If most teachers were over-reliant on textbooks and used them mechanically, while educational specialists were at the same time advocating high levels of teacher initiative and a more critical and flexible use of textbooks, then there was some neglect of duty in not developing the latter skills. Equally, if teacher initiative was shown to have educational advantages, and publishers were producing only teacher-proof materials, then they too were failing in their duty (p 216) ‘Textbook bashing’ remained ‘a favourite pastime’ across a broad spectrum of educational opinion (Fleming, 1992, p 55), but one which coexisted with a more pragmatic and constructive approach to textbook research. Many significant publications (see below), culminated in Chambliss and Calfee’s monograph which, unlike the British literature, affirmed that it was not the intention to identify any ‘villains’ but, more constructively, was rather to probe the potential of textbooks for ‘nurturing children’s minds’ (1998, p. xiii). Three types of critical reaction to textbooks can be identified. The first bemoans their presence and campaigns for prohibition. The second accepts their necessity, but demands measures for effecting reform (Patton, 1980, p. iv; Chambliss and Calfee, 1998, p 1). In general, a majority of American writers have taken the second stance In Britain the first has been more evident The third and more extreme variant is to ignore the textbook as a subject worthy of serious study, as has also happened in this country In the light of the enormous literature to be surveyed here, it may appear perverse to complain of neglect. It is a fact, however, that no comprehensive indigenous British survey of textbooks appears yet to have been published If this book is indeed the first to plug the gap, then it comes 80 years behind what was claimed to be the original American contribution, Hall-Quest’s The Textbook; How to Use and How to Judge It (1920, p vii) Even before then Sellery was formally advising American history teachers how to use textbooks (1911) By contrast, Catling and Wun’s advice 90 years later on how to use geography textbooks could be construed as an exotic item for the British journal Teaching Geography (2000) It was one of only a hand­ ful of ar ticles to be published on textbooks in the 25 years of the existence

?

Introduction

of that journal, aimed at secondary school practitioners As will be demon­ strated in Chapter 4, other educational journals and methodological articles over the same period appeared inhibited in publishing contributions to this topic Bearing in mind the paucity of home-grown intellectual support for a scholarly survey of textbooks, the question is where to look for transfer­ able insights To an extent the domestic historical experience can and will be used as a source (see Harper, 1980) More pertinent, however, have been the wide-ranging endeavours of educationists in the United States Colleagues in mainland European countries have also regarded the textbook as a worthy subject for research. An outstanding example is Choppin’s major series of publications on different types of textbooks, culminating in Les Manuels Scolaires (1992a) The latter was written with not dissimilar purposes to this text in mind. It offered, among other things, a significant historical per­ spective, and was a pioneering attempt to achieve an overall synthesis Equally. Johnsen’s extensive study, Textbooks in the Kaleidoscope (199.3), a Scandinavian publication now translated into English, has been helpful in drawing attention to a wealth of European literature The task of considering all the European material would, however, have been overwhelming and impractical, not least in the light of this author’s linguistic limitations . There also continue to be cultural differences between Anglo-American educational conventions and those of mainland Europe. For example, the concept of pedagogy, deployed here in the Anglo-American sense of its association with the art and science of teaching, means some­ thing similar to the European term didactics, which in turn in Britain carries connotations of ‘dogma and dullness’ and dead tradition (see Hamilton, 1999, p 135) None the less, specific information and ideas have been drawn from relevant foreign language publications such as, to take one instance, a comparative study of the European dimension in geography text­ books from five different countries, including England (Weinbrenner, 1998) European literature appearing in English has been widely addressed with, in addition to Choppin, and Johnsen, the invaluable publications of the GeorgEckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, Germany (1995) Some of these have been produced in association with the Council of Europe and UNESCO (see Bourdillon, 1992, and Pingel, 1999). Berghahn and Schissler’s interesting comparative collection of articles on international history textbook research (1987) and, more gener­ ally, Selander’s collection Textbooks and Educational Media (1997), have also proved useful sources. Neglect of research into textbooks in Britain cannot be attributed to a shortage of historical source material Goldstrom identified the school book 3

The School Textbook as a key resource in research into the social history of schooling (1972, p 3), as also did Ball (1983, p 251) Choppin concurred, suggesting that school textbooks ‘represent one of the richest and least interrupted sources of evidence, not only for histories of education, but also of histories of thought, science and culture ’ (1992b, p. 347) In making this observa­ tion, Choppin calculated that 80,000 textbooks had been produced in two centuries of schooling in France, where an outstanding national research collection has been assembled under the aegis of the French Emmanuelle project The Scandinavian interest in textbook research is reflected not only in Johnsen's monograph, but also through the International Association for Research on Textbooks and Educational Media (IARTEM) (Johnsen, 1995, pp 128-30), While it is contended that in general textbooks have been persistently under-researched in this country, this is less the case in relation to specific aspects, where there has, among other things, been address to issues of national identity, racist and sexist bias, and the analysis of text.. Lunzer and Gardner (1979), and Newton's (1990) texts on language issues were gen­ uinely indigenous sources, more so than De Castell and colleagues (1989), whose text, while published in this country, was a compilation of readings from predominantly overseas writers . There have also been articles referring to problems of the language used in geography and history textbooks, by Rosen (1967); Bernbaum (1972); Edwards (1978); Marsden (1979a); Davies (1986 and 1988); Wishart (1986); Williams (1978 and 1981); Slater (1989) and, more recently, under the heading of discourse analysis, by Bennett (1996), and Lester and Slater (1998)

RESEARCHING TEXTBOOKS IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRICULUM HISTORY

During the 1960s, many American educationists, among others Miel (1964), Goodlad (1966, p 91) and Kliebard (1968), were drawing atten­ tion to the lack of historical study of the curriculum field In Britain, little if anything in the way of an overall historical perspective on the field appeared in the post-war literature until the mid-1970s, with the possible exceptions of Bramwell's Elementary School Work 1900-1925 (1961), which focused on curriculum change in that period, and Goldstrom on the social content of school books (1972). More substantial breakthroughs were evident from the late 1970s First, Gordon and Lawton's Curriculum Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1978) discussed the processes of change in various curriculum areas About the same time, the History of 4

Introduction Education Society of Great Britain published Post-war Curriculum Devel­ opment: An Historical Appraisal In the associated conference papers an attempt was made to trawl existing literature, to draw on the American experience, and to suggest how messages from the past might legitimately be used in the contemporary situation (Marsden, 1979b). During the 1980s, historical study of the curriculum gained the wider support of some curriculum theorists (see Reid, 1986), and was most com­ prehensively evident in the many variations on the theme of subject histories by Goodson (for example, 1983, 1985, and 1988a) Part of the new interest in curriculum history derived from the influence of the 'new sociology’ of education (see Chapter 4), and from theoretical developments in curriculum studies (Baker, 1996, p 109) However the issue was approached, it was clear that previous textbooks were crucially important sources in inter­ preting the history of the curriculum, whether in furnishing information about how teaching and learning was conducted in the past, or as materi­ als that maintained their position over time, in some cases outstaying their welcome, as part and parcel of the continuity of curriculum development. Choppin indeed emphasised the need to illuminate from old textbooks 'an understanding of social evolution’, placing 'current practice in a more objective light’, and establishing 'criteria of analysis which can claim some permanent value’ (1992b, p. 346). In Britain archive collections of old textbooks have been an essential source of historic material, notably at the University of London Institute of Education, the University of Liverpool (the one most used for this study), the University of Cambridge, the University of Durham (history textbooks (see Batho, 1984)), and in the Fleure Archive of the Geographical Associ­ ation held at the University of Sheffield. Obviously, the British Library holds an immense textbook archive, though by no means a complete one Symptomatic of an increasing interest in Britain in historical study was the emergence of the 'Textbook Colloquium’ group in the 1980s, dedicated to research into textbook history From 1989 it produced the Paradigm journal.. This has served to bring together what once were spasmodic and dispersed initiatives An important research focus of the historical work in general has been the political and social content of past textbooks, not least in geography and history, and children’s literature, highlighting the dangers of bias and prejudice perceived in the promotion of nationalist, imperialist and racist ideologies through these sources. The interest in the history of the school subjects has been reinforced recently by Kent (2000) and Walford (2001) The study of bias and prejudice in textbooks post-war was pioneered in Dance’s text. History the Betrayer A Study in Bias (I960) though, as will

5

The School Textbook

be shown in Chapters .3 and 7, it was by no means the first to address such matters The Library Association compiled a major bibliography covering bias in history textbooks (Smith. 1962) Similar accounts of bias in past textbooks appeared during the 1970s, including Chancellor for history (1970), and Vaughan for geography (1972), Many more were to follow in the 1980s and 1990s, including Gilbert (1984); Ahier (1988); Marsden (1988a. 1989, 1990); Walforxl (1989); Tidswell (1990); Hopkin (1994); Stray (1994); Graves (1996 and 1997); Ploszajska (1996); and Wright (1988,1996a, 1996b, 1996c); and in some of the studies in Price’s collection on The Development of the Secondary Curriculum (1986) The same has been true of other subjects, not least modern languages (see Byram, 1993) From such work stemmed attempts to offer criteria for avoiding stereotyping, bias and prejudice in current curriculum materials In itemising significant topics for international research on geography textbooks. Wright included analysis of text, maps and diagrams, and visual resources; historical research into change and continuity over time; pupil responses; interviews with authors; how used; coverage of controversial issues, particularly related to racism and sexism; stereotyping; cross-disci­ plinary comparisons; pupil activities; and pupil attitudes towards textbooks (1983a, 1983b, 1988 and 1996a) Clammer ’s agenda for textbook research was complementary if more general, related to his perception of a need for a more thorough historical, comparative and internationalist approach (1986) Notwithstanding some pioneering work on the history of the curriculum, and even allowing for the significant monographs by Chancellor (1970), Goldstrom (1972) and Ahier (1988), there has been little to compare with the major American texts on the history of American school books. The scope of published bibliographies highlights the contrasts. Thus an anno­ tated bibliography of textbooks in education, prepared as part of the littleknown Keele Textbook Project, included a mere 130 items, the majority of which were from overseas, and mostly American (Parker , 1972) More sub­ stantial American examples were Grambs’ bibliography (1980, pp. 71-5), and that of Woodward, Elliott and Nagel (1988), which included well over 500 citations In Britain, a later compilation of information on textbooks including a research bibliography, hopefully brings promise of research to come in this area (Wood and Lambert, 1997)

THE TEXTBOOK: ORIGINS AND DEFINITIONS Historically, there seems to have been no consistently accepted definition of a ‘textbook’ There are semantic problems Even the nomenclature of

6

Introduction

textbook, text-book or text book has meant different things to different people at different times In investigating the historical background, Stray drew attention to the fine distinctions between school books, schoolbooks, textbooks and text books The school book, he claimed, was an appellation emerging in the seventeenth century, and a commonly used item in the eighteenth. Textbooks under that heading appeared in the 1830s, but text books were of much earlier vintage, and denoted texts, usually in Latin or Greek, used for instruction. Stray defined textbooks as authoritative peda­ gogic versions of an area of knowledge, and schoolbooks as books with appended notes to assist understanding as, for example, school editions of Shakespeare’s works There were overlaps, as he observed, between these categories and children s books (and of course printers and readers), which were designed to be attractive to children and serve instructional purposes as well (1994, pp. 2-3). There have been other interpretations Hamilton traced back in time and temporally linked the emergence of the concepts of school ‘instruction’ and ‘curriculum’ with the introduction of ‘textbooks’ He cited a fundamental shift from reliance on teachers to one on textbooks over the per iod between 1450 and 1650 (1993, p. 47 and p. 52). Marten claimed the earliest history textbook was written by an Etonian in 1561 (1938). In his pioneering study of the origins of school subjects in England, Foster Watson similarly used the term text-book for works of this period, such as Ocland’s Anglorutn Praelia of 1580 (1909, pp 79-81). He claimed that by the second half of the seventeenth century every important department of knowledge had been expounded ‘in an English text-book, and in almost all cases text-books had been simplified and adopted for school use in English’ (p. 535) Michael produced a comprehensive guide to school literature texts from 1700 to 1830 (1999). He too regularly referred to pre-nineteenth-century texts related to English teaching as textbooks, noting that early grammars and ‘rhetorics’ were in some cases written by schoolmasters and were intended as school textbooks (1979, pp. 194-5). These earlier texts for schools were not, however, produced on a mass scale. In the sense of it being a mass-produced ‘cultural commodity’, Stray's account of the origins of the textbook is probably correct For example, the 1830s first witnessed titles of the type ‘A Textbook of ’ The distinction between a textbook and a school book remains, with the latter often in practice a school library book, and intended to be used as a work of reference. The textbook, on the other hand, is characteristically purchased in class sets (see Firth, 1929, p. 150). Turning to the American literature, according to Hall-Quest, textbooks proper were essentially course books (1920, pp. 44—5) The key elements 7

The School Textbook

of any textbook were its systematic organisation of subject-matter, framing the prevailing concepts of the subject, offering the student direction, and providing support to the teacher (pp 4—11). McMurray and Cronbach later took a similar view, defining textbooks as printed text materials which were placed in the hands of every pupil A textbook was a simplif ied version of an organised body of knowledge matched to the limitations of a targeted immature learner. It was arranged as a course of study, so that the chapters would be studied in sequence, later ones presuming understanding of earlier (1955, pp 17-18). Buckingham also defined textbooks as publications designed for classroom use, carefully prepared by-experts’, placed in the hands of the learner, and providing 4a means of supplying indirect experi­ ence in large and well-organized amounts’ (1960, p 1517) Deighton distinguished textbooks from handbooks, which he suggested presented information without pedagogic explication (1971, p. 210). Older conceptions of what textbooks should provide have changed in recent decades, with the increasing popularity of packages of curr iculum materials, expanding well beyond the conventional bound pupil book The trend had been present in the United States from the inter-war period, and much later became evident in Britain There has also been a shift in both geography and history textbooks towards a declining ratio of text to illus­ trations and pupil activities with, as Walford commented, extended prose becoming in some cases so minimal as to merit the alternative titles of activ­ ity book or work book, rather than textbook (1995, p. 6) (see Chapter 6).

CURRICULUM CHANGE AND THE TEXTBOOK

Three factors have perennially impacted on curriculum change. They derive first from academic subject influences; secondly from educational/ philosophic principles; and finally from external social forces (Bramwell, 1973). Gordon and Lawton’s historical study of curriculum change (1978) was likewise based on what were essentially the same elements: changing subjects, changing educational methods, and the impact of outside forces, whether reflecting official legislation, external examinations, or pressure groups Changing curriculum practice has in turn dictated modifications in materials such as textbooks It would still be widely accepted that textbooks • • •

comprise a body of content; embody a range of pedagogic principles and processes; and reflect external and sometimes imposed sets of social purposes. (See Marsden, 1995, p. ix)

8

Introduction

Consideration of these three elements will take place in later chapters Here it can be argued that they accord with the frequently cited trio of ideologies of education, namely cultural transmission, associated with the classical humanist tradition and the passing down of subject knowledge and understanding; progressivism, based on principles of unfettered child development; and social reconstructionism. These have alternatively been described as subject-centred, child-centred and society-centred ideologies (see Skilbeck, 1976). The balance accorded to each of these ideologies has in pr actice changed over time They have coexisted but in different mixes reflecting shifting priorities A recurring question is whether or not a balance should be main­ tained, or that one element might justifiably be emphasised at the expense of the others. Certainly in educational theory, policy and practice, it has frequently been assumed that these elements tend to be competitive rather than complementary. Over many decades (see, for example, Davis, 1934), product (content or subject matter) has been polarised as somehow antipa­ thetic to process (or method), and either or both of these have been claimed to be subversive of desired social purposes (or mission) The nature of the balance has altered in accordance with changes in the educational system, as in Britain where, broadly speaking, the stress on matter has been strongly associated with the secondary grammar school tradition; on method with progressive primary school practice: and on mission with the emergence of the secondary modern and later the secondary comprehensive school In the United States, responding to what the general public perceived to be the curricular excesses of previous decades, Goodlad stated that: *To the extent that this reaction to child-centered and society-centered theories is itself perceived to be an overemphasis on subject matter in determining curricular ends and means, today’s movement already is breeding tomorrow’s counter-reaction ’ (1966, p 87). These distinctions are particularly important in this study, in that for long textbooks have been stereotyped, among other things, as suitable mainly for brighter secondary grammar school pupils, reckoned to be more responsive to ingesting the content which it has been seen as their main function to supply At the other pole, they have been assumed to be unsuitable for other pupils, and presented monolithically as demoti­ vating, dissonant with progressive activity methods, and/or unresponsive to the priorities identified as central to the mission of the non-selective school

9

The School Textbook

TEXTBOOKS IN GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES The focus of this study is on textbooks in geography, history and, with partic­ ular reference to the American dimension, social studies To a much lesser extent separate elements of the social sciences in Britain, namely economics, sociology and political science will be considered, in part because in England and Wales such subjects have still to gain a foothold in most phases of schooling, and in which, below the 16-19 level, few influential text­ books have emerged . Apart from reasons of space, in justifying restricting the coverage to textbooks in geography, history and social studies, it can be argued that they have long been closely associated in the make-up of school knowledge. Where a social studies framework has been chosen, it has normally taken on board geography and history as key contributors. Together, geography, history and the various elements of the social studies have been defined as the ‘social subjects’ Textbooks in these three areas, while varying in a number of ways, have often been similar in presenta­ tionrand have reflected complementary social purposes They display much greater differences with textbooks in the sciences, mathematics, English, modern languages, and the creative arts subjects, largely excluded from consideration in this text

OUTLINE

This book is intended as a ground-clearing exercise, as comprehensive a trawl as is practical within space constraints of the available literature in English covering the world of school textbooks. It is thought to be the first of its type in Britain to range through ‘the diversity of topics on which any meaningful consideration of the textbook must be based’ (Parker, 1972, p. I) Its comparative and historical coverage inevitably mean there is no prospect of probing each issue in depth Indeed each chapter could justify extension into a whole book But hopefully, the endeavour will provide a baseline for further research. It is hoped that it will be of interest to practising teachers as well as researchers, and that it may be regarded as a comparative historical contribution to what Hargreaves has termed, in a somewhat different context, ‘evidence-based’ research, applicable to teaching (1999b). Goodlad, in justifying an historical approach to curriculum study, advised that ‘the wise explorer studies the maps of those who went before’ (1966, p. 91) It is contended here that the wise explorer also investigates the concurrent experience of other cultures. Having raised issues to do with 10

Introduction

research in this introductory chapter; Chapter 2 therefore seeks insights from (he infinitely richer experience of the United States in textbook theory and practice Chapter 3 draws in an analogous way on the British historical perspective. Here textbook study, while never as centrally a focus of cur­ riculum debate as in the United States, was not always as downplayed as it has been in recent decades Chapter 4 stays with the British scene and, with some relevant commentary from the American experience, discusses the roots and development of what is here described as the contemporary anti-textbook ethos Moving on from these external perspectives, the internal characteristics and qualities of textbooks become the focus of the following five chapters As already noted, like the curriculum process of which they are a part, text­ books are inextricably linked with the previously identified trinity of matter. method and mission, on the balance between which their writers and publishers presumably have staked their particular claims for consid­ eration in the market place. These will therefore form in turn the substance of Chapter 5, covering matter (content); Chapter 6. method (educational processes); and Chapters 7, 8 and 9, which deal with a variety of issues related to the mission (social purposes) being sought Chapter 7 considers bias and prejudice in textbooks; Chapter 8, national identity, nationalism and internationalism; while Chapter 9 addresses issues of censorship, partic­ ularly in the United States, where it has been an endemic feature, and under totalitarian regimes in Europe. The final two chapters concentrate on more practical and topical issues Chapter 10 surveys a wide range of materials which have offered guidance on choosing and using textbooks. Chapter 11 covers contentious issues related to the nature of the association of textbooks with circumscribed syllabuses, particularly those connected with the perceived constraints of the National Curriculum in England and Wales and the complementary debates over National Standards in the United States The kaleidoscope metaphor in the title of Johnsen’s text (1993) is indeed appropriate here too A major difference is obviously Johnsen’s under­ standably negligible consideration of the British scene, and light coverage of the American Some valuable comparative insights, however, have been drawn from his work He noted, for example, that in mainland European countries, though taken very seriously, research into textbooks has been notably variable, focusing mostly on issues of readability and social con­ tent, with little attention paid to such questions as the use of textbooks as attested by classroom surveys.. Content analyses were judged to have been primarily ‘ideological in nature, aimed at improving textbooks’ faculty for instilling tolerance and international understanding’ Methods of research

11

The School Textbook

ranged from impressionistic-polemical analyses to mathematical-statisti­ cal surveys’ Many studies were found lacking an overall perspective, and mar ked by ambiguous attitudes toward the production and use of textbooks (pp. .327-8), In other words, imbalances and paradoxes were found that also have been characteristic of the more limited British research into the topic One of Johnsen’s important contentions was that textbooks were about the people involved with them, and that the primary goal of international research must implicate the parties who influence the educational culture of which textbooks remain part and parcel, namely • • • • •

the professional experts at the frontiers who must in an essential way impact on the content of textbooks; the authors, editors, designers, consultants and marketing experts who produce and distribute the books; the school authorities, advisers, teachers and others who evaluate, select and purchase the books; the teachers who use the books; and the pupils who are assumed to derive benefit from them.

Different authors have written and still write different textbooks for dif­ ferent publishers.. They are appraised by different reviewers, and targeted at different audiences, who in turn use and react to them differently The account which ensues seeks not least to query some of the aggregate assumptions attached in theoretical writings to each of these groups, and to look more carefully at the individual variations

12

2 Reviewing the American Experience Don't attempt to learn from America An Englishman has brains enough to discover for himself what is good for England (J Ruskin, quoted in W.H.G Armytage, (1967) The American Influence on English Education, p 26)

Surveying at least the subsequent educational literature has tended to con­ firm that Ruskin's conceit was historically by no means an isolated aber­ ration It was consistent with an existing and to be maintained suspicion and rebuff of American ways, long regarded in British education as exem­ plifying perils to be avoided The underlying clash of cultures was to be described by Maclure as ‘a source of disquiet and insecurity; a spur to chau­ vinism, self-justification, complacency' (1968, p. 3) In the post-Second World War period, for example, renewed attempts to introduce social studies into British schools were in part undermined through guilt by association with United States curriculum arrangements (see Chapter 3). Other examples of the collision were evident in the 1960s and 1970s, when the curriculum reforms being disseminated across the Atlantic generated opposing reactions of excitement and antipathy (Gordon, 1979, p 4) Professor J I Goodlad’s address at an Oxford International Curriculum Conference in 1967 was said to have left one British participant complaining that he had gone some way to undermining the occasion and making the English delegates 'hopping mad', the abstraction of American curriculum theoreticians and the prag­ matism of British teachers and subject specialists meeting head-on (Maclure, 1968, p. 9). Too negative an image of the relationships should not be enshrined, however, for American educational influences have periodically taken wing in Britain (see Armytage, 1967) It was, for example, in the United States that curriculum theory as a focus of academic activity emerged (Reid, 1986, p 159) From the 1960s this provoked major changes in pre-service and higher degree courses in education Figures such as Ausubel, Bloom, Bruner, Phenix, Taba, Tyler and their peers became household names among British educators, as had Dewey and others before them. From the beginnings of the republic, the textbook has universally been accepted in the United States as an essential teaching and learning aid. The American record of research on the textbook, while inevitably variable in

13

The School Textbook

quality, represents a substantial and supportive resource for conducting a British survey of the field The purpose of this chapter is therefore to scru­ tinise both critically and empathetically the American experience of text­ books in theory and in practice through two centuries of development, addressing the external social and educational, and the internal curriculum and classroom contexts which have fashioned their character and usage.

THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY During the colonial period the nation's school books were almost entirely derived from European, and mostly British, sources. In the spartan early schoolrooms individual instruction was the norm, its character determined by any book, perhaps a well-worn family heirloom, which the child could bring to school (Jorgenson, 1982, p 151) The dual-purpose early readers were designed for teaching the alphabet and spelling, and for reading and religious instruction The short stories in the readers often introduced the geography and history of the United States But the religious and moral training element was the priority (Shankland, 1961) The hugely success­ ful McGuffey Readers were regarded in many homes as meriting 4as high a place as teachers of manners and morals as the Bible itself’ (Branham, 1930, p. 58). In the more distinctive geography, history and civics text­ books, the intention remained to offer the correct contribution to moral and civic training Such books were, however, kfrequently catechetical in form, inaccurate as to facts, and often included weird stories born of wild imagination’ (Moore, 1929, p 118) There were critical differences between the relatively long-settled eastern states and the pioneering communities of the west In the 1820s, for example, when Mrs Willard’s influential geographies were being published, ‘no white woman, so far as known, had crossed the continent’ (Blodgett, 1899, p. 141) The meagre skills of teachers were another problem In the van­ guard American common school, the textbook comprised the course of study (Nietz, 1966, p 1) Because of the absence of professional authors, much textbook writing was left to the personal initiatives of local ministers of religion (Fell, 1941, pp. 3-4). Following the War of Independence, isolationism and the quest to achieve an idiomatic national identity stimulated pressures for teaching a specifically American history, for which indigenous instructional materials were regarded as essential The fact of war, however, meant that for some years schools went without textbooks as the old ones from Britain were exhausted (Jensen, 1931, p 4). In geography, the Revd Jedidiah Morse’s

14

Review ing the American Experience

compilations of the early 1790s soon assumed command of this field (Brown. 1941, p 147). He was but one who demanded that Amer ican youth should be educated not as subjects of the British king, but as citizens of an independent republic (Nietz. 1961, p. 200). Bitter feelings were aroused by the pro-British and anti-American stereotypes to be found in. among others, the Goldsmith geographies, at that time widely available in the United States (Roorbach, 1937, pp 144-5). Cries for an authentically American version of history were soon to be met, for from a situation of short supply of home-grown texts at the beginning of the century, there were breakthroughs in the 1820s (Spieseke. 1938, p iii). In geography, by the 1780s there had already been attempts at redress, one text using dog­ gerel to proclaim the superiority of scenery of the native land:

No more let the Old World be proud of her mountains. Her rivers, her mines, her lakes and her fountains, Tho' great in themselves - they no longer appear To be great - when compar'd to the great that are here (1784 text, quoted in Kiefer, 1948, p 154) A striking feature of the textbook industry in the United States was the way in which it mirrored the more general development of the educational system This was evident in the procedures adopted for the selection of text­ books. The situation faced by a youthful and under-developed nation, with huge numbers of dispersed and disparate settlements, into which immigrants Hooded from diverse backgrounds, led to community leaders seeking tight control over their own schools. When state systems took over responsibilities for the provision of education, detailed decisions were still left to local school boards, accountable to their communities. Such local lay control over text­ book selection and other matters was established as a tradition which to this day it has been hazardous for politicians and educational reformers on the larger stage to challenge (Cody. 1990, pp 127-8). Working within the constraints, by mid-century the American publishing industry had, how­ ever. become a powerful force in the educational system at all levels.

FROM MID-CENTURY TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR: FORCES FOR CHANGE

The late nineteenth-century population explosion, coupled with the multi­ ethnic nature of the migrants, brought in its train a huge expansion of the educational system, further reinforcing demands for a coordinated and 15

The School Textbook

distinctively American curriculum There were underlying religious tensions in the way of assimilation as well, exacerbated by the profusion of sects which were brought with them by the immigrants In addition, parents with high aspirations for their children were exercised by whether to select parochial or publicly provided schools, in urban areas often linked with social as well as religious divides The religious schools, not least the Catholic, taught through their lessons and their textbooks 'the gospel of acceptance *, and virtues such as humility, meekness, self-denial and patience * They obviously appealed to the respectable. Such values were not, however, so well designed to generate the individual success ethic so necessary to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the astonishing economic growth of the United States from the mid-nineteenth century. The Catholic dioceses and other religious bodies while denouncing the ‘godlessness of the public school’, were at the same time impelled to a degree to secularise their curricula and their textbooks, allowing them to compete better with the publicly funded schools (Sanders, 1981, pp 130-1) Great changes ensued following the establishment of graded schools, beginning in the 1830s and 1840s In these much larger numbers of children were accommodated, and classified by age Grading encouraged the pub­ lication of standardised textbooks which also needed to be graduated. The McGuffey Readers and textbooks of arithmetic were designed for partic­ ular age groups (Shankland, 1961) The expansion of the system offered enticing opportunities for major educational publishers On the platform of this mass market, and with the help of technological advances, textbooks grew in size, in quality of paper and binding, in number and sophistication of visual materials, including the use of colour, and in the insertion of teach­ ing notes, indexes and glossaries, all rare earlier on. The appearance of sub­ ject associations, expert authors, and the more rigorous requirements of school boards, further ensured greater uniformity and authority of content (Nietz, 1966, pp. 2-9). Anxieties were quickly expressed over the rigidi­ ties of the graded system, however. Superintendents, including the influ­ ential WT Hanis in St Louis, ‘waged vigorous propaganda for the break­ ing up of “the Procrustean bed of grades” into which pupils and subject matter had been organised’ (Rugg, 1926b, p 34) The more professionally produced textbooks of this period were, how­ ever, to gain a bad press in the next cycle of curriculum refor m of the 1920s. One of the criticisms was that they had become too academic Harold Rugg also contended that the textbook held the primary responsibility for sepa­ rating the school timetable into subject divisions, pointing to the popular­ ity of Moise’s pioneering Geography Made Easy of 1784, which he claimed had ensured the introduction of a ‘new and domineering subject of study’ 16

Reviewing the American Experience into the curriculum (1936, pp. 126-8). ‘The printed word usurped the role of oral expression in the classroom and the textbook domineered over the curriculum of American schools . Slowly but surely, the curriculum became more wordy ’ The associated ‘patchwork' of school subjects of the curricu­ lum ‘ignored almost totally the emerging economic, political, and cultural problems and institutions’ of the United States Rugg dubbed this period as the ‘book-knowledge era of curriculum-making’, in which ‘mechanics held sway over meaning and emotion’ (1926a, pp 23-5). He probably overstated the case He was not alone in subscribing to this view, nor was he the first. Sutherland, for example, a President of a Wisconsin State Normal School, had earlier in the century equally firmly stressed that geography should be seen as contributing to the modern tendency of ‘lessening the gap that has long existed between school and life’ (1909, p 17). So also had the Herbartarians (see below).

THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION W:T Han is, a late nineteenth-century harbinger of the scientific movement in American education, has been credited as providing the basis ‘for the game of curriculum-making that would be played over the next half century’ (Cremin, 1971, pp 208-10) He identified the textbook as the instrument and the teacher as the energiser of the systematic curriculum process he so carefully outlined. It was, however, the influence of powerful committees established in the 1890s to initiate curriculum reforms which triggered major changes These included the Committee of Seven, appointed by the American Historical Association in 1896 Its 1899 Report, on The Teaching of History in Schools advanced the status of that subject For some twenty years history, like geography, achieved a position of prominence in the curriculum. But from a high-water mark in the middle of World War I, both subjects lost ground in the quest for a curriculum that emphasised social efficiency and citizenship (Nelson, 1992, pp. 463-4) The reformists of the 1890s inevitably turned their attention to ways of improving textbooks. The Committee of Seven approved the progres­ sive view that materials beyond the textbook should be employed, but assumed that the move to focus on first-hand sources rather than the second-hand information offered in textbooks was beyond the capacity of teachers to cope with effectively. Therefore all work needed to be under­ taken ‘in connection with a good textbook, in which the sequence and relation of events can be made clear’ (1899 Report, 1915 edition, p. 7 and p. 102).

17

The School Textbook

While Harris had formulated new analytical frameworks, the National Hei bart Society took fuller account of the child development priorities of the progressive movement in education The Herbar tarians did not neglect content, however, which had to be distinctive of the subject, but it had even more to be consonant with good pedagogy, and at the same time open to correlation with other subjects The McMurry brothers were pioneering advocates of the 'type study’, whether in geography or history Used in their own textbooks, it was said to engage both 'the interest and concrete inten­ sity of a particular or personal or conspicuous object’, while displaying 'to the thoughtful person the clear outline of a general truth’; To effect the link, some kind of comparison of types must be presented, as a means of high­ lighting generic properties The sifting out of the 'best types’ was a route into strategic planning of lesson units, achieving control over the larger study (1903, pp, 238-54) The subject matter of the curriculum could thereby also be selected from real life experience FM McMurry, for example, insisted that one-third of the material used should emphasise local, national and international issues, with 'vital social problems as the centre of organisation’ (1915, pp 7-8) By World War I, however, in Kliebard’s words, 'the bright flame of American Herbartarianism was flick­ ering’, as the new curriculum making promised 'precision and activity’ (1975, p. 27). New fact-finding Committees avidly quarried information from innu­ merable detailed surveys of schools, from which their experts sought raw material to provide bases for reform of the curriculum Their reports were published, as in the Yearbooks of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE). Textbooks were judged by score cards and numerical weightings More than half the superintendents of educational authorities used such means to select texts, and the assessments had a considerable impact on publishers, teachers and parents (McMurray and Cronbach, 1955,pp. 14-15) The first two decades of the twentieth century were therefore a time of heightening tensions between subject promoters, progressive educationists and the new proponents of scientific curriculum making All claimed to be forward looking, but in practice cut across each other Once more Harold Rugg laid much of the blame on traditional subject interests, seen to domi­ nate bodies such as the National Education Association. 'For thirty years, they created no educational sociology in their teacher education and no social studies in the schools’ (Rugg and Withers, 1955, p, 495 and p, 500) The 'lack of fusion of vocabularies’ between theorists and practitioners was seen by Rugg as especially damaging (1926c, pp. 2-5). In the event, the advo­ cacy of the commissions represented the elite intellectual preoccupations 18

Reviewing the American Experience

of that era, not necessarily the priorities of grassroots practice, The highly publicised reports of the expert curriculum making commissions seldom reached, and much less influenced, practitioners in far-flung classrooms across the United States.

THE INTER-WAR CURRICULUM REFORM MOVEMENT AND TEXTBOOKS The NSSE’s Committee on New Materials for Instruction criticised the ease with which teachers became ‘mere distributors’ of the knowledge they had either learned in school or could easily find in textbooks, seldom think­ ing it was part of their duty to supplement textbook material. It was not averse to textbooks as such but to ‘textbook controlled instruction’ The aim of its 19th Yearbook (1920), for which the Committee was responsi­ ble, was to sponsor on a broad scale new materials for instruction prepared by practitioners in schools and higher education, which would take into account topical needs The Yearbook largely comprised planning advice and lesson units designed to supplement and enliven normal textbook materials (Judd et al., 1920, pp. 7-15). Individual members of the NSSE’s celebrated Committee on Curriculum-making were, however, less than enthusiastic about textbook use. One of the,most incisive critics was Franklin Bobbitt, who regarded the division of the curriculum into subjects, with instruction dominated by the textbook, as symptomatic of the narrowness which he considered his new scientific, output-oriented techniques should supplant.

In such all-important fields as history, science, geography, etc the textbooks are in large part carefully laid out bodies of abstract information, lacking in the human element, often almost or entirely without life, embalmed, ready for the pseudo-educational process of storing their content in the memory-vaults (1924, p. 46)

The proponents of social studies were on the march Tryon later named pressure groups involved in ‘continuous and strenuous efforts for the past forty years in promoting the social sciences as school subjects' They included not only academic bodies, but also the Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, the American Bar Association, the National Security League, the Amer ican School Citizenship League, and the National Munic­ ipal League (1935, pp. 3-4) Commercial interests argued for business education to be a key component of social studies courses (Association of 19

The School Textbook Collegiate Schools of Business, 1922, p. 50). On the academic front, Rugg condemned the content of history as too much concerned with ‘the details of military campaigns, the minutiae of battles, and the tabulated provisions of treaties of peace’ Geography he approved, up to the fifth grade, based as it was until then on the material environment Thereafter it became a typical school subject: ‘a formidable affair’, a learning of ‘countless facts’, the textbooks ‘veritable encyclopaedias’ On the other hand, he thought civics courses had improved in dealing not only with the constitution, but also aspects of community life Rugg was totally convinced that the current partitioning of social science content into geography, history and civics hampered the teacher. His answer was to inject materials and conceptual frameworks from these and other social science subject traditions into an integrated scheme based on real topics and issues such as transportation (1923, pp. 5-8, and pp. 21-2). Other influences included the social and economic transformation of the United States in the latter decades of the nineteenth century and, in the new century, Dewey’s philosophical and pedagogic ideas, and the impact of the First World War I AU these ensured a stronger hearing for an integrated approach to social studies. The Committee on Social Studies produced in 1916 a prototype social studies curriculum, which predictably caused con­ cern among historians and geographers (Saxe. 1992, pp 156-7). A new pressure group, the National Council for the Social Studies, was formed (see Whipple 1923). The progress of the social studies was evident in contributions to that monumental inter-war manifesto and inventory of American curriculum initiatives, the two-volumed 26"’ Yearbook of the NSSE on The Foundations and Technique of Curriculum Const/action (1926) It was insisted that the traditional subject curriculum was moribund, and that what was required in its place was a ‘curriculum for life’ The fate of geography and history as significant separate subjects on the American school timetable was sealed for decades to come. Knowlton, a historian at the Lincoln School of Teachers College, New York, had already described the position of geography in American schools as ‘perilous’ It would only be a matter of time before it lost ground to sub­ jects which could ‘lay a better claim for recognition in a curriculum already overcrowded’. He fixed the blame within academic subject circles, leading geographers being accused of lacking interest in the school situation He instanced their failure to make clear what their subject had to offer when the Committee on Social Studies of the National Education Association included geography in their tentative programme of 1917 Subject interests did not supply a single advocate to present their aims. If they could not define their own subject in a distinctive way, they should not expect teachers to 20

Reviewing the American Experience

remedy the deficiency (1921, pp. 226-7 and p 233). The subject’s loss of position may well also have been in part a result of the policy of the Association of American Geographers, which decided to delegate its edu­ cational involvement to another organisation, on the formation of the National Council of Geography Teachers (Martin, 1987, p 83). The more powerful forces in the universities at this time were undoubt­ edly the schools of education rather than those of geography. Schaefer argued that dur ing the early years of this century the field of education was ‘abdicated by the university as a whole and pre-empted by the schools of education’ But unlike other countries, the new schools of education were ‘not originally conceived or established as lower-class adjuncts assigned to carry out tasks ill-suited to nobler minds’ The founders of the hugely impressive and influential schools at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and the University of Chicago, for example, were not simply interested in the vocational preparation of teachers, but were also engaged ‘in encouraging studies as broad and as deep as culture itself’ The penalty for this success was that it diverted the academic departments in universities from taking an interest in the problems of schools, especially lower schools (1971, pp J 7-18). By contrast, the work of the geography department at Columbia Univer­ sity was much less impressive, and has been singled out as symptomatic of the low esteem of geography in many American universities. Richard Dodge was the first geographer to be appointed at Teachers College. Esteemed as a producer of textbooks and a disseminator of his subject, his reference to the ‘arrested development’ of geography (1916, p. 9) also reflected his own internal political position and generally poor relations with his superiors. De Bres later suggested that certain geography departments in the United Slates had their origins in teacher training rather than in scholarship He suggested that Dodge was more effective as a textbook writer than as an academic politician building up his department, and did not undertake much research into advancing first-hand geographical knowledge’ (1989, pp 399-400) Even so, geography did not die out The Journal of Geography contin­ ued to be published, and various methodological texts were produced, among them the NSSE’s 32nd Yearbook on The Teaching of Geography (Whipple, 1933), a landmark in the historiography of geographical educa­ tion (see Marsden, 1992a) The NSSE had for some years procrastinated over the idea of producing a yearbook on a specific school subject. The Yearbook Committee’s Chairman indicated the belief of his Committee in separate subject teaching, so long as this was of a reformed type 4We believe that progressiveness is best exhibited by the improvement of the 21

The School Textbook

teaching of what we have than by the iconoclastic destruction of subject structures that are familiar to all’ (Parkins, 1933, p xvi) The 32nd Year­ book, for all its merits, was not effective in re-establishing geography’s place in the curriculum, however. The situation in junior high schools was particularly precarious, and even in senior only 70 per cent of schools offered geography, and presumably as part of social studies rather than as an isolated subject Junior high school social studies placed more stress on history and civics than on geography, while in senior high schools geogra­ phy was almost ignored in the social studies course (Stull, 1933, pp 570-1). None the less, F.K. Branom, a prominent geographical educationist, still felt able to assert at this time that ‘undoubtedly the best geography text­ books in the world are used in American schools’ (1933, pp. 407-9). One of those instanced was the Dodge-Lackey series, one of the last American geography series for decades to match the achievement of those of, for example, Guyot, Frye, and Tarr and McMurry, and to merit some interna­ tional interest Dodge was well versed both in geography and in progres­ sive educational ideas, following in turn the hehnatkuiule or home study tradition; the type-studies of the Herbartarians; and the notion that geogra­ phy was a visual subject and must be related to the living world of the child. Like Rugg, he urged the importance of an understanding between geogra­ phers and educators and, like Dewey, that teachers required adequate subject knowledge (1916, pp. 3-5) Though Rugg himself might have preferred not to notice, the Dodge-Lackey were subject texts which did aim to establish contact with the drama of American life. The content was arranged in ‘story units’, and the variety of activities was categorised as ‘Things to Do’, ‘Things to Talk About', ‘Stories to Complete’ and ‘Map Study’ Visual materials were prominent, and teaching suggestions were also included. Some geographical educationists sought to fight back against the surge of social studies. Fairbanks had earlier questioned the view that combining disciplines in an integrated social studies format would preserve the distinc­ tive nature ol the subjects incorporated They did not bear the same relation­ ship to the whole as they did within themselves, he argued. He criticised in detail Rugg’s attempts to encompass the geography of Britain within an appropriate social science section, arguing that the geographical element was left factual and locational, and was not conceptual He claimed also that Rugg had not kept up to date with modern developments in geography. While he accepted that Rugg’s materials were the best of their type, they did not do justice to ‘the heights towards which geography is ascending’ (1927, pp 174-8). While in the United States professional geographers tended to opt out of the school arena, in Britain key academic figures such as Mackinder, 22

Reviewing the American Experience Herbertson and, later. Stamp, engaged themselves at different levels: in pioneering developments within the discipline; in promoting it in schools; and in writing textbooks for schools as part of this endeavour. In Britain also, there would seem to have been no social scientists of the calibre or the political sophistication of Rugg and his counterparts to fight against the increasing popularity of geography and history on school timetables So the separate subject system remained in British schools, helped by the criti­ cisms of integrated curriculum approaches which seeped through from North America A review in The Schoolmaster of C.A. McMurry’s How to Organise the Curriculum, for example, was diagnostic. Headed 'An American Disease’, it made reference to the United States curriculum plan­ ning movement ‘Whatever Mr McMurry writes’, noted the reviewer, deserved to be read, 'but what he writes in this latest book will repay less than usual the attention of English teachers, because he is diagnosing and prescribing for a disease not yet so virulent here as in America' (Anon., 1924a, p. 934). Back in the United States. Rugg’s attack was not only on subjects, but also on textbooks. Together with another leading American educationist of the time. George Counts, he highlighted the impasse between progressive educational reformers and the ongoing and hidebound textbook tradition of American education:

a curious and anomalous situation has developed The curriculum of American schools has been organised essentially round school text­ books The book itself serves as an outline and guide, indeed as a veritable course of study It then creates committees of principals and teachers to write another course of study If they are success­ ful in achieving this end. the course of study which they propose and which the administration prints and sends to the teachers must in some respects fail to harmonise with the books which have been adopted as basic guides (Rugg and Counts. 1926, pp. 443-4) They none the less agreed that for the basic skill subjects a school sys­ tem could do no better than adopt the best textbooks available, as these were difficult to excel. For other subjects, curriculum planning should go beyond the textbook Local officials should advise on ‘the selection, organ­ isation and integration of a tremendous wealth of available materials’, and relate these to schemes of activities (pp. 443-7) While a theoretical critic of textbooks, particular single subject examples, Rugg at the same time co-authored one of the most comprehensive and

23

The School Textbook challenging social studies series ever constructed, entitled Man and his Changing Society. Following a principle adopted by Arnold Guyot, he worked in conjunction with a pedagogue, his wife Louise Krueger, for his texts for younger children, to ensure that the child-centred element was catered for (see Chapter 6).. In alt, twenty volumes appeared between 1929 and 1940 ‘To say that the series took the country by storm would be an understatement’ (Winters, 1967, p. 510). During this time, about 1.3 million copies of the texts and 2.7 million of the associated workbooks were sold It was ‘a remarkable, if only temporary, example of a successful recon­ struction of a school subject both in terms of form and content ( Kliebard and Wegner, 1987, p. 268) According to Bayles and Hood, Rugg’s series, ‘more than any other factor influenced the transition from the school subjects of civics, geography and history to what are now called the social studies’(1966, p 275). It brought Rugg ‘wealth, notoriety, and ultimately, in some circles, infamy’ (Nelson, 1978, p. 119), becoming probably the most censored textbook series ever written (see Chapter 9). The NSSE regarded the textbook as sufficiently important to justify devoting its 30th Yearbook to the topic An essentially pragmatic compila­ tion, it covered typography, costings, methods of selection, marketing tech­ niques and various publishing problems There was little discussion of theoretical underpinnings, and only one chapter on teaching methods In its final recommendations, the Yearbook Committee urged that the educational interests of the pupil must always be the first consideration in making and appraising textbooks. Their selection should be the prerogative of the edu­ cational personnel of schools Objection was raised against the principle of state adoption, while the state production of textbooks was condemned as ‘unwise, uneconomical, and educationally unsound’ Teachers in training should have the skills of textbook choice emphasised in their professional preparation, and supervisors should offer guidance on intelligent use of the material Notwithstanding its reservations, the Committee praised reputable publishers for the excellence of their materials, and judged that there had been tangible improvement in the skills of selecting textbooks (Whipple, 1931,pp.305-8) One of the criticisms of the erudite curriculum planners of the 1920s was the patronising and in some cases even derogatory stance taken towards practising teachers, and particularly elementary teachers Their top-down approach, as well as the conceptual complexity of their proposals, resulted in some ostracism by practitioners. On the other hand, the reformers of the 1930s, such as Caswell and Campbell (1935), and Harap (19.37), authors of outstanding curriculum texts, were committed to harnessing the support of teachers on curriculum making bodies Meanwhile, economic depression

24

Reviewing the American Experience led to fresh demands for adjusting the curriculum to rapid social change, which in tum had profound consequences for textbook producers. The ‘frenzy of activity’ in curriculum planning (Miel, 1942, p. 6) included the forma­ tion of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, still in existence. Its major initiative, following the ground-breaking Rugg social studies texts, was what was also to become another highly contro­ versial series, Building America (Tyler, 1971, pp. 42-3), to be returned to in Chapters 5 and 9

THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND AFTER The attitudes of American educationists towards textbooks from the out­ break of the Second World War continued to range from the constructively critical to a reluctant acceptance that they were at least a necessary evil. Wesley reaffirmed their value as ‘exceedingly useful tools of instruction’, generally written by ‘alert and intelligent persons who are often competent scholars and sometimes good teachers’ (1942, p 179) Tyler also offered cautious support for the use of textbooks as necessary elements in the cur­ riculum planning process, so long as certain conditions were met: • • •

♦

Textbooks should not be the sole aid to learning. Pupils should be encouraged to use a variety of resources. Writers should organise content according to carefully applied processes of curriculum planning, such as sequential development; and should relate the learning experiences to individual differences and the personal and social problems of pupils. (1941, pp. 335-7)

He concluded that the textbook ‘has an important function Its purpose is to help the student to organise and to intellectualise, that is, to make meaningful, his experiences’ (1941, p. 338). Caswell, another well-known curriculum theorist, also argued that in the right hands and under the right organisation, modern textbooks could contribute significantly to good learning experiences for children (1952, pp . 241-2). One of the most impor­ tant American contributions to the study of the textbook was that of Lee Cronbach and colleagues at the University of Illinois, published in 1955, They turned to the disciplines of educational thought in order to provide a framework for a dispassionate appraisal of the genre. The team concluded that the widespread criticisms of textbooks were not sufficient reasons to discard them (pp. 26-7). Some things textbooks did poorly, some they did

25

The School Textbook well, and for some they were indispensable. The transmission of the cul­ ture, for example, was an important function of the textbook, which meant that its writer should have acquired the tools of the discipline, its mode of thought and question-asking potentialities (p 51) .The psychological aspects covered included, to use the modern terminology, matching, differentiation, sequencing and progression At all stages, the textbook should be geared to the promotion of active and purposeful learning (p 90),

THE CURRICULUM REFORMS OF THE 1960s In a report of a conference called by the National Academy of Sciences in 1959, Jerome Bruner linked the need for curriculum reform with the perception of crisis in national security as a result of the Cold War The conference was in turn a catalyst for the curriculum projects of the 1960s (Tanner, 1988,p 126) These went beyond the production of textbooks into more complex presentations of curriculum materials, of a scope and ambi­ tion matching those of the inter-war curriculum reform movement Most of the initiatives were the progeny of the National Science Foundation, but government bodies, such as the Office of Education, were implicated as well, as were various subject organisations. The projects broke with American tradition in that they were mostly conceived of outside the for­ mal political structure, were federally funded, were targeted at a national audience, and were associated with single subjects. They were profession­ ally led. chiefly by academics in the disciplines being supported, with a top-down planning strategy (Goodlad. 1964, pp 1-3) As in the inter-war period, the 1960s curriculum reform movement was graced by some of the most celebrated names in the educational field of the second half of the twentieth century. Like Rugg previously, Bruner applied his theoretical ideas in fashioning curriculum materials His The Process of Education. while affirming the importance of 'learning by doing’, also insisted that the activity/discovery element in education should be underpinned by the structures of the disciplines of knowledge (Elliott, 1990, pp. 43-5). Intellectual activity anywhere is the same, whether a the frontier of knowledge or in a third grade classroom the curriculum of a sub­ ject should be determined by the most fundamental understanding that can be achieved of the underlying principles that give structure to that subject Teaching specific topics or skills without making clear their context in the broader fundamental structure of a field of

26

Reviewing the American Experience

knowledge is uneconomical such teaching makes it exceedingly difficult for the student to generalise from what he has learned to what he will encounter later (and) has little reward in terms of intellectual excitement (Brunei; 1963, p, 31)

The basic themes of subjects he described as ‘as simple as they are powerful’ Grasp of them was the key to progression into more complex forms of understanding 4 A curriculum as it develops should revisit these basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them./ Thus emerged the profoundly influential concept of the ‘spiral curriculum’ (pp. 12-13). Phenix (1964) framed the field of knowledge in what he considered to be distinctive, non-arbitrary domains, which he referred to as ‘realms of meaning’ These were to be the basis for outlining a curriculum structure Among psychologists of education, Gagne (1965), and Ausubel and Robinson (1969) highlighted anew the critical importance of concept and principle learning or, as Ausubel put it, ‘meaningful learning’ Influential also was the work of Benjamin Bloom and colleagues in forging elaborate taxonomies of educational objectives (1956). These envisaged a gradient of responses, ranging from the Bobbitt-like demands for specificity of objectives of Mager (1962), to the search for more expressive objectives of Eisner (1969) A new curriculum theory was promoted, very much founded on that of the 1920s and 1930s, with scholars such as Tyler and Taba key transitional figures. The challenge to textbook writers from the late 1960s was therefore one rekindled from the inter-war period, namely to fashion their materials in a mode conducive to promoting meaningful learning and the social purposes of education. There were naturally differences of emphasis between these luminaries. Thus Taba was more censorious in her pronouncements on textbooks than Tyler (see Chapter 4). From this new ferment of curriculum thinking, and the well-funded curriculum projects, novel classroom materials were generated, intended to emphasise a process view of education, advocating shifts in content from expository/explanatory to investigative, from breadth to depth, and to a so-called ‘post-holing’ or case-study approach in which fewer topics were treated, but a greater range and depth of materials was used (Herlihy, 1992b, p 7). Bruner’s Man: a Course of Study project was particularly important, almost a template for a progressive ‘new social studies’ (Nelson, 1992, p 465), not least in its stress on 27

The School Textbook

• • • • • •

inquiry; the importance of the ‘inductive leap’; the intrinsic satisfaction involved in participatory learning; the practising of cognitive skills; the importance of the structure of the discipline in teaching subject matter; the claim of being able to teach any idea at some level of sophistication to any child (Helburn and Helburn, 1979, p 32)

But for the general run of teachers, these were tough ideas The long­ term take-up was less than anticipated After ‘a brief flurry of enthusiasm, the new curricula and their related materials failed to take root in the schools’ The dominant instructional material continued to be the standard textbook (Elliott, 1990, p. 47), Bruner enthusiasts made optimistic assump­ tions about the professional capacities of teachers, and how well they could access the novel structures, assumptions which in practice were too often found to be untenable . The root ideas were to be of considerable influence in Britain, however There were concurrent reforms at the frontiers of particular disciplines. The spirit of the new history, for example, demanded the promotion of skills of enquiry and a variety of teaching strategies (Thomas, 1970, pp. 281—2). The American High School Geography Project (AHGSP) of the 1960s, directed by Nicholas Helbum, was an ambitious initiative that was also to be disseminated beyond the boundaries of the United States Like other projects, it produced curriculum materials in the form of packages, with teachers’ guides as well as pupil books These offered much which it was hoped would be questioned, tested and doubted. In the case of the AHSGP it was not the absence of textbooks that limited its appeal, for each of its units included well-produced student resource books as well as teachers guides A basic problem was arguably the erudite and idiosyncratic content of the units (to be considered in Chapter 5), designed to bring to the fore the key ideas of the subject . These were, however, both unfamiliar to and difficult to grasp by the general run of teachers involved Less than 10 per cent of teachers were said to be capable of adopting the genuine enquiry approach to learning which the projects demanded (Gunn, 1971, p 75) Once again, innovative materi­ als gathered dust on the shelves of school store cupboards, except in a minor­ ity of institutions . And these characteristically were located in suburban areas near the university centres from which the projects sprang The constraints inhibiting radical curriculum reform were therefore very similar to those which had exercised Rugg and his colleagues in an earlier generation 28

Reviewing the American Experience

T he 1970s and 1980s were a period of more intense criticism of textbooks Beechhold, for example, asserted that most textbooks were poorly written and tastelessly illustrated, and were filled with outright misinformation, gross oversimplification, subtle distortion, and nonsense and omission. He concluded that they should be discarded altogether (1971, pp. 4-5, p 17, and p 283) During the 1980s textbooks were embroiled in the disputes about declining standards (see Chapter 11). As textbooks dominated class­ room instruction and were so heavily relied upon by teachers, they clearly must be ‘an integral part of the problem’ (Herlihy, 1992b, p. 3; see also Tulley and Fan, 1990, p 165) There were few in the United States, however, who took the extreme ‘discard the textbook’ stance. Despite the criticisms, a number of educational writers continued to affirm the need for textbooks ‘ Teaching which has the textbook as its necessary heart is the sine qua non of all modern forms of teaching - and, with all its obvious faults, such teaching is more effective than most of us realise ’ (Westbury, 1990, pp. 2-3). Eisner too, as a progressive voice, accepted the reality of need for the textbook and associated workbook, ‘the curricular hub’ round which most teaching was based. He found such use understandable in the light of the range of demands on classroom teachers; their provision of a level of con­ tent expertise which few teachers could be expected to match; their provi­ sion of material of cultural importance; and their delineation of a structure which mapped out the journey sequence to be taken. But he was also critical in detail of the existing situation insisting, among other things, that built-in biases required close scrutiny (1987, pp. 11-12). The late 1980s indeed witnessed a resurgence of interest in textbooks in the academic literature. Westbury referred to ‘a torrent of writing and commentary’ (1990, pp 1-2) The NSSE included a significant paper on textbooks by Tanner in its 87th Yearbook, Critical Issues in Curriculum (1988). Woodward, Elliott, and Nagel in the same year produced an author­ itative annotated bibliography and guide to research on the subject Wood­ ward and Elliott’s co-edited study of textbooks and schooling in the United States, which formed Part 1 of the 89th Yearbook of the NSSE (1990), was perhaps the culmination of the revived interest, and included sections on the historical perspective, on the textbook industry, on textbooks and society, and on curriculum and instructional materials in the future It was con­ firmed that America’s schools still relied heavily on textbooks. Woodward and Elliott drew on a publishing survey which indicated that they and sim­ ilar commercially produced materials supported 67 per cent of classroom teaching while another 22 per cent was based on non-print matter, giving a total 89 per cent of instructional time based on commercially produced materials There was continuing evidence of much slavish following of 29

The School Textbook

the course organisation of the textbook, with little confidence evident of teachers making personal modifications. Predictably, far greater reliance on the text was demonstrated by novice than by experienced teachers, and by generalists rather than those with subject expertise (1990a, pp 179—82) The continuing interest in textbook research was maintained in the 1990s (see Chapter 11), a high point of publication represented by Chamliss and Calfee’s monograph which br avely, if a mite prescriptively, offered solutions, indeed solutions that ‘must be followed’ to fashion the ‘ideal text­ book’(1998, p 280) This

would be well-written and clearly organized, bridging the gap between student experience and expert knowledge. It would guide students in developing a lens for viewing and interacting with the world It would support the teacher in designing flexible, studentcentred instruction This image is an ideal, to be sure, but one that, if realised, could be a powerful tool for nurturing our children’s minds (Chambliss and Calfee, 1998, p 2) Their solutions essentially hinged on the careful ‘design’ of textbooks. This should be based on three principles:

• •

The textbook must be comprehensible, in terms of familiarity, interest and coherent organisation. The textbook must represent an exemplary curriculum It must support student-centred instruction (P 13)

Above all, textbooks should move away from being compilations of what they idiosyncratically described as ‘factlets’ or ‘factoids’, to promoting high-level objectives and significant curricular themes, shifting students in the direction of acquiring their own ‘expert lenses’(p 53) An element of exposition was regarded as necessary (p.. 32). Success also involved effective instruction, presented under a CORE acronym: • • • •

Connecting instruction to student knowledge Organizing and coherently structuring new content for the student, Reflecting, meaning providing students with opportunities to look back upon and think about what they had been learning. Extending what they had learned to new contexts, including social con­ texts, as appropriate (PP 54ff.) 30

Reviewing the American Experience Detailed illustrations were offered as to the nature of the textbook materi­ als and instructional processes needed in seeking these ends.

CONCLUSION: MESSAGES FROM AMERICA

While criticism has had a long history in the United States therefore, many influential educational writers have strongly supported the case for text­ books, climbing on occasions to the level of uncritical hyperbole: * both from the pedagogical standpoint, and that of the art of book-making, the American text-book in geography stands at the head’ (Holtz, 1913, p. 340) Cubberley similarly attested that ‘in no country of the world do textbooks play so important a part in instruction as is the case in the United States’ necessary, as he saw it, in the light of lack of trained teachers and skilled supervision (1913, p. 576), But nowhere else, he later contended, were authors and publishers producing such fine pieces of workmanship (1927, pp 4-6). Jensen was equally self-congratulatory American schoolbooks had improved ‘marvellously, almost miraculously There is not a nation on earth in which school books approach even faintly those of America’ (1931, p 6) Another writer pointed to major contrasts between inter-war American and European geography textbooks, and found the technical quality of production and the variety of resources and study questions in American texts to be superior (Clark, 1933, pp 293-6). Various commentators drew attention to the differences in attitudes towards textbooks as between the United States and European countries It was claimed that textbooks of the American type would never be popular in Europe because teachers there would lose face if standing before the children ‘not as the apostle of the gospel of education, but as a hired inter­ preter of printer’s ink’ (Genthe, 1903, pp. 240-1). According to Johnson, the learning and reciting of textbook lessons was referred to in Europe as the ‘American method of teaching’ (1940, p. 257) Even as late as 1998 Chambliss and Callee accepted the conventional wisdom that teachers in other countries, such as Japan, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, had a greater conceptual understanding of their subjects than American, and therefore wanted briefer and more flexible textbooks, to be used as start­ ing points for adaptation, rather than serving as the more constraining course books(1998, p 277) Even though such contrasts might well be considered to render suspect the value of working from American experience, it remains the case that at its best it has been demonstrably rich in its messages and potentially trans­ ferable lessons. It has vividly illuminated the contexts needing to be taken

31

The School Textbook

into account in work on textbooks: forces of reaction and progress, both internal and external; tensions between educational theoreticians and prac­ titioners, or between proponents of subject-centred, child-centred and societycentred approaches, which have all been fought over the textbook, not once, but repeatedly The historiography confirms that each generation has claimed the reinvention of wheels in the ongoing chronology of curriculum theory and practice An influential line of development can be traced, directly and indirectly, from W T Harris, through the Herbartarians, to the Rugg gen­ eration, then into the Tyler, and later the Bruner eras While each added value in some measure, it would be incorrect to suggest that in any one period manifestly new paradigms were introduced, demonstrably having made crucial advances from a former cruder state. There may well still be those who, like Ruskin, regard the search for guidance from the American experience as counter-productive That is not the stance taken here. At the very lowest level it is sensible to learn from the mistakes of others There are, as will be suggested later in this book, some American perils to be avoided While the quality of the research in the United States into the textbook has inevitably been variable, and while mechanical use in schools may have been widespread and long-lived, there has also been evident a persistently more serious and balanced interest in research into and writing about textbooks in that country than in Britain The historic achievement in these respects has been substantial. Where in Britain in the inter-war period could the conjoining of curriculum theory and practice have been found of a quality to compare with Rugg and his associates? This is just one example from a large resource bank which has been created through ongoing American work, and of which this book is claimed to be a beneficiary. As the historian, John Fines, put it, in his appraisal of the American development projects in the social studies in the 1960s: 'Why has so little been done here, and so badly, when so much important and valuable work has been achieved in the U .S A ?" (1970a, p 31)

32

3 British Historical Perspectives Cast far from your children, with disgust, most so-called 'Elementary Geographics They are, in general, monstrous, and their compilers are traitors to * childhood The recipe for their manufacture seems to be this take an Advanced Geography, squeeze out of this poor orange all the juice, then force the child to swallow the remainder

(W Jolly, (1894) The Realistic Teaching of Geography, p 28)

The intention of this chapter is to present an historical perspective on British geography and history textbooks over two centuries of development. The discussion of the British situation will draw also on relevant aspects of the American experience. It will be conducted at a general contextual level, leaving more detailed probing of the content, educational characteristics and social purposes of textbooks to succeeding chapters

EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY

Early nineteenth-century textbooks were produced by religious bodies, offering the ‘carefully controlled instructional material’(Stray, 1994,pp 2-3) they deemed necessary for the dissemination of their particular doctrines Religious instruction was the cardinal purpose of the curr iculum of all the denominations ‘ The Chr istian religion the greatest and best of all human concerns, cannot without equal guilt and folly be neglected in education It should indeed pervade its beginning, its progress and its end’ (quoted in Chancellor; 1970, p 91) While subjects such as geography and history were acceptable as useful adjuncts to biblical instruction, they were not regarded as intrinsically important. Geography textbooks were frequently no more than scriptural gazetteers detailing ‘the historical geography of the Holy Land’ In William Butler’s Geographical Exercises on the New Testament (1816), all the places mentioned in the ‘sacred book’ were described. Geography and nature study texts testified to the glories of God’s creation (see Marsden, 1997a), History was used to instil in children’s minds the idea that alien religious dogmas sowed the seeds of social and political disruption (see Chancellor, 1970, p 90 and p. 103). Textbooks were commissioned, or at 33

The School Textbook

least had to be approved, by the various denominations for use in their schools The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, estab­ lished in 1696, had pioneered such work, sponsoring appropriate texts for Anglican schools and establishing local depositories where they could be purchased (Ball, 1983, p 56). Notwithstanding such initiatives, the expansion of mass schooling had by the 1840s left the majority of schools desperately short of textbooks Those they possessed appeared to one inspector as ‘a tattered assemblage of miserable pamphlets’ (Moseley, 1846, pp. 240-1). Another problem was that many of the early texts had been compiled for a domestic market of upper- and middle-class children They were less well geared to the then meagre capacities of poor working-class pupils, schooled en masse under the monitorial system (see Ellis, 1971, p. 9) Recognising the problems, Kay Shuttleworth, through the Committee of Council on Education, estab­ lished a scheme that was to be the only occasion on which a government department involved itself in a measure of commercial support of text­ books Between 1847 and 1861, it supplied books from an approved list at a special rate of discount, averaging 43 per cent (Selby-Bigge, 1927, p . 25). By the 1860s a thriving textbook industry was operating. Even though religion still dominated, textbooks in secular subjects were in some cases strikingly successful. Goldsmith’s A Grammar of Geography, for example, wholesaled 619,000 copies over its 56-year publishing history through Longmans (Issitt, 2000, p. 6) Tilleard’s report to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science in 1859 confirmed the presence of a ‘very copious school literature’, with a ‘constant stream’ of books flowing from the educational publishing houses On the basis of figures from the Committee of Council on Education, he calculated that over a period of nearly three years from September 1856, nearly 903,000 reading lesson books; 135,000 arithmetic; and 105,000 grammar and English language had been ordered. Geography followed with 83,000, to which could be added nearly 15,000 atlases and over 14,000 wall maps; then history with over 67,000. Among his criticisms of the textbooks of the time, Tilleard remarked that too large a proportion comprised ready-made lessons He similarly disap­ proved of the reading levels of some of the books, abounding in words which elementary teachers, let alone pupils, could not comprehend because of their ‘abstract or figurative character’ Too many geography textbooks were said to include factual blunders and outdated information (1859, pp 392-4). His final plea was to leave with teachers the liberty to choose the books they wanted. By this stage, however, the Committee of Council was sensitive to these issues, and in their Minutes of 1857—58 instructed its own Inspectors to refrain from sanctioning particular textbooks. 34

British Historical Perspectives

LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Geography Textbooks During the School Board period, the voluntary sector fought to defend the religious and moral content of readers and of textbooks. There were counter-complaints from secular lobbies about continuing religious bias. Some reviewers praised geography and history textbooks which did not over-stress the religious element (see Chancellor, 1970, pp 92-4) Yet a significant minority of such books, usually those composed by an older generation of authors, continued to emphasise God’s perfect ordering of the affairs of mankind, the action of divine providence in history, the penalties of sinfulness, the rewards of public and private probity and, not least, the ‘favoured nation’ status that God had granted Great Britain. The tone and bias of textbooks remained over whelmingly Protestant, except of course in Catholic schools (see Marmion, 1997). Nineteenth-century government inspectors and the educational press alike were biting critics of geography textbooks. The Revd Henry Moseley condemned the mechanical teaching of geography through textbooks, com­ paring the situation unfavourably with that of the Prussian system, where the teacher had no book because he needed none, teaching as he did from ‘a full mind’ (1846, p. 236). Such influential criticism continued as the century progressed, one inspector making explicit his ‘profound aversion’ for ‘the little textbooks’ he still found in common use in geography ‘I often recommend teachers to burn them as a necessary condition towards clearing the way for real progress’ (Currey, 1880, p. 758) . William Jolly, suggested textbooks should be banished, as ‘a forbidden spectre, for years’, though not for ever (1887, p. 133 and p 136). Progressive critics offered as an alternative a pedagogic counter culture, namely the heimatkunde, or home study approach. This was outlined with some authority in Sir Archibald Geikie’s classic methodological text The Teaching of Geography (1887). Early geography teaching, he insisted, should be undertaken in the locality, and not be based on second-hand book learning An altogether inordinate value is set by us upon class-books. Instead of serving as they ought, merely to furnish the text for the fuller and more interesting exposition of the teacher, these books are for the most part slavishly followed. Such instruction is bad for the teacher and worse for the learner It is especially pernicious to the children in the earlier stages of their geographical studies, for it tortures their memories and brings no compensating advantage It fosters idleness 35

The School Textbook

and listlessness on the part of the teacher, who instead of exerting his faculties to invest the subject with a living interest becomes for the time a mere machine, mechanically acting within the limits prescribed in the class-book (1908 edition, p. 9) Geikie was far from suggesting the abolition of textbooks, however, and authored not only many for advanced students, but also two science primers, on Geology and Physical Geography respectively, for elementary schools These were essentially of the reader type, and based on principles of practical instruction, involving field work, and collecting and investigating geological specimens brought in from the locality. Fundamental concerns over the quality of geography textbooks had also been evident in the Report oj the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) on the Improvement in Geographical Education (the so-called Keltie Report). Keltic was particularly exercised by a situation in which, as he saw it, any­ body was regarded as fitted to teach elementary geography. So it followed that anybody could write textbooks about the subject. In his contribution to the same Report, Ravenstein poured scorn on authors he regarded as ‘incompetent to express themselves in lucid and intelligible English’ The decisive criticism was of the gazetteer approach of ‘capes and bays’ geog­ raphy. One writer was quoted as boasting that through his methods pupils could learn by heart 17,000 geographical names in a few years (RGS, 1886, p. 164) At the same time, Keltic praised the best of the textbooks, citing, as examples, Geikie’s primer of physical geography and Mary Somerville’s manual on the same subject, both leaving ‘little to be desired; but then these authors had complete knowledge of their subject’ (pp 23-4). Conversely, while Ravenstein regarded the best of the readers as a ‘vast improvement5, he also cautioned that the bulk of them were geographically superficial and needed supplementation by the teacher (pp 164-5).. While accepting that readers were more easily digested by children, therefore, subject advocates were less impressed by the intrinsic quality of the geography they contained T heir more copious use of illustrations at the expense of text was, for exam­ ple, sometimes interpreted as a means of covering up the geographical limi­ tations of the material (Proctor, 1974, pp. 190-8) In essence, the plea of specialist geographers was for better substance rather than less substance

History Textbooks Meanwhile, historians had also become anxious about the status of their subject at different levels of education While modern history entered the

36

Briti sh Hi s uni cal Pe rs pec I i ves

curriculum at Oxford and Cambridge in the middle decades of the century, and was a subject which the Victorians increasingly regarded as of high relevance, in academic terms 'it occupied a lowly position among the stud­ ies of the university’ (Slee, 1986, p. 4) It was variously argued that it excited the emotions and aroused prejudice, that its learning demanded lit­ tle more than memory, and that it 'would lure the idle and indolent from studies of greater severity and more lasting disciplinary value’ (p 20). As was the case with geography, the last three decades of the nineteenth cen­ tury were a time when a more specialist approach to history teaching and textbook writing was demanded From the 1860s (he Royal Historical Society brought together professional historians who took an interest in the subject in schools One Fellow, Professor Manduell Creighton, argued, however, that history could not vie with classics or mathematics as it was concerned 'with instruction rather than education’, albeit of information 'of vital importance’ (1887, p. I), A major breakthrough was the acceptance of history in the syllabuses of the various schools’ examining boards, the forming of the Joint Board by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in 1873 being critical (Marten, 1938,p. 35) They commented unfavourably, however, on the quality of history teaching, and on its over-reliance on outmoded textbooks (Roach, 1976, p. 135).. Bryce described the common run of history textbooks as 'most unsatis­ factory prejudiced, if not dishonest’, giving views of men and events 'which require constant correction from the teacher * (Schools Inquiry Commis­ sion, 1867-68, p. 613). Jolly contended that, along with geography, history was the worst taught of the school subjects, while history textbooks were comparable abusers of children (1887, p. 127) Browning’s concept of the perfect textbook, offered to a Royal Historical Society conference in 1887, was in this light discouraging. The most useful model he regarded as 'the simple historical narrative, full of facts, and without any pretence to style, carefully divided into paragraphs, and well furnished with dates, genealog­ ical tables, and other adminiciila' The teacher would teach from it and the pupil make notes He was of the opinion that something was to be gained by learning facts by heart: 'some drudgery of this kind is a necessary pre­ liminary or accompaniment to any thorough knowledge of history’ (p 6 and p 10). A number of eminent historians, such as S R Gardiner, were by this time turning their attention to writing school textbooks, however. Their skills contrasted with those of the traditional generalist writers who had written 'with equal abandon on any school subject’ While the conventional facts of political history, dates of wars, conflicts between church and state, and the like, continued to loom large, the new specialist writers at least had the capacity to produce authentic mater ial on a range of historical themes, 37

The School Textbook including its previously neglected social and economic history components (Howat, 1965.p 151 and p 159)

EARLY T WENTIETH CENT URY

Geography Textbooks

Major advances in geographical science had been set in train by Halford Mackinder’s seminal paper ‘On the Scope and Methods of Geography’ (1887) In this he outlined a unified intellectual framework with the inten­ tion of establishing the subject as a sophisticated academic discipline and not, as it had long been regarded, a mere body of information Mackinder’s work straddled all levels of education He brought together in impressive syntheses the skills of the academic, the pedagogue and the imperial pro­ moter. His over-riding concept was that ‘distribution is of the essence of geography, and imparts to regional geography a unity not possessed by physical geography’ (1903, p. 549) The success of his endeavours was materially assisted by the support of eminent peers such as A J Herbert­ son. Both they and their disciples became important textbook authors, dis­ pensing the enthusiastically received ‘new geography’ of its time, namely that based on Herbertson’s natural regions of the world framework (1905). His influential paper again sought to unify the subject through abolishing ‘the distinction between physical and political geography . drawn by older textbooks’ (Herbertson A and F., 1907, p. iii). Herbertson’s impact has always been regarded as of critical importance in the development of British geographical textbooks, and as a classic example of the emergence of a new paradigm (Biddle, 1985), a concept based on Thomas Kuhn’s influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) Kuhn argued that a critical element in the establishment of a new paradigm was the rewriting of textbooks The recounting of the new achievement in these, both elementary and advanced, among other things highlighted the superiority of the new paradigm over the old (pp. 10-11) Thus when the individual scientist took his new paradigm for granted, he no longer needed to rebuild his field anew from first principles, and justify the use of each concept introduced That could be left to the textbook authors (pp 19-20) In such a way Herbertson and his followers disseminated the regional paradigm into the schools through the writing of textbooks. In an historical survey of geography textbooks, however, Wright queried the validity of the concept of paradigm change, and offered instead a ‘palimpsest’ alternative, 38

British Historical Perspectives

where each “new” curriculum overlies former curricula rather than destroying all traces of what went before Textbooks provide the concrete evidence of the palimpsest: the continuity of the themes is as striking as the contrasts between books' (Wright, 1996b, p 32). While not using this particular terminology, Zhang's historical study of the changing content of geography books between 1907 and 1992 provided substantial support for Wright's view. As she pointed out, 'content changes are generally evolu­ tionary and recapitulative in nature', reflecting only in part innovation in the discipline, with older components, while occupying less ‘volume', not actually being forced out. Systematic, regional and case-study approaches, for example, did not replace each other and might, indeed, be brought together eclectically in the one textbook (1996, p. i) In Scotland, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) set up an Education Committee in 1886 with the intention of improving the prevail­ ing soulless methods of teaching geography The famous educationist, George Combe, contrasted the field excursions he had witnessed in Germany with the methods ‘which tormented me in that place of misery, the High School at Edinburgh' (quoted in Jolly, 1879, pp. 453-5) The Scottish Geographical Magazine, established in 1885, contained articles both on geography and on geographical education. Much improvement was felt necessary, with the country exporting some of its best practitioners, yet failing to train new ones because of the absence of geography in the normal college syllabuses (Herbertson, 1898a) The RSGS had some success in arranging exhibitions and courses for teachers, including preaching the regional message of the fellow Scotsman, A J. Herbertson The promotion of fieldwork and regional survey associated with Patrick Geddes’ Outlook Tower in Edinburgh, at which summer schools were held, was another bonus. Appeals were made for improved textbooks, including the need to eliminate factual errors. An Association of Scottish Teachers of Geography was established just before the First World War. Its growth was, however, inhibited by the war, and the venture was short-lived The establishment of the current Scottish Association of Geography Teachers did not lake place until after the Second World War (Maclean, 1985, pp. 65-73) Despite some lack of support from the Board of Education (Proctor, 1987, pp. 74-5) and from certain prestigious grammar and public school headmasters, the promotional work of the Royal Geographical Society and the Geographical Association had already borne fruit south of the border. H R Mill, a fervent supporter of the unified geography advocated by Mackinder, was satisfied that geography textbooks were emerging from the ‘repulsive stage’ in which the subject was made up of‘severed limbs’ which had ‘made the subject to so many a horror in school and an aversion 39

The School textbook

during life’ (1897, p. 7) Keltie in 1914 enthused over the enhanced disci­ plinary status of geography, and the associated improvements in textbooks which had been set in train by Mackinder and Herbertson: ‘all, from the most bulky and elaborate down to the modest elementary textbook, are on a totally different plane from those of thirty years ago'(p 217). The inter-war period was in general a boom time for the secondary geog­ raphy textbook The Oxford University Press catalogue for 1928 contained over 100 titles in the subject The most successful secondary texts were based on the Herbertson framework The Clarendon Press had sold 1 5 million copies of his Oxford Geographies by 1952 (Hogan, 1962, p ; 275) Dudley Stamp’s The World also passed the one million mark by the mid-1940s (Marsden, 1988a, p 328) The brand-leaders in some cases maintained their position in schools into the 1960s. While the inter-war geography textbooks were strongly criticised, there was generally by the end of the period a sense that improvements had taken place, not least in the quality of illustration Some of the criticisms were undoubtedly justified, however, and not only in retrospect. The second and third-hand condensation of so many of the regional geographies led to predictable condemnation of their suitability for younger children The more censorious argued for supplanting textbooks with travel liter­ ature, maps and practical work (Bailey, 1919, p. 570) But such were minor­ ity views, and there was no concerted campaign to discard textbooks Maxwell (1939) dismissed the negative stereotypes, contending that there was ‘a wealth of variety now to be found in the published books in geography’ (p. 57). History Textbooks History’s increased popularity in early twentieth-century elementary and secondary schools was also reflected in the larger number of textbooks available As with geography, some of the authors were subject specialists, some were tutors in training colleges, and others were practising teachers Which of these was to be preferred as a textbook author? Welton insisted that the writer should be both a competent scholar and teacher, and no mere amateur hack (1906, p, 267) Raymont similarly regarded the ideal author as the one who combined the virtues of the specialist and the pedagogue ‘When the same person combines in himself mastery of the subject with skill in expounding it to a beginner his book is sure to win its way to wide acceptance’ (1919, pp. 271—2). Historical educationists, like their geographical counterparts, were aware of the tensions between the logical and the psychological order of 40

British Historical Perspectives

proceeding W.H Woodward, first Professor of Education at the University of Liverpool, put it this way: Where a subject lends itself to so much variety of approach, we may fairly adopt the avenue which leads straight to the child’s interest . The teacher is then not concerned with the logical order of the material, but with its affinity to the child-mind At this stage the relative impor­ tance of historical subject matter for teaching purposes is determined by the appeal it makes to the child’s imagination, not by intrinsic value. (1901, p. 73) The tension between matter and method was nowhere more evident than in the debates appraising the relative worth of the traditional informationbased textbook, as compared with collections of original sources and doc­ uments (see Palmer and Batho, 1981) Keatinge, Reader in Education at the University of Oxford, favoured the latter, so long as the pupils were trained to search out evidence, to compare and rationalise conflicting accounts, and to summarise and extract the salient points History had to be made into a training school for the mind, and distilled into a ‘problem form’ But text­ books were not to be discarded ‘Neither in history nor in any other sub­ ject can a basis of memory-work be dispensed with But the textbook is but half the apparatus ’, to be complemented by compendia of original documents (1910, pp 38-40). The original sources approach made a con­ siderable impact, and was sometimes referred to as ‘the Keatinge method’ (Drummond, 1929, pp. 140-1). Catherine Firth, a lecturer at Furzedown Training College, demanded that history be based on actuality, on enquiry methods promoting thinking and understanding, and on the use of key historical questions such as ‘is this true’, ‘how do we know’ and ‘what is the value of the evidence?’ (1929, pp. 120-1) M VC Jeffreys’ ideas were also influential. He fashioned the ‘line of development’ principle of history teaching, by means of which the child travelled down the ages along the route of particular themes, such as agriculture, transport, medicine, and the like He insisted that this approach must be associated with changes in method, including the ways in which textbooks were used Too many presented history ‘ready made’ and were designed to be learned rather than used. ‘The textbook that demands acqui­ escence rather than stimulates inquiry is absolutely useless’ (1939, pp 75-6) It was largely as a consequence of the initiatives of such innovators that Weaver and White judged there had been a major improvement since 1918, praising in addition the influence of the Historical Association . More

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The School Textbook illustration, more literary extracts, more intellectual demands on the pupil were the evidence of advance, though there remained errors of fact and problems over appropriate grading of content and language (1935, pp 3-4) A.C.F. Beales, discerning an improvement in history textbooks, offered as evidence the decline of the old die-hard ‘politico-militaro-dynastic’ tradition (1937). The social realism of the pre-First World War Piers Plowman his­ tories, and the Marten and Carter series, among others, was also regarded as a breakthrough (Beales, 1957, p 101; see also Batho, 1984, p. 14) But not all teachers were as impressed by what were interpreted as mere theoretical niceties . Some regarded the academics and educationists of the time as living remote from reality, striving to inculcate an intellectualised scientific approach to history. Worts argued passionately that in schools the subject should remain as witness to ‘the pageant of man’ and not the learn­ ing of a science. He discounted too the value of relying on sources and research methods below sixth-form level (1935) Social Studies

Conspicuously lacking in Britain were credible inter-war initiatives for developing new social studies curricula While Berry in history (1911), Mackinder in geography (1913), and many methodological articles of the time espoused combining geography and history, there was no obvious attempt to forge a newly minted and integrated school course in the social studies area Neither were any British textbooks published with the innov­ ative quality of the Rugg, or the Building America series, both of which appeared in the 1930s in the United States Although there was consider­ able advocacy of teaching for citizenship through the medium of civics, or of education for peace and international understanding (see Chapter 8), and some practical implementation of the project-based Dalton Plan in junior schools, no textbooks were written that took off on anything like the scale of the market leaders in geography and history. The only truly ground­ breaking methodological works in Britain in the social studies area were those of Penstone in 1910, and Cons and Fletcher in 1938. But these were conceived of largely in terms of a civics-type agenda, based on the life and work of people in the local community, rather than on the advocacy of new cross-disciplinary structures In the inter-war period, therefore, the campaigning for integrated approaches in Britain proved, at least in secondary schools, ineffective. Even within the progressive camp, there was resistance to the colonisation of the school curriculum by the social sciences. Smith and Harrison, of the University of London Institute of Education, for example, were against both 42

British Historical Perspectives

subject-centred curricula and also, until late on in the secondary phase, the introduction of social sciences Their solution was rather an integrated humanities approach, which would encompass geography, history, English literature and biblical knowledge This, they argued, was appropriate to both primary and secondary phases, ‘leaving psychology, ethics, anthro­ pology, economics and political science to a later stage1 The ‘true1 social sciences they judged involved powers of abstraction from experience not possessed by the schoolboy. Geography and history were there to offer ‘a unified story of man's life, aspirations and efforts’ Hence their rigid separation in the junior school was deemed an error. At this stage the work should be coordinated under some overarching humanities heading such as 'Exploring the World1 (1937, pp. 52-3 and 160-1). Tryon probably reflected majority opinion in regarding with some suspicion the social studies movement in British education, depreciating it as not much more than an impractical relabelling exercise. It seems safe to conclude that objective data on which to base a pro­ gram of action with respect to subjects of study or no subjects of study are too far in the future to make waiting for their arrival practical As long as the tendency to give old things new names exists in prac­ tical education, it will not be possible for one to get the full import of the new idea from the examples its well-meaning friends give of it it would seem an act of wisdom for one interested in the matter to sentence himself to a prolonged contact with the fundamentals of each of the existing ways of organising the subject-matter of the social sciences for teaching purposes. (1935, pp. 527-9)

POST-SECOND WORLD WAR

Geography Textbooks Many successful post-Second World War secondary geography textbooks had first been published in the 1930s Among the best-sellers were those written by teachers skilled in abridging material from more advanced sources and gearing it to external examination syllabus requirements. Thomas Pickles was a classic exponent, producing textbooks for each sec­ ondary school year, and revision texts for external examinations . Though the content may have been oversimplified, his books were comfortingly digestible for teachers and pupils, containing comprehensible text, uncluttered maps. 43

The School Textbook

and black and white photographs (see Chapter 5), Among other popular books of this type was the Modern Geography series of Preece and Wood (University Tutorial Press). First appearing in 1938, its publishers celebrated the sale of the two millionth copy in 1972 By this stage, however, the regional framework had outstayed its welcome, and sales of textbooks based on it were in terminal decline (see Marsden, 1988a, p. 330) Following the 1944 Education Act, it was argued that a different type of textbook was required for the less academic children to be accommodated in the new secondary modern schools (Briault and Shave, 1952) Geography was to be presented more straightforwardly than the grammar school text­ book, supported by more pupil activities, and with content organised on the basis of topics Brown judged that the books which emerged were gener­ ally more uneven in standard than their grammar school counterparts Some contained good ideas, but carried no more authority than the experience of the teacher The potential looseness of the content in the topic approach was scorned as 'Transport and All That’ She was probably correct in infer­ ring that the secondary modern style texts were regarded suspiciously as 'watered down * by traditional academic geographers and grammar school teachers (1950, pp 1—5) Perhaps the most significant harbingers of post-war change were the series which included what were later to be described as sample studies (Hickman, 1950). Appeals to stress 'realism * rather than 'verbalism’ were of long standing, dating back to the more progressive voices of the late nineteenth century (see, for example, Jolly, 1887, p 128). Sample studies were in essence a more focused form of the 'type study’ as enunciated by the McMurrys (see Chapter 2) They built also on the idea of starting with the study of specific simple groups of people, as used by the Herbertsons at the tur n of the century The inter-war series of Brooks and Finch, both the Columbus Regional Geographies, first published in the 1920s, and the Golden Hind Geographies, in the 1930s, used detailed studies of children in other lands, individual farm studies in the home country, and so on. Another breakthrough was Fairgrieve and Young’s Real Geography series, published in six volumes between 1939 and 1952 The Fairgrieve and Young texts combined the qualities of the geographical reader and text­ book, and were particularly well illustrated for their time. By 1960-61, alltime sales for the series had topped 400,000 (Burrell, 1963, pp. 181-3), They were followed from 1956 by the celebrated Geography for Schools series, edited by R C. Honeybone, also based on the sample studies approach. The 1960s were a watershed in academic geography, chiefly reflected in the dramatic shift from traditional regional to the more mathematical and scientific approaches of the so-called quantitative revolution. The regional

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British Historical Perspectives approach was by then widely perceived to be ‘too static, too pat, too enclosed" (Walford, 1989, p 309) Remarkably, the key ideas of the quan­ tification were quickly assimilated by a number of textbook writers who, perhaps even more remarkably, registered some successes These included, at sixth form level, the pioneering Settlement Patterns, by Everson and Fitzgerald (1969) The authors indicated that it owed nothing to any previous geography textbook, but acknowledged the influence of Bruner ’s Process of Education At the other extreme, IP Cole, one of the academic archi­ tects of the quantitative revolution, joined with a primary school teacher, N.J Beynon, to produce a series for that level, Him in Geography. Over 300,000 copies of the pupil books, and even more of the work packs, were sold between 1969 and 1984 (Walford, 1989, p. 312).. Once more, however , the palimpsest rather than the paradigmatic version of change was demonstrated, as the quantitative revolution did not touch the majority of schools. More traditional books coexisted with the new. At secondary level the acclaimed Oxford Geography Project, launched in 1975, was the product of a team of authors, and comprised a trio of texts for 11-14 year olds The team was sensitive to the fact that by the mid1970s there had been a backlash against the allegedly mechanistic and dehumanised nature of quantitative geography, and introduced in addition to these innovations the human welfare orientation being proselytised by many academic geographers from the mid-1970s. Intended to mesh new thinking in geography with enquiry-based teaching methods, by 1988 the Oxford series had sold over half a million copies (Walford, 1989, p. 315). Again, while traditional texts continued to be used, innovation did not nec­ essarily constitute a commercial death-knell Another major influence on school geography was the Schools Councils series of geography projects, including Geography for the Young School Leaver (GYSL). The GYSL, hailed as the most successful of the Schools Council geography projects, sought to prioritise the welfare approaches of its time, the nature of the content anticipated as likely to motivate less able pupils On the other hand, the materials of the concurrent Geography 14-18 Project, designed for more academically orientated children, in ten years of concerted effort achieved only a 10 per cent market penetra­ tion, while having a positive impact in improving external examinations at 16+ (Kington, 1991, p 64) In general the teams making up the Schools Council projects eschewed the textbook format as a means of presenting their curriculum offerings Instead elaborate packages of materials were published, with a strong element of teacher guidance. Some members of the Schools Council teams were, however, soon to be persuaded by pub­ lishers to write up the project ideas in textbook format, including Rex

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The School Textbook

Beddis (see Chapter 5). an established textbook writer who had also led the GYSL project Meanwhile, at primary level a surprisingly wide range of geography texts was marketed in the post-war period, notwithstanding the general antipathy of the post-PIowden progressive education lobby towards class sets of textbooks A few of the texts had straddled the Second World War, in particular the popular Archer and Thomas Geography First Series, first published in 1936, Most such series claimed to be graded, and normally consisted of four books addressed to the four years of the junior phase Few of the primary series published into the 1970s, however, would seem to have been successful in supplanting Archer and Thomas Testimony to this, and perhaps also signifying the volatility of the market, is the fact that of forty series published between 1945 and 1986, only 20 percent were revised or republished (Catling 1997a, p 12), One of the most impressive achieve­ ments of the 1980s was a progressive series of skills-based texts. Outset Geography, published by Oliver and Boyd and co-authored by Catling and teaching colleagues This built appropriately on psychological research on cognitive growth in general, and the development of graphicacy in partic­ ular, reflecting also Bruner's spiral curriculum notion Catling also was responsible for the equally skilfully graded Collins-Longman Mapstart series, specifically related to the promotion of map reading skills and atlas interpretation. The series is still in print Whatever else, on all criteria geography textbooks of the 1980s were strikingly different from their predecessors, and not least in their techno­ logical improvements, in particular the use of colour. The changes at the academic frontiers of the subject, together with those introduced by the concurrent curriculum theory revolution during the 1960s, were faithfully permeated into the more forward-looking textbooks, if inevitably with varying degrees of success.

History Textbooks Pre-war ideas were also carried over into the history texts of the 1950s and 1960s Some of them remained unashamedly traditional in their approach (Lieven, 2000, p 23) R J Unstead, for long the ‘brand leader’ among history textbook writers, was pilloried as *a symbolic representative of old history’ With some pride he maintained that history was the story of great men, and rejected what he considered the fashionable tendency to over­ stress the little ones (Berghahn and Schissler, 1987, p 7) Purkis was scathing in her indictment, being particularly vexed by what she discerned as the merely cosmetic updating of some of his textbooks in the 1970s At

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British Historical Perspectives the same time, unlike some geography critics, she was favourably disposed toward the notion of making good use of good textbooks, and referred to excellent current examples which, in her view, should have supplanted Unstead (1980. p. 34) While the worst excesses of imperialist and mili­ tarist history were much less evident, the idea that school history should focus on the nation’s to be cherished past heritage was, if not as blatant, still more than latent During the 1960s historical educationists, like their geographical counter­ parts, were preoccupied with developments in the disciplines of education and with the curr iculum theory refor ms crossing the Atlantic. Rogers claimed that ‘a better psychology of learning’ had already resulted in vastly improved methods of instruction. Through ‘that movement which came to be called “paedocentricity”. the child, his interests and limitations, became central in educational theory’ (1961-2, pp 10-11) In the Methuen Handbook for History Teachers (Burston and Green, 1962), Thompson contributed an article on ‘Some Psychological Aspects of History Teaching’, a topic on which papers were elsewhere published by Jahoda (1963a). Peel (1967) and Hallam (1970) Reference to the application of Piaget to history teaching was frequent (see. for example. Watts, 1972. pp. 17-19). Among the main psychological interests of historical educationists were children’s capacities to grasp the concept of time; to appreciate the use of present day language to describe past events, and to understand the adult behaviour of historical actors Others worked on children’s understanding of historical concepts, and on the viability of applying the behavioural objectives approach to his­ tory teaching (see. for example. Coltham and Fines. 1971; and Gard and Lee. 1978. pp 36-7) There were concurrent philosophical discussions of such technical concepts as ‘covering laws’ (Perry. 1967), and ‘colligation’, defined as a special grouping of historical events which must have a partic­ ular kind of relationship with each other, and further must help to make them intelligible (Thompson. 1967. p 88) These and other themes pro­ vided some of the material used to link the theory and practice elements of teacher education courses. The 1960s ended with an element of triumphalism among some historical educationists, who claimed that a ‘new history' had been born, one priori­ tising content less and process more, basing selection of matter on objec­ tives to be achieved and skills to be acquired, and teaching and learning on enquiry methods The so-called new history was given a particularly upbeat assessment in Jones (1973) but, as Aldrich later observed, this particular variant was far from the first one to have been claimed, referring back to the ‘new history’ of Keatinge and others of the inter-war period (1984, pp 210-11). Other innovations included the ‘era approach’, in which the 47

The School Textbook

traditional narrative sequence was broken down into cross-sectional analy­ sis of particular key features of the period In Carpenter’s definition it involved the intensive study on the part of pupils of aspects of human life and institutions over short and unrelated passages of time (1964, p. vii,and p 37) . While again he clearly perceived this to have been an innovation, it is hard to discern a great difference in kind, though there no doubt was in degree, from the Longman ‘Epochs’ series of the 1870s, in which it was argued that ‘the complete picture of any short period is of more value in an educational point of view than a mere outline of the history of a nation’ (quoted in Howat, 1965, pp, 150-1), Carpenter objected to the equation of his era approach with the con­ currently promoted ‘patch’ approach (1964, p. vii), which also aimed at a reduction in coverage and was designed to illustrate how particular aspects of the present had grown out of the past. ‘Patch’ history was another attempt to treat in depth particular ages, illuminated in a number of their aspects. One problem was the different scales of study envisaged from, for example, ‘Ancient Egypt’ to ‘An Elizabethan Village' (Fairley, 1970, p 7) Its advo­ cates insisted that the patch approach should be associated with enquirybased activity methods, and the promotion of creativity It was necessarily linked with the availability of primary source materials. These were indeed provided in the remarkable Then and There series, published from 1953 until the early 1970s (see Chapter 6) The motivation behind such approaches was clearly to provide an alternative to traditional chronological history. On the face of it, it was also a ploy to reduce the content, But an in-depth approach in practice could result in as much overload as a chronological An important component of the so-called ‘new history', therefore, was the recycling of the idea of using original sources, rather than relying too much on textbooks (Bamford, 1970) In accusing standard history texts of exces­ sive authority, meaninglessness and bias, Abrams contemplated eliminating them altogether, to be replaced by learning based on source materials.. He lauded a new venture in history publishing, the Jackdaw series of Jonathan Cape, which comprised packaged collections of documents, facsimiles, broadsheets, historical maps and tables, and visual materials, on themes such as ‘The Plague and Fire of London’ (1964, p. 15) This was a commercial breakthrough, albeit in principle having been anticipated by Bathe’s Archive Teaching Units at the University of Sheffield in the late 1950s. Such units were the forerunners of endless replications, as many local authori­ ties and institutions of higher education brought out their own ‘packs' of source materials, often based on the history and geography of the home area. Under these circumstances, the quintessential Victorian-Edwardian type history came under more intense pressure. Low-Beer, like Abrams, 48

British Historical Perspectives

made a case for a revitalised history which disclaimed the use of textbooks (1974. p 392) Joan Bly th was less radical, but was none the less concerned over reliance on the typical 'staple diet’ of four texts in a ser ies for the junior phase But she cautiously accepted the practical necessity of employing textbooks, and even recommended particular series (1982, pp I37ff.). Lawrence described the need as one in which the storehouse of knowledge metaphor was to be replaced by a conception of the mind as 'a processing contrivance which can be energised by cavalcades of experiences’ warning, however, that to welcome the dethronement of textbooks ‘is not necessarily to extol their successors’ (1972, pp. 142-3). The process/enquiry approach was reflected in the work of the two Schools Council sponsored projects involving history, the Liverpool Place, Time and Society 8-L3 Project, and the Leeds History 13-16 Project T hese were directly or indirectly influenced by the curriculum reform projects of the post-Sputnik era in the United States (Thomas, 1970; Betts, 1982) While the Liverpool project was 'integrated’,this was not interpreted in the loose topic approach sense, the project team regarding the contributing sub­ jects, geography, history and the social sciences, as had Rugg in the inter­ war period (Chapter 2). as resourcing disciplines, with an indispensable contribution to make to the curriculum, even if not necessarily in the guise of separately timetabled subjects (see Blyth et al., 1976). The Liverpool team resisted producing textbooks as such, but at the same time recognised its responsibility for applying its theoretical ideas to the production of class­ room materials In the event it used the increasingly popular 'pack’ format, the materials described as 'Resource Units’, each with a particular subject orientation, such as ‘Rivers in Flood’ for geography, * Life in the 1930s’ for history, and ‘Money' for social science The Leeds project, established in 1972, was based on the twin concep­ tions of history as a means of meeting the personal and social needs of the 13-16 age group, and on the distinctiveness of history as a subject. It stressed the importance of the evaluation and interpretation of source material, and the analysis of causation and motivation in history Like comparable geography projects, it tied itself into establishing a purposebuilt external examinations syllabus, materially heightening its credibility, and offering a positive alternative to conventional syllabuses (Schools Council, 1976). The projects were at one in elevating the ‘empathy' to the status of a key concept in historical education It was regarded, among other things, as ‘a way of teaching which will maintain the imaginative aspects of history against competing influences' (Portal, 1987, p. 98) Detailed efforts were made to pin down the mysteries of this elusive concept, and demonstrate

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The School Textbook

ways in which it could be implemented in the classroom It found its way into the curriculum materials of the projects .textbooks .teaching packs, and external examinations syllabuses Knight in particular argued against the 'conceptual confusion’ generated by this ‘profoundly unhelpful term1 He looked for a differentiated rather than a unitary view of how to understand historically distant people, one drawing more on psychologically grounded evidence of how children reasoned about the past (1989, pp 47-9). Official advice from HMI in the period leading up to the National Curriculum appeared also less than sympathetic to giving priority to empathy over content, and rather emphasised history’s role in transmitting the cultural heritage to new generations (DES, 1988, pp I-2). Opposing forces were gathering for a battle for the soul of British history (see Chapter ll). The new emphasis on skills and concepts, on active study, on promot­ ing the empathetic attitudes towards the people of the past, and on seizing the opportunities offered by technological advances, were reflected in a different style of textbook or other package of curriculum materials. As in geography, however, new orthodoxies emerged, in the form, for example, of the easily digested two-page spread, and the encouragement of the photo­ copying of materials in response to the greatly increased cost of textbooks Such home-brewed materials also brought the criticism that they too, generated mechanical responses (Farmer and Knight, 1995, p 7).

Social Studies Another attempt to introduce social studies into the timetable in place of geography and history took place in the post-war period Part of the ratio­ nale was that a more integrated approach would help the less able pupils now entering the new secondary modern schools. JJ.B Dempster argued that geography, history and civics fitted naturally together as investigations of man and his works, and should be covered in such schools under the umbrella of the social studies By emphasising activity and interest rather than transmitting information, pupils would gain a greater awareness of the world they lived in and thus become well integrated citizens Emphasis was to be on projects and local survey methods (1946, p 70. p 96 and p. 120) Dray and Jordan equated subject teaching with information gathering, and social studies with the real world of experience Study should start with the family, familiar social and occupational groups, then move out in ‘widen­ ing circles1 to the nation, the Commonwealth and the world (1950, p. 29). Hemming argued that subject-learning and bookish study failed to arouse interest, and something more strongly motivating was needed. Humanity could only be saved by a more daring integrated approach to the curriculum.

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British Historical Perspectives ‘Teachers today are right in the front line of the battle for civilisation’ was his concluding exhortation (1949, p 172). The efforts of the social studies lobby fell flat, however. One ploy of opponents was to argue that such approaches would lead to a decline in academic standards A Times Educational Supplement reviewer, in apprais­ ing a Hemming’s social studies methodological text, though reasonably positive in his critique, nevertheless queried whether it was not4a modern shibboleth’, while acknowledging it was a better proposition than ‘the ponderous “environmental studies’” (Anon., 1949a, p. 402) Geographers and geographical educationists launched a combined onslaught. A Royal Geographical Society Memorandum scathingly described social studies as ‘an attempt to compress several branches of learning into one The result is exactly what happens when a lemon is squeezed: the juice is removed, and only the useless rind and fibres remain’ (1950, p. 181). Leonard Brooks led the Geographical Association’s attack in a Presidential statement which anticipated that genuine geography would degenerate into a mass of local government detail if replaced by social studies. Thus, he asserted, ‘the merits that gained for our subject an indispensable place in education are jettisoned’ (1952, pp. 64-5) Another well-known geographical educationist, Neville Scarfe, drew attention to the dangers he perceived in the American neglect of geography and overemphasis on history and ‘ill-conceived’ social studies schemes These he claimed produced educated people who were at the same time ‘inept in dealing with geopolitical, geoeconomic and geocultural problems’ (1950, p. 87) In history, Burston was also critical, though his indictment was penned in more considered terms. He was concerned on four grounds . The first was the concept of social studies constituting an education for society, with all the vagueness and relativism that implied. The second was the limitation of concentrating on the present life of man in society The third was the emphasis on the progressive view that education must consist of practical experience, implying again a concentration on the present and, indeed, the local The final problem was the notion of a ‘synthesised curriculum’ which demanded the breaking down of ‘artificial subject barriers’ While acknowl­ edging that at later stages there was value in adding social studies-type material to history and geography syllabuses, and accepting the value of establishing points of contact between such subjects where they naturally occurred, his conclusion was unequivocal: that history offered all the advantages advanced for social studies as ‘the foundation of the modern curriculum’ (1954, pp. 6-8). By the late 1960s, with comprehensivisation of secondary schooling and raising of the school leaving age looming larger, another attempt to

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The School Textbook introduce an integrative curriculum structuring was proposed in the guise of "the new social studies' (Lawton and Dufour, 197.3), This sought to dis­ arm the anticipated criticism of lowering of academic standards by empha­ sising that this endeavour would avoid the loose integrated topic work designed for younger or less able children, and would embody a genuinely interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the various disciplines of the social sciences, a curricular framing of course implemented by Rugg and his colleagues in the United States in the inter-war period (see Chapter 2). The warning was again that history teachers *have come to hear ever more clearly the thunder of the guns of the American social scientists' (Fines, 1970b,p. 1) Potential links with the social sciences were cautiously explored by both historians and geographers (see, for example, Holloway, 1967; Heater, 1970; Bull, 1968; Graves, 1968; and Naish, 1972) The movement towards an integrated humanities or social studies timetabling in the lower secondary school provoked doom-laden predictions of'history in danger’ (Price, 1968, Moore, 1975, Davies and Pritchard, 1975) The looming prospect of social studies heightened the concerns of geographers and historians to put their own houses in order (see, for example, Booth, 1969). These anxieties impinged on textbook production Yet even in the face of some intimidating official intimations of support for a broad and balanced 'areas of learning and experience' curricular framework in the early 1980s (DES, 1985, pp. 15-16), geography and history maintained their position, confounding for the time being at least previous gloomy predictions, and confirming Steele's more optimistic prognosis (1976, p. 6) Significantly, as in the inter-war period, no major British social studies series emerged to compete with the newly minted textbooks in geography and history It is a matter of conjecture whether the paucity of social studies texts reflected the ideological inhibitions of4integrationists' against using textbooks, the fact that no successful teams of social science experts could be found to write an acceptable series of texts, or the sheer difficulty of implementation of an interdisciplinary framework drawing on the social sciences Some integrated humanities series appeared, but with separate books devoted to geographical, historical and religious education elements (see Chapter 5) The position of geography and history textbook writers and publishers remained relatively secure If there were clouds gathering on the horizon, they were not the result of the promotion of social studies

52

British Historical Perspectives

CONCLUSION A comparative historical study of the varying contexts in which British text­ books in geography and history have been produced over the last two hun­ dred years is revealing as much of similarity as of difference. In substance, both geography and history texts in their nineteenth-century manifestations were dominated by a mass of detailed content, often in catechetical form, designed to be memorised and repeated, at the same time testifying to the subsidiary status of both subjects as mere handmaidens of religion The secular content was typified in the preoccupation with the compendious: lists of physical and political features in capes and bays-type geography, and with dates, reigns, battles and peace treaties in history The content of both was significantly altered as geography and history gained a footing in the university, and as subject associations were formed and specialist authors were found to write the textbooks. But this academic infiltration had consequences for method. The greater complexity and abstractness of more ‘scientific’ approaches predictably were liable to generate resistance from pedagogues and pupils (see Chapter 6) As a result, earlier more conservative texts continued to coexist with ostensibly more innovative and attractive newcomers. Pedagogy was also helped by improved technology, making textbooks more user friendly. While the situation con­ tinued to reflect a palimpsest rather than paradigmatic model, over the long period major changes did take place. Thus the geography textbooks of the 1980s manifestly had more in common with concurrent history texts, than with their counterparts of pre-Second World War vintage Among other things, the new geography and history books were marked by declining proportions of text, and increases in other materials and associated activities. Again, as an element of continuity, traditional content was maintained in the textbooks in both subjects until the 1960s, though there were dis­ tinctions between the more academic grammar school-type textbooks and the more pupil-friendly readers Until this period also, the content reflected a long-standing self-satisfaction with Britain’s claimed standing in the world and its positive global contributions. There was, however; evidence of significant change from the late 1960s From that time geography text­ books gave increasing priority to, for example, social and environmental issues Both subjects, in their campaigns to justify their place in the cur­ riculum, stressed their complementary social missions of promoting good citizenship, as well as the wider one still of fostering international understanding Another aspect of continuity, though only until recent times, was the assumption of teachers in both subject areas that they could rely on the

53

The Schoo! Textbook

existence of class sets of textbooks, especially in the secondary sphere. A major change, however, resulting in considerable part from the increasing expense of technologically sophisticated textbooks and their associated support materials, and decreases in funding, has been the collapse in the provision of multiple class sets of textbooks for all pupils in a particular year Pupils once took home their personal copy of a textbook They now had to make do with teacher-provided worksheets, often copied from those same books (see Chapter 11) Baum calculated that illicit copying led over­ all to a loss of revenue of £20 million to the publishers each year (1995, p 108). More broadly, continuity has also been evident in the fact that the nature and use of textbooks have inevitably been circumscribed by forces from outside the classroom, both within and without the educational system. Textbooks have characteristically been flashpoints of controversy in edu­ cational debate In Altbach’s words, just as the educational system stands proxy for the ills of society and the economy, so textbooks stand proxy for those perceived in the educational system (1991, p 238). It has been argued here, however, that in Britain since the late 1960s the increasing polarisa­ tion of the educational debate has represented a significant change, in degree if not in kind Opponents with even greater intensity continued to stereotype textbooks as inevitably flawed by outdated content and teach­ ing style, and by the bias and hidden agendas of their producers, issues which link with the purpose of the next chapter, in which we move to a consideration of the reasons for the persisting British anti-textbook ethos.

54

4 The British Anti-Textbook Ethos That it (the textbook) is a controversial subject is also shown by the fad that no one talks about it willingly it is surrounded by reservation and reticence (E. Damiano (1993), ‘Textbooks and Innovation in School’, in O Bombardelli (ed ), The European Dimension in Schoolbooks, p 65)

It was argued in the introductory chapter that textbook research has been given significantly lower priority in Britain than in mainland Europe and in North America Attitudes in educational circles in this country towards textbooks have been more negative than in many other nations, to the extent that an anti-textbook ethos can fairly be postulated It is important, however, not to take this generalisation too far, and to suggest that the ethos is every­ where present and that those who hold it do so equally strongly It is prob­ ably just to surmise that it is more evident among education tutors and advisers than teachers; among primary teachers than secondary teachers; and, in the secondary sphere, among teachers in the humanities than in mathematics and the sciences. Supporting evidence is. however, more easily acquired informally, and often at an anecdotal level, than from the formal literature Lidstone, for example, recalls that orally he was actively dis­ couraged by university education department tutors from using textbooks during periods of teaching practice, even though experienced teachers in the schools regularly did so (1992, pp. 177-8) Lidstone listed five failings of geography textbooks which he claimed had prompted the strongest criticism, together in effect making up the worst-case scenar io so often presented by the censorious as the norm • • • • •

Guilt by association with the worst aspects of a reception model of learning. The presentation to pupils of the received wisdom of the author The purveying of out-of-date and often irrelevant knowledge The biased nature of the content, giving a distorted picture of the world Readability problems. (1992, p. 178)

Worst-case scenarios obviously can be found in the real world, and it is entirely proper to condemn poor practice where it can be substantiated An 55

The School Textbook element of such practice relates to the quality of the textbook itself, which can both ‘dumb-down' content and restrict pupil activity to low-level tasks (see Chapters 5 and 6) An even greater bone of contention relates to poor use of textbooks (see Chapter 10). Problems are clearly compounded where a prescriptive textbook culture holds sway, with the book dominating teach­ ing and learning activity. One of the starkest denunciations of school text­ books was that of Mahatma Gandhi, who maintained that they encouraged teachers to be slaves, who could not then be original or creative in their teaching Kumar, in quoting Gandhi, cited India as a country in which a worst-case ’textbook culture’ had been imposed during the time of colonial rule It was characterised by

• • • •

teaching in all subjects being based on textbooks prescribed by the authorities; the teacher having no freedom to choose what to teach, having to complete the prescribed syllabus with the help of the textbook; resources other than the textbook not being available; assessments and examinations being based on the textbook. (1988,pp. 452-3)

Such a culture has been evident in different degrees at different times in British educational history Its obvious deficiencies have been seized upon to fashion an undifferentiated stereotype, one which has been handed down through the generations, ignoring or playing down the obvious vari­ ations, changes and improvements in textbook quality and usage.

THE BLACK HOLE OF TEXTBOOK RESEARCH IN BRITAIN

Interest in research into textbooks has been meagre in both absolute and relative terms, as Hopkin found in comparing indexes of educational journals in Britain and other countries (1998, p. 19). In preparing for this chapter, a range of educational literature was perused, covering texts by educational philosophers, sociologists and language and curriculum specialists over the last four decades, which confirmed Hopkin’s finding. In the indexes of twenty well-known texts, starting with Tibble’s edited work. The Study of Education (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966) and Wheeler’s Curriculum Process (University of London Press, 1967), and ending with Goodson and Marsh’s Studying School Subjects A Guide (Falmer Press, 1996), only one explicit reference to textbooks was found Reinforcing this evidence, in a larger sample of over 100 texts on educational research published in Britain, 56

The British AniTTextbook Ethos

again only one index contained a reference to textbooks This contribution covered a mere two pages, and was written by an American schoolteacher (Kincheloe, 1991,22-3) Turning to ten educational journals, namely the British Educational Research Journal, British Journal of Educational Studies, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Cambridge Journal of Education, Curriculum, Educational Research, Educational Studies, Journal of Education for Teaching, Oxford Review of Education, and Research in Education, over a period often years from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, only three papers addressed to textbooks were published, An index to the Oxford Review of Education for the period 1975-95 revealed only one article on textbooks. A journal showing significantly more interest has been the Journal of Curriculum Studies, but in this case the editorial control has for some time been American, and the articles published have generally been by overseas authors, again chiefly American Consultation of the British Education Index for the period from 1970 showed, it is true, a number of articles relating to textbooks. But these were in almost all cases in more specialist journals, and focused on specific topics such as readability and bias, or on historical and comparative aspects, topics which, as indicated in Chapter 1, have gen­ erated some interest in this country. In geographical education, methodological texts until the 1960s often included advice on the choice and use of textbooks . For example, the Incor­ porated Society of Assistant Masters handbook The Teaching of Geography in Secondary Schools (1967, the fifth of a series of editions from 1935), and Long and Roberson’s Teaching Geography (1966), devoted significant attention to guidance on textbook issues. But since the late 1960s a high level of disregard has been evident, even by those who have both written methodological texts and school textbooks (and, it has to be confessed, including this author) In historical education, textbooks have also been slighted, as we have seen (Chapter 3) by, among others, Abrams (1964), Low-Beer (1974), and Rogers (1981). By and large, however, historians have been less negative and more constructively critical in their approach than geographers (see, for example, Knight, 1984, p 31) In part this may have reflected the stronger tradition of history as a 'text’, and of geography as a map and visual sub­ ject (Lawrence, 1972). Examples of the difference between the two subjects can be taken from two recent series of methodological texts In the first, on curriculum coordination in the primary school, the history publication, while critical of textbooks and the way they were deployed, made con­ structive observations about how to evaluate them, offering guidance also on improving their use in the classroom (Davies and Redmond, 1998) In 57

The School Textbook

the parallel geography text, they were side-lined in less than a sentence (Halocha, 1998, p. 148) Similarly, in a professional development series for beginning teachers, textbook issues were conspicuous by their near­ absence in geography, even within an extended resources section (Fisher, 1998, p 41) The equivalent chapter in its historical counterpart, by con­ trast, offered some specific advice on how textbooks might be used (Stern, 1999,pp.47-8)

EXPLAINING THE ANTI-TEXTBOOK ETHOS A number of overlapping factors can be put forward in possible explanation of the British anti-textbook ethos Some have clearly been more powerful and long-standing than others Progressive Educational Ideologies

The most persistent attacks on textbooks have been generated by progres­ sive educationists ‘Doctrines critical of the text are no novelty, dating back at least to Rousseau1, affirmed McMurray and Cronbach (1955, pp 10-11). While most commentators have linked the founding of progressivism with Rousseau, Hamilton takes us back to the sixteenth-century pedagogue Peter Ramus, who distinguished a teacher-free and a teacher-proof system. On the one hand there was the world of the teacher's personal knowl­ edge which could be explored through discussion and dialogue; and on the other hand there was an ‘a-personaP world of knowledge that was objectified in the new-found form of the textbook. (1987, p. 27)

Nineteenth-century educational progressivism stemmed from enlight­ enment ideals and from the romantic movement. Rousseau and indeed Wordsworth equated formal book-learning with the artificiality and cor­ ruption of society, set against the innocence and virtue of God's world Nature must be the teacher As noted in Chapter 3, the influence of Froebel, the heimaikunde movement, and other factors influenced educational writers in Britain who, like Geikie, warned against too early book learning They did not, however, reject textbooks in principle. Similarly, moving ahead into the early twentieth century, though progressive educationists might lobby vigorously fora shift to integrated curricula and child-centred project meth­ ods, neither school subjects as such, nor textbooks, were discountenanced 58

The British Ami-Textbook Ethos

The progressive Report of the Consultative Committee on The Primary School (Hadow) of 1931 referred to the ‘priceless habit of independent pur­ poseful study’, but it also considered ‘corporate methods’ of class teaching to be indispensable as well, and not to be ‘discarded wholesale in obedi­ ence to insufficiently tested theories’ (pp 152-3). While approving project approaches, the Report warned too against transforming subject teaching with ‘dangerous haste’ (p. 100) Not only the primary curriculum as a whole, but work in geography ‘and other subjects’ should be taught ‘in terms of activity and experience’ (p 93) The course of history in turn would in part have accomplished its purpose if ‘the child can read a simple history book with some real understanding’ (p, 170), On the back of Hadow, however, climbed ardent followers, making more extravagant claims The project method was in one case described as ‘salvation’ from a curriculum and its textbooks deriving from ‘mediaeval scholasticism’ (Gull, 1933, p. 17). In a rare survey of textbooks for the National Froebel Foundation in 1950, Victoria Brown confirmed that the progressive lobby continued to discourage the use of textbooks in the primary school (1950, pp. 1-5) It was from the late 1960s, however, that the cutting edge of educational dispute in this area became sharper, for which a number of influences can be held responsible The progressive movement was boosted by the Plowden Report of 1967, Children and their Primary Schools, widely accepted in Britain by disciples and critics alike as a reiteration of the values of child-centredness and, by extension, as an anti-subject and an anti-textbook document. Like the Hadow Report, the Plowden Report was a more nuanced document than either proponents or critics were to give it credit for. It did not in fact express outright opposi­ tion to subjects and textbooks It accepted that there might be occasions on which classbooks were useful, though did not think that resources used for ‘dull and over-generalised geography and nature study books’ represented money well spent The Report indeed also pointed out that some informa­ tion books bought for libraries suffered ‘from the same weaknesses as the textbooks they are tending to replace: over-generalisation, inaccuracy and poor illustrations’ (vol I, p 215) Even though the Report made such qualifications, to disciples of Plowden it gave the green light to regard the use of textbooks, particularly in the humanities/social studies area, as educationally reprehensible ‘I teach chil­ dren not subjects’ was a popular mantra. Kelly’s writings classically doc­ umented the polarisation of the post-PIowden progressive primary spirit: Recent work in the social history of education .... has revealed very clearly that some subjects have a place in the curriculum primarily

59

The School Textbook

because people who have a vested interest in the study and teaching of them have worked very hard, at a political level to establish and maintain them there a subject such as geography has brought itself to the point where its right for inclusion in most people’s list of core curriculum subjects is likely to go unchallenged we look in vain for an educational justification, or any real discussion of the contribution of the subject to the processes of educational development (1986, pp 118-19) A ‘fundamental incompatibility’ between child-centred and subjectcentred ways of proceeding was asserted Progressive theory was without question to be regarded as ‘the basic philosophy of English primary education’ (Blenkin and Kelly, 1981,p 62) It is perhaps a caricature (though only slight) or an over-simplification (though not a great one) to see this as to a large degree a conflict between the traditional, subject-based approaches of the secondary school and the less formal process-based approaches adopted by many primary teachers. (Kelly, 1988,p 98)

Progressive educationists clung ever more tightly to this ideology. An ideology, the dictionary tells us is a system of ideas, values and beliefs, usu­ ally involving a trusting assent to or acceptance of something as true on the basis of a higher authority This authority may be scientific (in its broadest sense) or, and perhaps more relevant here, spiritual Spiritual authority has stemmed from sages, priests and prophets: from gurus, both past and pre­ sent, who have acquired cult status (see Meusburger, 1999). Guru authority generates beliefs that do not necessarily rely on evidence and are difficult to counter by logical argument. It does not promote divergent thinking among the disciples, but rather calls for exegesis In progressive education, guru-type authority is not difficult to find, whether Rousseau or Froebel in the nineteenth century or, in Britain, Hadow or Plowden in the twentieth Most post-Plowden primary schools in England claimed to follow pro­ gressive approaches in a situation in which there was a huge variety of procedures not only between schools, but also within schools Different areas of the curriculum were characteristically approached in different ways, formally, in the so-called basics, and informally in topic work con­ comitant with the humanities, as revealed by, among others, Alexander: ‘Recent studies of primary education are consistent in identifying gaps between claims and practice; between the rhetoric of informal/exploratory 60

The British Anti-Textbook Ethos

methods and the reality of a predominance of didactic procedures (Alexander, 1984, p 124) While most primary schools claimed to be following classic child-cen­ tred practice, significant numbers of geography and history textbooks were bought by them While not used on the scale of the secondary sector, none the less forty new primary geography series of texts were published between 1945 and 1987, although the Plowden Report appears to have had some influence in a gap in the appearance of new ones in the early 1970s (see Catling, 1998, p. 40). The Post-1960s Curriculum Reform Movement Another development in the 1960s which boded ill for any prospect of a more differentiated appraisal of textbook quality and use was arguably the curriculum theory movement which crossed the Atlantic during that decade. An early British text to disseminate American concepts of rational curricu­ lum planning was Wheeler’s Curriculum Process (1967), a book strongly influenced by Hilda Taba, whose Curriculum Development Theory and Practice (1962) was regarded as a classic of its type. In it, however, she characterised textbooks as models of dullness and dogmatism, promoting repetitive memory training, and unproductive methods of thinking (1962, p. 153) The trend in the British curriculum texts to follow was to prioritise method over matter Wheeler indeed was particularly dismissive of the significance of subject content in the curriculum process, and suggested ‘little time need be spent on the source or resource units’ (1967, pp. 37-9) Translated into practice, teachers in their schemes of work over the fol­ lowing thirty years were increasingly to be encouraged to specify aims and objectives, learning activities and the assessment of outcomes Content was marginalised in many of these frameworks, and the idea that resources such as textbooks should be carefully appraised even more so, not surprising in a climate in which they were deemed to be of doubtful educational value Many teachers, particularly in the secondary sector, however, ignored the theoretical injunctions Teacher Professionalism, School-centred Innovation and the Flight from Content

An enthusiastically received educational novelty in this volatile period was the conception of school-centred innovation. Britain had long congratulated itself on the independence of its teachers, The theoretical debate in Britain 61

The School Textbook

focused on the importance of teachers rather than texts, seeing them as not merely purveying other people’s ideas, but striving to be individually creative. Such thinking was reinforced by two persuasive articles by Hoyle on how the curriculum changed He argued that genuine change was more likely in an innovative school environment in which teachers were com­ mitted to change - in which the teacher would function not as an employee but as a true or extended professional (1969, p.. 235). Such innovation would not happen, it was argued, where teachers were dependent on text­ books. There was later evidence to suggest, however, that the advantages claimed by theoretical advocates of teacher-led innovation were far from as clear in practice (see Hargreaves, 1982, and Kirk, 1988). In the United States, by contrast, the concept of developing profession­ alism meant, among other things, equipping teachers with the skills to judge the quality of textbooks independently, and to be able to select for them­ selves, rather than the procedure being the responsibility of state adoption boards (Tyson-Bernstein and Woodward, 1991,pp 98-9) Buchmann dis­ cussed the ‘flight from content’ and a different slant on professionalism She queried arguments which alleged that teacher autonomy was seriously hampered by outdated subject-based curricula and prescriptive textbooks. She recognised the continuing necessity for anyone legitimately designated as a true professional, however, to be required (a) to demonstrate a high level of intellectual curiosity; and (b) to develop the complex skills of trans­ lating subject matter from the disciplines of knowledge to a level accessi­ ble to pupils, without unduly diluting or distorting it No amount of appeal to process could overcome the damaging effects of lack of content knowl­ edge and understanding at teacher level (1982, pp. 161-5). Grossman and Skodolsky later agreed that ‘subject matter has a taken-for-granted quality in much research on secondary teaching’, and that how teachers were dif­ ferentially socialised into various subject areas and how they differentially experienced subject knowledge was a critical strand in the intricate web of contexts in which teachers taught, and ‘one we ignore at our peril in our efforts to understand and reform secondary school teaching’ (1999, pp 234-6 and p 244). Similarly, Chambliss and Calfee regarded the authority of the ‘educated mind’ (1998, p. 3), as reflected in good quality textbooks, as a likely to be constructive means of developing the intellectual potential of students. They accepted that far from the motivation being sinister, it was the key role of the school ‘to transmit from one generation to the next the major ideas in the content domains’, a role no other agency was equipped to deliver (1998, p 3 and p. 44). An assumption in the American literature was therefore that truly pro­ fessional teachers, if functioning reflectively and as authentic researchers, 62

The British Anti-Textbook Ethos would by definition have acquired the skills, and indeed would be intel­ lectually driven to evaluate texts constructively and the way they might be used Tight with the text, re-write it as a form of research’ urged Kincheloe (199 K pp. 22-3) Woodward and Elliott sensibly drew attention to the range in practice from the ‘true professional’,anxious to select concepts and skills in an autonomous planning of learning experiences, and the over-depen­ dent teacher; who allowed the textbook to have a major say in all aspects of instruction (1990b, p. 184) In too much of the British literature, there was rather the polarised view that those using textbooks were almost by definition not true professionals In Britain the linking of teacher professionalism and school-centred innovation as a kind of defining characteristic appeared timely at the end of the 1960s It seemed in tune with the needs it was felt would follow from the raising of the school leaving age (ROSLA) and the comprehensivisation of secondary schools Like primary children, less able secondary pupils were thought likely to be demotivated by traditional subjects and their accompanying textbooks School-centred innovation was also associated with the drive towards curriculum integration in the earlier stages of secondary education Many texts on the subject appeared in the 1970s (see, for example, Warwick, 1973, and Williams, 1976) In addition, from the 1970s local education authorities strengthened their own advisory services for teachers. Their advisers, like tutors in education departments, characteristically nailed their colours to the masts of flexible routes to learning and teacher-produced materials The trend was helped first by the widespread deployment of the banda machine and later more sophisticated photocopying technology. It was anticipated that from reference books and other sources teachers could fashion their own materials, and did not need the support of textbooks. There was, how­ ever; less address to the equal necessity for quality appraisal of teacher worksheets and booklets . The personal modification of text material, though desirable in principle, was not necessarily found to be educationally effec­ tive (Knight, 1993) The quality of teacher-produced materials, both in content and presentation, was also from the 1980s heavily criticised by government inspectors (DES, 1983, p 113).

The Social Construction of Knowledge Another significant import from the United States in the 1960s was Berger and Luckmann’s hypothesis that ‘reality is socially constructed and that the sociology of knowledge must analyse the process in which this occurs’ (1966: p 13 of 1971 British edition) This beguiling maxim was an essential

63

The School Textbook element in the new ‘sociology of knowledge’, disseminated in Britain in Young’s celebrated collection Knowledge and Control (1971). In this Bernstein enunciated the much to be repeated dictum: ‘How a society selects, classifies, distributes, transmits and evaluates the educational knowledge it considers to be public, reflects both the distribution of power and the principles of social control’ (1971, p. 47) In the curriculum discourse generated by these ideas, content (as expressed in textbooks) was construed by social and educational theorists of the ‘sociology of knowledge type’ (Englund, 1990, p. 89), as a politi­ cised and socially biased selection from the culture. It was contended that textbooks held the ‘unique and significant social function’ of representing and legitimating to each generation of students ‘an officially sanctioned, authorised version of human knowledge and culture’ (De Castell er al., 1989, p. vii and p x). As Apple similarly concluded, they were ‘ the “cultural capital” of dominant classes and class segments’ (Apple, 1989, p. 84) Sutherland concurred:

Like other writers, authors of children’s books are inescapably influ­ enced by their views and assumptions the books express their author’s personal ideologies . To publish books which express one’s ideology is in essence to promulgate one’s values To promulgate one’s values is a political act (1985, p. 143)

In tune with such arguments, Apple demanded investigation of the relationship between the textbook as a cultural product, and the social and economic relations of its production and consumption (1985, p 147). Text­ books were published ‘within the political constraints of markets, resources and power’ The traditional question ‘what knowledge is of most worth?’ should be rephrased ‘whose knowledge is of most worth?’ (Apple and Christian-Smith, 1991b, pp 1-2) A variety of tensions was highlighted Paxton wrote of ‘estrangement’ between the authoritative voice of acade­ mic historians, the history taught in schools, and the rift between profes­ sional historical discourse and the capacity and motivation of students to respond meaningfully (1999, p 323). Olson further suggested that the text was an ideal means of disseminating knowledge that was viewed as an essential part of the heritage and. more, of a ‘transcendental’ origin that rendered it beyond criticism (1989a, pp 237-9). This constituted a threat to the teacher as an authority, and also to the pupil’s right to hold opinions and have them taken seriously, in the face of the unquestioned power of an officially sanctioned text (Olson, 1989b, pp. 261-2). 64

The British Anti-Textbook Ethos

Countering this more extreme view. Baker and Freebody queried whether authority could be considered an intrinsic property of texts or of social structures, and argued that 'authorising1 practices derived rather from the power of the teacher in the course of classroom instruction (1989, p 264) Similarly, Luke et al. accepted that teachers, by virtue of their insti­ tutionally defined authority, still had the capacity to control the meanings of the text (1989, p 257) Unlike many of his British counterparts, Apple also conceded that textbooks could be ‘partly liberatory1, while remaining suspicious about the system in which they were embedded, and the way in which they were deployed (1989, p 82).. While it is improper to collapse the thinking of sociologists of knowl­ edge into an undifferentiated mass of opinion, arguably its influence has had worrying consequences, in Britain at least, implanting a kind of latterday social determinism and tendency to negative stereotyping of textbooks as a monolithic aggregate Though it is now more widely accepted that text­ books are necessarily socially constructed, the need is greater and not less to probe the whole range between the good and the bad in terms of, among other things, the many variants of bias and prejudice (see Chapter 7) Put forward as a universalistic hypothesis, the contention that transmitting one's ideas is essentially a political and socially biased act must obviously apply equally to Bernstein and Apple as to menial textbook writers. At all levels, determinism can deny the pr iority of attending in the first place to the quality of the material produced, rather than the ideology within which it has been produced. Thus the pioneering texts and articles of the luminaries of the sociology of knowledge movement, socially constructed as they were, are in many cases still worth taking more seriously than those of some of their slavish followers Post-modernism

Post-modernism has inexorably infiltrated the thinking of educationists. There is obviously not space here to probe the varieties of definition and interpretations of post-modernism in this contested area of debate. In the context of this chapter, in general terms it can be argued that there has been a tendency to dichotomise: setting a range of perceived benefits to be derived from post-modernist procedures against the claimed ills of mod­ ernism In the promotion of post-modernism, it is evident that the model of paradigmatic rather than palimpsest-type change (see Wright, 1996b) is dominant More tangibly, some post-modernist educational writers have recycled the long criticised linkage of subject-centred approaches with traditional textbooks, and this in turn with an outmoded ‘modernist1 agenda 65

The School Textbook

of ‘subject aggrandisement’ (Edwards, 1996, p. 222). In Britain and the United States therefore, a simplistically polarised coupling of ‘modernism’ with anachronism, and of ‘post-modernism’ with progressivism, has emerged, even though child-centred approaches, as noted above, can be traced back at least to the late eighteenth century One American writer con­ trasted the ideal ‘post-modern’ textbook, which he predictably regarded as a more desirable educational tool, with its modernist counterpart, the latter categorised as

• • • •

organised as a compendium of facts, expressed in language that puts readers to sleep, primarily designed to help students memorise information, and presenting material in a neutral, non-controversial way. By contrast, post-modern textbooks would

• • •

attempt to develop critical thinking, present material in an interesting literary style, avoid dispensing knowledge in an authoritative fashion, but recognise scholarly debate over knowledge and the political influences that shape that knowledge. (Spring, 1991, p 186)

For those unconvinced of the more loosely constructed forms of post­ modernism, there is a counter-temptation to seek out worst-case examples, and this would seem to be one of the type. If their preaching is to extend beyond the converted, however, post-modernists need to do better than this On the above criteria, not least, good textbook writers have been post­ modernist for decades

The Latter-day English Educational Research Culture To an extent the argument here must be conjectural, but circumstantial evidence would suggest that the gatekeepers of British educational research funding bodies have not valued work on textbooks sufficiently to privilege it with significant grants for the necessary large-scale projects Diagnostic of the dominant culture during the 1960s was an interesting case study, untypical of the educational research of its period Eraut and his Sussex team set out to investigate ways of analysing curriculum materials They became exercised by the lack of peer enthusiasm for their project, and felt obliged to defend their undertaking In the first place they claimed that they

66

The British Anti-Textbook Ethos were criticised ‘on the grounds that materials are virtually irrelevant to the curriculum in action’ and that the issues that mattered were embedded in the teaching. Secondly, it was said that the analysis of materials would over­ emphasise curriculum at the expense of instruction (that is matter at the expense of method) Finally, they were aware of those who found them, through studying curriculum materials, including textbooks, ‘guilty by association’ with ‘teacher-proof’ curricula (Eraut et al., 1975, p. 5) The fact that two of the journals cited as neglecting research earlier in this chapter are associated respectively with the British Education Research Association (BERA) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), tends to confirm that work on textbooks in British educational research circles is not regarded as of high profile. Unlike counterparts in Europe, such as the Georg-Eckert Institute in Braunschweig, the Austrian Institute for Textbook Research (see Bamberger , 1992), various educational research institutes in the Netherlands (see Boerma, 1992, p. 143), the National Institute for Educational Research in France, where Choppin’s work has been so seminal (Choppin, 1992a/b), the Scandinavian-based IARTEM (Johnsen, 1995), and the Finnish Commission on textbook research (see Clammer, 1986, pp. 43-5), evidence has not been found of support from British agencies for any major project on textbook research, though there has been for most other aspects of classroom practice While the NFER Register oj Educational Research in the United Kingdom has listed the sporadic research undertaken on textbooks in specific subject areas, this has mainly been on specific issues of bias, readability, and the like, as identified in Chapter 1

Technological Changes Another aspect of the attack on textbooks has been the attention paid to an ever-widening range of educational alternatives, backed by technological advances in publishing Verduin-Muller debated a potential dichotomy between the ‘old’ textbook and the ‘new’ media, the former cartooned as ‘old-fashioned software’, and seen at risk of being discarded. Her conclu­ sion was, however, that new technologies were complementary and com­ patible with the use of textbooks, and should be viewed as partners in the educational enterprise (1989, p 367). In Britain, however, new technologies have been seized upon as free­ ing the teacher from the alleged tyranny of the text. Thus Abrams in the 1960s envisioned an improved history without ‘the tedium of textbooks’, in place of which he extolled the then novel teaching packs of the Jackdaw series, collections of documents, facsimiles and broadsheets, as ‘the most

67

The School Textbook

exciting thing that has happened in history for a long time’ These in his view allowed the child To get behind his textbooks handle and judge for himself the primary data of history\ and be 'exposed to the challenge of historical interpretation' (1964, pp. 13-15) One history teacher argued for teachers producing home-brewed textbooks, using improving technol­ ogy, with a view not to replicate commercially produced materials, but to enhance them with, for example, case studies of the local area (Warnes, 1981, p. 26). The packaging arrangement was indeed regarded as ideal for local history and geography materials In the eyes of progressive educa­ tionists, the idea of a collection of original source materials was, as noted in Chapter 3, ideologically much less suspect than that of the textbook While many shared this enthusiasm, in the event the Jackdaws were, like textbooks, of variable quality Applying the worst-case scenario argu­ ment to this example, it can be demonstrated that reproduction of the doc­ uments was at times indecipherable, the quality of the artwork poor, the size of print, as in some of the newspaper reprints, eye-threatening, while the language of the original documentation could be considerably more detached from the vernacular culture than the simplified academic termi­ nology criticised in the textbooks. Similarly, home-grown materials were likely to be more variable in quality (see Lunzer, 1979; see also Knight, 1993) than commercially produced textbooks, which at least had to jump a number of externally evaluated hurdles. In an era when we now recognise the awesome potential of word pro­ cessing, data processing, computer graphics, and desk-top publishing, it is practicable for teachers to produce high quality text, using coloured art work and photographs, all meshed together in a well-designed format. Again it has been argued that the availability of this technology places textbooks once more under threat Questions remain, however, about the extremely variable quality of the content input. Teachers taking the opportunity of using this array of resources must also in principle be able to feed in valid content. On what do they rely? All sources, including textbooks, produce material of different quality Information made available over the Internet can itself be variable, indigestible, time-consuming to collect, and sometimes of a type more traditional than that of modern textbooks In these circumstances, the textbook continues to demonstrate a strong survival capacity Financial Constraints

Some of the criticism of textbooks predictably arises from the fact that, owing to resource constraints, schools have over the generations kept and used anachronistic versions long past their sell-by date. While teacher

68

The British Ami-Textbook Ethos

inertia and over allegiance to a tried and trusted text might be a factor; there is no question but that budget limitations have been an even stronger force. Through the 1960s, for example, the Times Educational Supplement and other journals periodically drew attention to official parsimony as causing a dangerous 'textbook famine1 (Anon, 1964, p. 897). Later still, Harrison suggested that the textbook was an endangered species, because of cuts in educational expenditure (1981, p 231) The surveys of the Educational Publishers' Association have recently revealed a continuing decline, its 1998 report showing Britain at the bottom of the league of west European nations, spending on average £18 per pupil per year, with Norway, at £80 per pupil, heading the list. The anti-textbook culture may well also have contributed to a climate of opinion in which the purchase of textbooks is not given as high a priority as has been the case in the past Resource con­ straints have become so critical a factor in schools as to deny for their pupils the prospect of taking textbooks out of the classroom for homework pur­ poses As a result, one of the their most important functions, for pupils to be able to read and otherwise make use of them at home, has been lost (see Chapter 11)

CONCLUSION: LOOKING TO THE POSITIVE Evidence has been gathered in this chapter in an attempt to substantiate the initial contention that within influential educational circles in Britain, including higher education institutions, local author ities and research grant­ ing bodies, there has for some time existed a dominant anti-textbook ethos, rising in intensity in some cases to a socio-pathology (see Kwiecinski, 1995, pp 63-4), and reflected in the neglect of research into textbooks Externally, as among many practising teachers, the negativism has had less impact Obviously, some caution must be exercised in making such assertions, for while supportive evidence has been produced, there must remain an element of personal opinion and conjecture, which can degenerate into stereotyping While historical educationists, for example, would seem to have been less affected than geographers by the anti-textbook culture of their more general­ ist educational peers, within each group there exists a spectrum of opinion, and one subject to change Within the anti-textbook culture, internal iconoclasts have been few, but never absent. Two geographical educationists to have broken ranks and for some time to have advocated the need for more research on textbooks have been Wright (1988,pp.327-32) and Lidstone (1988, p . 283). In the 20 years following Lidstone’s pioneering 1976 thesis on the use of textbooks he

69

The School Textbook discerned no change of attitude towards them What attention had been paid, was focused on particular deficiencies in the content There was no attempt to offer positive advice on effective ways of using textbooks in the classroom. The true problem, the failings in the textbooks used, was ignored (1990). He suggested that good modern geography textbooks had offered syntheses of new ideas from the frontiers of the subject, had promoted pro­ gressive enquiry-based approaches, and had attended to the responsibility of geography for drawing attention to social and environmental concerns.. At the same time he emphasised that in themselves these qualities were of little avail unless teachers became skilled in the constructive use of text­ books (1992, pp. 187-92). To end on a cautiously positive note, however, there have in geograph­ ical education at least been harbingers of a greater interest being taken in constructively critical research into textbooks, on the evidence not only of the previously cited studies by Lidstone and Wright, but also more recently by Martin and Bailey (in Bailey and Fox, 1996), Kent (1996), and Lambert (1996). Some of the most substantial work has been in unpublished doc­ toral theses, in particular those of Lidstone (1985), Acheson (1994), Zhang (1996), and Hopkin (1998) This constructive trend has also been reflected in a rare recent research conference on the subject of textbooks held at the University of London Institute of Education (Kent, 1998). The journal International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education has also published articles addressing textbook issues, albeit mostly by nonBritish authors (see for example, Gregg et al. 1998). It has included an extended research forum section on the subject, though again the only British contribution was the overview of the editor (Graves, 1997a). Similarly the journal Paradigm is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of textbooks, in this case focusing largely on the historical perspective There are also forthcoming histories of geography textbooks (see, for example, Walford, 2001), and of course this book is intended as a contribution to the case for taking all kinds of research into textbooks more seriously

70

5 Matter: Continuity and Change in Subject Content famous Headmaster once asserted that it didn ‘t matter much what was taught in his school provided that the boys loathed it Moral strength, he thought, came from facing unpleasant tasks, and character was developed as a result of some­ how overcoming obstacles (J A. Lauwerys (1944), The Content of Education, p 1)

Oh goody, it's champagne again!

(!' Ruff (1988), in C.S. Tann, (ed ) Developing Topic Work in the Primary School, p 74)

The intention in this and the following chapter is to shift from the previous contextual considerations and to investigate the massive changes in the con­ tent and pedagogy of geography, history and, in the American case partic­ ularly, social studies textbooks, which have taken place over the last two centuries Offering so wide a coverage of historical and comparative mate­ rial carries the penalty of having to contend with a voluminous literature There is a self-evident need for selection The strategy adopted here has been to identify a relatively limited number of authors whose texts can be regarded in some significant way as characteristic of their time, or in other respects exemplify some pertinent and/or intriguing feature or principle While both in this and the following chapter particular texts have been examined, detailed quotation from them will be left to the analysis of process in Chapter 6 To avoid unnecessary overlap, the content coverage in this chapter focuses more on its academic back-cloth, leaving detail relating more pertinently to its mission elements to Chapters 7 and 8

EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Britain During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, while accuracy of content was presumably considered to be desirable, it was a second order

71

The Sc hool Textbook priority Gadesby, for example, assured his readers that while he was con­ cerned over the acceptability of the subject-matter of his geography text­ book, this was so long as 'from its contents the interests of morality and virtue will sustain no injury’ (1786, p xviii). In the so-called ‘bible geo­ graphies’, content frequently comprised detail of the historical geography of the Holy Land In the juvenile readers, the aim was to draw attention to God’s creation: ‘We want to tell you, dear children, something about these glorious works of God’ (Bowring 1838, p. 1). In Mrs Sherwood’s intro­ ductory geography, each definition, such as ‘a continent is a connected por­ tion of land containing many large tracts of country ’, was accompanied by an extract from a Psalm, in this case: ‘For ever. O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it abideth’ (1823. p 3) The religious essence coexisted, however, with a ‘profane geography’ in which the teacher might take the pupil, in some cases ‘with disgust’, on a journey through ‘territories inhabited by murdering savages’(Butler. 1816, p. xii) A more congenial variant was the ‘missionary geography’, follow­ ing vicariously the travels and travails of God’s ser vants in the dark cor­ ners of the earth Notwithstanding the priority given to the sacred over the profane, geography acquired a greater allure in a period when unknown lands and exotic peoples, plants and animals were being newly discovered. Its increasing prestige in England was reflected in the formation of the Royal Geographical Society. In his presidential address of 1838, Hamilton defined the ‘real geographer ’ not as an academic but as ‘an ardent trav­ eller’, undeterred by hardship, delighting in the feeling of being upon ground ‘hitherto untrodden by man’ (1838, p xxxix-xl) While it was to be some time before the Society formally promoted the expansion of geogra­ phy in schools, it was assumed that the dissemination of the explorer values which dominated its literature would make the subject second only in importance to religious instruction as of ‘benefit to mankind’ (see Marsden, 1986, p 184) A feature of the content of geography and history texts in consequence was, apart from the lists of physical and economic characteristics, a col­ lection of disparaging descriptions of strange and alien populations, living in conditions of barbarism and superstition, and hitherto deprived the bene­ fit of civilised Christian contact In purveying their stereotypes, history and geography textbooks, and children's literature in general, were marked by ‘an odd mixture of the prudish, the high-minded and the horrific’ Writers were happy to ‘regale their readers with scenes of torture, violent death, and general mayhem, all set out in gory detail’ (Kearney, 1986, p.. 233) Such was regarded both as motivating and character forming.

72

Matter Subject Content History was as important a support for religious instruction as geogra­ phy Just as geography demonstrated the working of God in nature, so his­ tory showed his wise control over events The action of ‘Divine Providence’ loomed large, and the textbooks confirmed that God had been especially merciful to the English people The first of His blessings was to be a Christian, and the second to be English. History was also used to laud the benefits of the monarchic principle and the British constitution, and the freedoms which had accrued At the same time former Kings and Queens tainted by immorality and religious failings were unequivocally condemned (Chancellor, 1970, pp. 38-40, 78-81 and 93-4)

United States

There was considerable similarity in the geography textbooks of Britain and the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. There too young readers could derive a delegated satisfaction from following in the footsteps of explorers, colonists, military men and missionaries In the excitement of opening up a new continent, American geography texts included much descriptive material about places, on the lines of the encyclopaedic geographies that had been imported from Britain These included John Payne’s New and Complete System of Universal Geography whose American edition ran to nearly 2,500 pages and approximately 1,500,000 words (Dryer, 1924, p 117). The breakthrough in geography textbooks arrived with the publication in 1784 of Revd Jedidiah Morse’s Geography Made Easy Widely accepted as ‘the father of American geography’ (Brown, 1941), Morse’s compilations were a mix of factual detail of physical features, products, and locations, and prejudiced opinions about the characteristics of differ­ ent peoples, both at home and abroad By 1820 the twenty-second edition was in print. Morse’s texts were remarkable for their paucity of maps, as were those of another major textbook writer, Nathaniel Dwight, which were stronger on catechism than on cartography (Nietz, 1961, p 222). The study of history in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century schools in New York and Massachusetts was limited, for there were few texts Where it was taught it was generally within the curriculum for Latin, geography or reading (Russell, 1915, p 6), Worcester’s Elements of History (1820) was ‘the first really comprehensive and ably written American school history’ of practical use for schools. It began with ancient history, followed by mediaeval and modern, and extended into the story of the founding of the United States (Carpenter, 1963, pp 199-200) By the 1820s, however, history was beginning to flower as a school subject Two of the most famous authors, Emma Willard and SG Goodrich, covered 73

The School Textbook both geography and history, Goodrich’s First Book of History, was sub­ titled Combined with Geography, Containing the History and Geography of the Western Hemisphere for the Use of Schools (1852), while he also penned a Universal History on the Basis of Geography (1869). Emma Willard too insisted that geography and history should work in tandem, History texts must include maps, as exemplified in her History of the United States (1828), a text marked further by the accuracy of its geographical locations Another significant innovation was the chart in her Historic Guide to the Temple of Time, a novel chronological frame for teaching history, which included biographical sketches of great figures in particular centuries, and won a gold medal at the World’s Fair in London in 185L Willard indeed successfully wove together pedagogical principles with a love of authentic content. 'Possess your subject thoroughly’ was her advice to teachers (see Nelson, 1987, pp. 249-53). As in Britain, the early history textbooks aimed above all to offer moral guidance and training Content was largely chosen to use the 'immense trea­ sure’ of historical experience to furnish 'innumerable proofs’ of the value of ‘morality and prudence’, within it (Russell, 1915, p 13) Emma Willard’s Abridged History of the United States (1846) thus sought ‘to sow the seeds of virtue’ by presenting the good in historical characters in a favourable light, as a means of kindling ‘the desires of imitation’

FROM THE 1850s TO THE 1890s Major changes in geography textbook content occurred in the second half of the century. Broadly, there was a shift in the balance between religious and secular material, and from the amateur to the specialist author. Geogra­ phy could no longer afford its image as ‘the stuff of which sailors yarns’ was made (Anon , 1905, p. 47) There were also significant technological changes, spearheaded in the United States. Its textbooks took the lead in quality of presentation, giving the content ‘an extraordinary new look’ (Carpenter, 1963, p 258) Yet old materials and methods died hard Catechetical geographies and histories and moralising story-type readers maintained their popularity with some ease, Britain

In Britain, Mary Somerville and William Hughes were generally recognised as pioneers in raising the quality of content in geography textbooks Whereas previous authors characteristically compiled lists of physical 74

Matter: Subject Content

characteristics, economic products and the like, they claimed to emphasise the connections between physical features and human responses, Mary Somerville also transcended the older repetitive political approach struc­ tured on a country by country basis. In focusing on causes, relationships, and a systematic presentation of information on a continent by continent framing, she to an extent anticipated later world regional study (Oughton, 1978, p. 110), Hughes similarly stressed the ‘unity of geography", and emphasised that coverage of natural features must constantly be reinforced by instant connection with a map (Vaughan, 1980, p. 72). In a period of prescriptive government Codes, elementary textbooks were geared to meeting their demands, W B Adams’ Leading Events in English History (1872) was of this kind In many ways it was an improve­ ment on its compendious predecessors, however, selecting out as case studies from English history major figures and events, such as ‘King John’s Quarrel with the Pope’ It was judged by The Schoolmaster reviewer to be ‘one of the very best handbooks of history we have seen’ (see Marsden, 1991a, pp, 198-202) Writers of history textbooks retained the belief, how­ ever, that they had to do more than meet examination requirements, and must abstract moral lessons and have a patriotic purpose Great British explorers, colonists and missionaries were extolled as role models in both geography and history texts. Perseverance could be taught by reference to Bruce or Cobden, devotion to duty by Wellington, philanthropy by Wilber­ force, and fortitude in times of danger and chivalry to women and children through the story of the loss of The Birkenhead (Collar and Crook, 1900, pp. 183-4) An element in the trend towards secularisation was the greater respect accorded to the findings of science. In this there was controversy, and a need to resolve for children the tensions between the Genesis and geolog­ ical accounts of the Creation Grover compared the two accounts in a reader designed to demonstrate their compatibility It adopted the accepted con­ versational style, involving a discussion between a father and three chil­ dren, Will, George and Hilda, W Did Moses, who wrote the book of Genesis, understand Geology? F Not as we do; he wrote as he was inspired or taught by God himself H But we know all that is in the Bible is true; we want no proof, F I know that, my dear child; but many people think that science or worldly wisdom teaches something different from the Bible; and it is to show you that it confirms it entirely that I now speak to you

75

The School Textbook

The father explained that the 'days' of Creation recounted in Genesis meant only periods of time. The Bible stated that ‘a thousand years are as yesterday in God’s sight1 As God was eternal, time to Him was as nothing An elaborate chart equated the seven days of Genesis with seven geological eras The 7th Day was the present The 6th Day was that when God created man in his own image. The 5th Day saw the creation of reptiles, great whales and birds (Lias and Oolite), and so on The children’s responses were predictably enthusiastic George was of the opinion that the explana­ tion had proved God’s word was a sure guide. Hilda thanked her Maker for preparing the earth so kindly for her reception, grateful that he had placed her in the 'beautiful sunshiny flowery world, as it is now, and that all those dreadful dragons should have been taken out of it before we were bom1 Will wanted his father to take him to the British Museum fossil collection and to start a geological cabinet of their own, illustrative of 'the wonder­ ful testimony of the rocks’ (1877, p. 24). Like Grover, Mackay correlated the 'days1 in the Creation story with particular geological eras. At the same time, he refused to countenance the Darwinian notion that humankind could be descended from gorillas, 'the most hideous and disgusting of brutes’ (see Maclean, 1998, p. 80). The compromises Grover and Mackay contrived in their late nineteenth-century texts went much further, however, than fundamentalist opinion, particularly that in the United States, could accept, with the creation conflict still evident in recent times (see Chapter 9).

United Slates The most important change in the content of American geography text­ books was equally an outcome of the growth of geography as an academic subject. Though not yet well established in American universities, it came under the sway of intellectual giants in the discipline in Europe. These indirectly influenced a breakthrough in the content of American school textbooks, brought about by the migration of the Swiss-born Arnold Guyot, steeped in the ideas of Agassiz, Humboldt and Ritter Guyot’s ideal textbook was that written by 'the trained scientist1 rather than ‘a narrow­ minded teacher or an editorial hack1 (Dryer, 1924, p 123) He determined that his textbooks would present a coherent picture of a reformed geogra­ phy. It was later said to be the best school geography ever written. His innovations were no guarantee of popular success, however. Guyot’s Common School Geography was a failure because teachers lacked the knowledge and understanding to be able to use it effectively (see Martin, 1987, p 68). 76

Matter Subject Content An increasingly important factor affecting textbook content in the United States, as in Britain, was the influence of external examination syllabuses. The college entrance system helped to lift standards, but insistence on sub­ ject content dedicated to the idiosyncratic institutional demands, proved a increasing nightmare for the schools (Ravitch, 1995a, pp. 168-9) While the academic content of geography and history textbooks may have improved as a result of more expert authorship, helped too by technical improvements, Rugg was highly critical, accusing these writers of‘scissors and paste’ methods of compiling textbooks to meet the prescriptions of the higher education institutions (1926b, p. 37) in which they were often pro­ fessors Their material was derived, he insisted, from their intellectual train­ ing and cautious research methods, distant from the vital and more risky affairs of current life, which he argued should have been given the priority (pp 30-1).

FROM THE 1890s TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR Britain

The 1890s and 1900s were important decades in the development of geo­ graphical education in Britain The Geographical Association, formed in 1893, gradually took over the role of the Royal Geographical Society in promoting geography as a school subject of academic repute. Scholars like Geikie, Mackinder and Herbertson materially assisted the cause by writing school textbooks. For younger children, Mackinder advocated linking geography with history and civics (1913). His ideas were applied in his Elementary Studies in Geography and History. His Geographical Studies series was for a somewhat older age group and was based on a variant of the so-called concentric principle. Our Islands, was followed by Lands beyond the Channel, then in turn by Distant Lands and The Nations of the Modern World, the last drawing on broader concepts from history and citizenship education. His Distant Lands text was considered by a reviewer in The Schoolmaster to be a work of ‘superlative excellence’, a ‘fascinating narrative’, a ‘revelation’ to those used to the older type of textbook (Anon., 1910,p.227) Mackinder’s school books were in general more imaginative than those of his colleague A J Herbertson. His Senior Geography, an undoubted con­ ceptual improvement on its compendious ‘capes and bays’ predecessors, was still dauntingly factual (see Figure 1) (see Chapter 6). The weighty academic content was to be watered down by teacher-authors whose books

77

The School Textbook

Fig. 1

N’-lurjl Kegios» of the World (u Hex cd Led h the tcxl).

Figure I A J Herbertson, The Oxford Geographies The Senior Geography (OxXford: Clarendon Press, 1921 edition, p. la)

78

Mattei Subject Content

increasingly appeared on the market between the wars. Those of Thomas Pickles, a Barnsley teacher; were archetypal. His Modern School Geographies series for Dent offered condensed versions of the natural regions approach. Pickles’ The World was clearly modelled on Senior Geography (see Figure 2) He affirmed that through the regional approach ‘a survey of the world is made easy since when we have learnt the geography of one region we can readily learn the geography of another region of the same type’ (1939, p. 35) Academic geographers continued to write school textbooks, however.. Among them, a market leader was Sir Dudley Stamp, despite what would now be regarded as the innate dullness of his fact-laden text. The World The textbook presentation of the more authentic academic content did not put an end to the traditional reader . Indeed in the first decade of the new century Her bertson and his wife produced a series of Descr iptive Geographies from Original Sources, based on depicting the world 'in the language of the men who have seen it’ (1902, Preface, p v). Using, apart from text, visual resources from the Royal Geographical Society collection, Keltie and Gilmour later produced a six-volume set of 'supplementary readers’ designed 'to quicken interest in geography by stories of travel' Its tales of exploration and exotic journeys ranged from Raleigh, to Livingstone and an 'English lady’s travels in Japan’ (1925) In history, there remained concern that the textbook seemed 'specially designed to destroy interest’ Demands intensified for the rejection of his­ tories distorted by 'the glamour of courts and the pageantry of war’ (Barker, 1921, p. 371) The so-called 'new history’ of this period demanded more attention to local and social history. Social realism in the subject meant in turn an address to recent and even contemporary events. Bell’s Piers Plow­ man Social and Economic Histories (1922) sought to depict the conditions in which ordinary people of past times lived The teachers’ press generally supported the 'history from the bottom up’ approach, and periodically offered advice on how to implement these novel ideas A particularly detailed example, entitled ‘A Medieval Day\ covered activities on a day in October 1399 experienced by the different orders of society Apart from the text, it introduced original source materials, including British Museum prints of a contemporary publication, including people preparing and cooking dinner, women milking ewes, a barber surgeon at work, soldiers looting a house and a monk escaping from a monastery (Brandon, 1934, pp, 459-62). Pleas for more topical content grew after the First World War Though to an extent approving the incorporation of more foreign history, the Board of Education at the same time cautioned against proceeding loo far in this direction (1923, p 17). Many debates followed about the amount of weight that should be given to world history, a process obviously approved by 79

The School Textbook

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44. WEST C0A5T CLIMATES

Figure 2 T Pickles, The World (London: J M. Dent & Sons, 1939, pp. 88-9)

80

Mailer Subject Content League of Nations opinion (see Chapter 8) H G. Wells was a particularly fervent campaigner for moving away from patriotic nationalism, and for addressing much more the great world stage (1937). An important constraint was the demonstrable lack of subject knowledge of teachers of this type of history The Second World War revived support for topical history, cover­ ing events outside the homeland Reid and Toyne’s guidance document on syllabus planning for the Historical Association in 1944 advocated the selection of movements and events which had most influenced the present. Their ideas were extremely novel, though offered as suggestions and not as a rigid or binding code Among the criteria for selection of material were ‘key questions', premonitions in some ways of the thinking of the later American Man: A Course of Study curriculum project (see below). The questions were:

• • • •

How have men learned to live? (covering making and using of tools, etc). How have men come to live where they now do? (covering invasions, wars, exploration and colonisation) How have men learned to live together? (covering the growth of civil­ isation, town-life, government, written law and organised religion). How and when have men learned to think about themselves and the world? (covering the history of religion, political theory, and thought about the subjects children now learned at school) (1944, p 7)

United Stales

The two decades prior to the First World War were also a time of impor­ tant changes in the United States, signalled first in the Report of the Con­ ference of Geography of the National Education Association's Committee of Ten (on secondary schooling) in 1894 It considered that geography in school should reflect developments at the academic frontiers. The fron­ tiersmen in this case were eminent geologists such as Powell, Dutton and Davis. Davis demanded that geography textbook authors should be special­ ist geographers He regarded field work excursions as of prime importance, but needing to be reinforced back in the classroom by related textbook material Textbooks should provide the summary, not the substance of the subject As such they were useful If used as substance for mere recitation, however, he concluded 'no textbook is belter than any’ (189.3, p 117). The Report of the Committee of Ten did not, however, win universal approval, a minority report condemning the degree of specialisation envis­ aged (Mar tin, 1987, pp 63-4) One of the main concerns was the new focus 81

The School Textbook

on physical geography, which not all agreed was suitable for the elemen­ tary stage Richard Dodge, Professor of Geography at Teachers College, New York, took the pedagogic line that the geography taught should be both human and scientific, and that the presence of famous physical geographers on the Committee of Ten had over-weighted the prior ities too much in that direction (1897, pp 525-6) . The impact of the Report could be discerned in the geography textbooks of Alexis Everett Frye, regarded as critical breakthroughs, symptomatic of true geographers taking over from the amateur authors of the past (Whitbeck, 1921, p. 122) At home, the reformed textbooks of the 1890s and 1900s failed to gain unanimous praise Blodgett, for example, suggested that the ‘books of our fathers' did not always suffer in comparison with current textbooks, and was critical of the yielding of too much space to illustrations, some of them trifling (1899, p. 145). Genthe, a member of the Association of American Geographers’ Committee on Secondary School Geography, considered that geographical instruction encompassed a material or content requirement, and a mental disposition or psychological requirement, which meant match­ ing the book to the pupil’s needs. Textbooks had to be appraised on whether they were truly geographic and whether they were graded She complained that by including too much extraneous material ‘the “new geography” became just as overloaded with unconnected detail as was the old’(1903, pp. 227-30). At the same time, analogous reforms were taking place in American history teaching. The Committee of Ten of the National Education Associ­ ation demanded four years of history teaching in the elementary and four years in the high school, as did the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association in 1899 (Pierce, 1926, pp 12-13) While critical of current textbooks, the Committee nevertheless believed that they should continue to be used in schools, with the caveat that they should be written by experts, for it was unlikely that the practising teacher could improve on the content and the designs of an expert author During the 1920s, Klapper undertook a content analysis of American history textbooks, revealing the nature of the changes that had taken place. One of these was that in more recent texts more space had been devoted to the period of discovery and exploration, and the expansion of the territory of the United States during the nineteenth century, and less to the revolu­ tionary wars (1926, pp. 127-8). He additionally outlined five different categories of history textbooks. These were •

the outline type, in effect a summary version of more compendious and comprehensive histories, attempting to cover the whole field of American history;

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• • • •

the condensed text, which pared down the above into more abridged and digestible form; the pupil-oriented type, demanding less of the teacher and more of the child, including more illustrations and study questions; the era approach type, dealing in more detail with limited periods of time; and the supplementary readers which emphasised the story element in history, including some firsthand source materials. (p.230)

Johnson’s 1940 study was critical of the impact on history of the interwar social studies movement, arguing that it had led to a lowering in the level of historical scholarship, and to textbooks being written by authors without an authentic historical training (pp 247-8). The trend towards social studies had already gained official support when in 1916 the United States Bureau of Education published content recommendations on The Social Studies in Secondary Education, which shaped a certain type of social studies textbook, basically a civics style of approach identifying the facts and highlighting the virtues of the American style of government (Herlihy, 1992b, p. 4).. In Mehaffy’s view, a major influence in switching allegiance from traditional geography and history to social studies at this time had been the cataclysm of the First Wor ld War. The daily focus on the war almost impelled teachers to address current events (1987, pp.. 24-7) As indicated in Chapter 2, of special significance were the political skills of Rugg and other members of the social studies lobby, who had by the 1920s firmly established this 'fused’ curricular framework in the school timetables. Rugg aimed to practise what he preached, and produced the monumental and controversial series of social studies textbooks entitled Man and his Changing Society (see Chapter 9), in which, in accordance with the principles of planning of the inter-war curriculum reform move­ ment, his team identified key social themes or concepts, drawn from the relevant disciplines of knowledge. These were used to structure the subject matter. Testimony to how the theoretical ideas were to be implemented was evident in Billings’ Rugg-inspired categorisation of the generalisations basic to a social studies course The process was to be based on Rugg’s article of faith: to promote the two great social goals of the 'new educa­ tion’, tolerance and understanding. To achieve the social goals there had to be training in generalisation as part of training in thinking To fashion such training, the new courses must draw on the ideas of those who were academic leaders in their fields 'Frontier thinkers’ were contacted to elicit

83

The School Textbook what they judged to be the most distinguished writings in the various social subjects To take examples, the most highly prized were, from geography, Isaiah Bowman’s The New World: Problems in Political Geography: from economics, R H Tawney's The Acquisitive Society; and from sociology, Graham Wallas' The Great Society From these and other works, criteria were distilled to produce the ‘basic generalisations’ These in the first stage amounted to 4,600 They were pared down to just over 3,000, some omitted on the grounds that they were too general, some that they were too specific. Many overlapping generali­ sations were then combined and rephrased. By various processes, they were cut to a perceived irreducible minimum of 880. The process was seen as a definitive route to the intellectual planning of viable social studies courses, and as offering an academically credible structure for the textbooks which served them The generalisations were also grouped under topic headings such as ‘Growth and Location of Cities’ and included such contributing principles as ‘Cities grow at geographical points advantageous for trade and transportation ’ The final result was essentially a list of what would in a later terminology be referred to as ‘key ideas’ The next categorisation related to what were defined as the ‘central themes’ of social studies, which were seen as the broad, general and inclusive concepts epitomising: •

• •

the paramount influences which modify economic, political and social activities; the fundamental trends or movements in history without a knowledge of which intelligent understanding of modern life is impossible; and the central problems of the contemporary social order.

Examples of such central themes were suggested as:

• • • •

the the the the

relation between physical environment and man's activities; rise and spread of industrialism; problem of the prevention of war: problem of achieving the best organisation of industry.

These central themes, unlike the myriad facts, episodes and events of traditional textbooks, were regarded as permanent, widely applicable, and as likely to be as relevant to the life of the future as that of the present (Billings, 1929, p 213). There was a clear infusion of a political dimension. The geographical education lobby had not been inactive, however, even if it was to prove to be something of a rearguard engagement Atwood and

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Matter Subject Content

Thomas had published a methodological text entitled Teaching the New Geography (1921) Some subject specialists clearly demonstrated an aware­ ness of the process of content analysis. Neville in 1927 made a comparable attempt to itemise the necessary outcomes of geography, according to prin­ ciples enunciated by the economy of time movement The basis of the endeavour was to get to grips with overloading of the timetable by paring down the content of subjects to either what was unique to those subjects, or to that which represented something they could deliver more effectively than any other (pp. 16-17) Overriding educational objectives were classi­ fied according to the components that it was agreed geography could best offer The breakdown, as in Billings’ scheme, was elaborate The funda­ mental concepts of geography were to do with location, and were made up of elements such as: • • • •

realisation of the meaning of location in geography; realisation of the influence of geographical location on people: the habit of comparing facts as to their location; the habit of observation of locational relationships of places, people or products. (p. 34)

This 'scientific approach' to curriculum-making was also well illustrated in the NSSE’s 32nd Yearbook on The Teaching of Geography (Whipple, 1933) Notable among the contributions was that of the prolific Edith Putnam Parker (Stoltman, 1980), whose section on 'Developing the Science of Teaching Geography' included awesomely detailed classifications of type ideas in the subject, presented as a vital basis for curriculum planning. Parker saw the threading together of such materials as akin to the process of spinning and weaving in making a fabric, the facts, concepts and minor relational ideas being like the wool or cotton fibres, the objective being to work them into major threads of understanding of geography (Marsden, 1992a, pp. 133-4).

POST-SECOND WORLD WAR

United States In the United States, post-Sputnik panic spurred on a new cycle of cur­ riculum reform. Whether or not the reform should be achieved through a reintroduction of subjects such as geography and history, or through 85

The School Textbook improving social studies courses, was intrinsic to the debate. There remained opposition to integrated courses from subject specialists and oth­ ers, laying the blame for perceived declines in standards. Chase condemned what he regarded as the ‘unpalatable mess of indistinguishable content watered down by the inclusion of social activities that had little relation to honest, substantive material’ (1961, p 329). In the light of the concerns, university-based expertise was harnessed in the curriculum reform projects of the 1960s. The most famous of those outside the sciences was Bruner’s Man: A Course of Study (MACOS), rooted in rational curriculum planning principles, including building in progression through an interwoven ‘spiral curriculum’ The content was to be based on three recurring questions:

• • •

What is human about human beings? How did they get that way? How can they be made more so?

Five ‘massive contributions’ to the process of humanisation were isolated which, drawing more on the behavioural sciences, such as anthropology, rather than traditional history or geography, were used to frame the content These were

• • ♦ • •

language; tool making; social organisation; child rearing; and the world view, that is, man’s drive to explain and represent the world.

These themes were illustrated by a device long used in geography, and also in the Rugg social studies series, namely case studies from ‘simple’ communities, such as the Eskimo, and the Bushmen of the Kalahari (Bruner, 1966, pp. 74-92). Despite, or perhaps as a result of what appeared beguiling theoretical frameworks, in practice the complexities and the novelty of the scheme baffled many teachers, while the content of some highly innovative materials was controversial enough (see Chapter 9) to snuff out a striking piece of curriculum reform (Helburn, 1983, p 24) In the American High School Geography Project (AHSGP), there was also a high level of input from academics Having experimented with teacher-produced materials and found them geographically wanting, it was determined that whatever else, the outcome should represent ‘good science’ The teaching packages produced were elaborate, including a student resources book, a teachers’ guide, and various other elements for each of

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Matter- Subject Content six units. These contributed to an overall programme entitled Geography in an Urban Age The academic thinking underpinning the programme was reflected in the content of the sub-units Unit 1 was entitled ‘The Geography of Cities’ and was broken down into important geographical themes:

• • • • • • •

City Location and Growth; Portsville (a simulation exercise, based on a real North American city); Sizes and Spacing of Cities; Cities with Special Functions; Time-Distance; Migrants to the City; and Megalopolis,

Woven through all the topics were a series of modal ‘concepts’, including geographical facts; spatial distribution; areal association; spatial interaction; region; central places; hierarchies; gravity; distance; scale; sequence; and spatial diffusion Another part of the planning was to feed in ‘key questions’ such as, in the case of ‘The Geography of Cities’: • • • •

What factors influence city location and growth? What is the internal land-use arrangement of the city? What functions do cities serve? How are cities inter-related?

As with MACOS, the AHSGP materials failed to win the allegiance of the general run of practitioners. Gunn suggested the project’s main prob­ lem was ‘the lack of open-mindedness among teachers’ (1971, p. 75), while He (burn similarly blamed the disappointing take-up on the unwillingness of teachers to use enquiry methods (1983, p.. 27). It was, however, recog­ nised, perhaps in hindsight, that the top-down presentation of what to gen­ eralist teachers must have seemed a highly idiosyncratic choice of content, as in sub-units such as ‘Pottsville’, ‘Metfab’ and ‘Rutile and the Beach’, was also a contributing factor to relative failure At the same time, the mate­ rials and ideas, like those of MAC OS. proved influential externally, and in this case crucially affected the thinking of later national geography projects and curriculum developments in general in Britain, West Germany and else­ where With the failure of the subject-centred reform movement to impact on the American curriculum beyond the 1960s, the continuing control of traditional social studies courses was assured ‘Geographic illiteracy’ was soon to be rediscovered, however (Bednarz and Bednarz, 1992, p. 146) 87

The School Textbook

President Carter’s Commission report of 1979, Strength through Wisdom: a Critique of U.S Capability, pointed to the failings of American education in the spheres of geography, history and foreign languages (Natoli, 1988b, p ix) Lack of knowledge of geographical and historical facts was defined as 'cultural illiteracy’ Hirsch compiled an enormous inventory of basic information (not only geographical and historical) which he claimed every American 'needed to thrive in the modern world’ (1987, p, xiii) This would serve to unify the people with a common stock of knowledge and set of values: the 'intellectual and moral heritage’ of the nation (pp 131-2). It became a kind of manifesto for those urging a return to individual subjects (see also Chapter 11). Britain

In post-war Britain, three main types of geography textbooks were in use in secondary schools. The first were the regional texts of the Pickles type, whose popularity was not to wane until the 1960s. They claimed both to train the minds of future citizens and prepare them to meet external exam­ ination requirements. Some were explicitly entitled School Certificate Geographies Some were little more than cram books The second were the texts intended for the less-able pupils of the new secondary modern schools Young and Mosby’s Our World series, published from 1949 and reprinted many times in the 1950s, was characteristic of this group The third type of textbook followed the so-called 'sample study' approach The pedagog­ ical principles on which these texts were based are considered in the next chapter The 1960s were a watershed of reform not only in curriculum theory, but also at the academic frontiers of geography. Walford identified the Madingley Hall course for teachers in 1963 as a starting point for the dis­ semination of the 'new geography’ It was underpinned by the seminal texts of Chorley and Haggett, Frontiers in Geographical Teaching (1965) and Models in Geography (1961), each containing mathematically based ideas 'of baffling abstruseness and exciting novelty’ They became bibles for forward-looking geographers, and the stock in trade of the 'new model army’ of teachers and authors (Walford, 1989, pp .310-11) The nature of the new content was strikingly applied in a primary school series, Cole and Beynon’s New Ways in Geography, published from 1968 . Cole was a lead­ ing academic, and Beynon a primary school headteacher The series among other things pioneered the use of disposable worksheets and included a teachers’ guide It was probably also popular in that it was low on tradi­ tional geography content and high on skill development, often with a 88

Matter Subject Content

mathematical basis, and thereby congruent with traditional primary teacher expertise (see Hall, 1976, p 45) In place of life and work in other lands, children grappled with coordinates, networks, distribution, journey patterns, locations, classifications, sampling, time-distance relationships, and the like. By the mid-1970s there was a reaction against the scientific positivism and the alleged dehumanisation seen as embedded in these statistical approaches. As the influence of the quantitative revolution waned, that of a more humanistic welfare geography waxed This too was quickly dis­ seminated through textbooks. As already noted, one of the most celebrated series of the late 1970s and early 1980s was the Oxford Geography Pro­ ject (OGP), offered as a 'a rich store of materials and ideas1 for teachers While the underlying geographical concepts and generalisations were couched in many cases in the terminology of the quantitative revolution, it represented an eclectic, palimpsest view of change . One book was devoted to 'The Local Framework1, a British-based set of case studies; the second was entitled ‘European Patterns1; and the third ‘Contrasts in Development1, all reflecting very much an issues-based philosophy, applying theory to the problems of the moder n world. Taking over in popularity in the 1980s was Rex Beddis1 A Sense of Place series An established textbook author, Beddis had led the Geography for the Young School Leaver Schools Council Project at Avery Hill College He took the view that theoretical approaches were not for the less able.. They needed the real life experience that could be drawn more effectively from welfare geography. Beddis argued that while the ‘conceptual1 geography could be intellectually challenging, it could also be ‘colourless and morally sterile1 (1983, p. 18) . In the A Sense of Place series the presentation was lavish and based on the structure of the two-page spread, considered to be appropriate to the double lesson format that geography teachers often found on their timetables. There was a decline in the amount of material offered as informational text It was replaced by illustration and suggestions for activities including, in the associated alternative workbooks for the less able, strip-cartoon material Like the Oxford Geography Project. A Sense of Place was a three-book series for the lower secondary school, the first volume dealing with ‘Space and Place in Britain1; the second with ‘Places, Resources and People1; and the third with ‘The Changing World1, giving a stronger problem orientation than many previous offerings. For the exam­ ination forms of the secondary school other books and series were pub­ lished, not least by the brand-leader to come of the 1990s, David Waugh. These will be considered in the final chapter. Meanwhile, during the late 1960s and early 1970s historical education­ ists were urging that the new curriculum thinking should be more fully 89

The School Textbook reflected in courses and in textbooks There remained more concern to pro­ tect content than was the case in geography, and demands for significant changes in this area The new ideas were often recycled ones, such as the plea to focus less on the old notion that history was the story of the exploits of the great men and great events which had changed the life of the nation, and more on social and economic history. Another revived ploy was to base the study of history as much as possible on original sources There was less inhibition in the Schools Council History 13-16 Project team than those in the geography projects over producing materials in textbook form This it did The Liverpool History, Geography and Social Science 9 to 13 Project, however, did not, preferring to apply its ideas through packs of materials. The historian in the team, Alan Waplington, went on to edit a series entitled History around You for Oliver and Boyd, which reflected the project thinking Addressed to a ‘middle school’ age group, it shied away from deriving content from the more theoretical con­ cept of ‘evidence , * and rather looked to the more accessible idea of asking children to seek historical ‘clues * in the present as ‘signposts’ to under­ standing how people lived in the past The ratio of text to artwork and activities was limited, meaning that the content ‘clues’ had largely to be adduced from the illustration. An important part of the strategy was to use the textbooks to encourage pupils to go out into the field to collect material for themselves (1981) Another pressure was to bring history up to date and include more top­ ical recent coverage, again a revival of the advocacy following both World Wars. More series were devoted to twentieth-century history, as illustrated in the 1980s in the three-book set published by Fiona Reynoldson for Heinemann, one covering Twentieth Century British History, another The First World War 1914-1918 and finally The Second World War 1939-1945 Such was also the case with the more radical Past into Present series of the 1980s. edited by Martin Booth The topics in Book 3,1700 to Present-Day, for example, included material which would once have been deemed con­ troversial, and indeed still was by those with the traditional vision of history as an exploration of Britain’s past heritage There was an overt attempt to present both sides of great world issues of the past and present, including the pros and cons of the Falklands War, or confrontations between the then two great world powers, the USA and USSR Pupils were invited to write articles ordraw cartoons imagining themselves to be an American and Soviet commentator on a particular issue (Fisher and Williams, 1988, pp 94-7) A major change facing textbook publishers in the early 1970s was the rapid growth in comprehensive schools The question of integrated studies once more loomed large, as pointed out in Chapter 3 No ground-breaking

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textbooks emerged from the ‘new social studies’ movement, however The publishers appeared more interested in the market opportunities offered by the less radical new humanities faculties in the secondary school. Rather than concerning themselves with the ‘pure’ social sciences, these tended to link geography, history and religious education in ‘humanities’ packages Longman published in the early 1970s The Developing World series, which covered these three subjects, and also science. Hedging bets, teachers were advised that the series, with separate books devoted to the four areas of study, could be used as a basis for cross-curricular teaching, or could be taken as separately graded courses in the different subjects. Each book was devoted to a particular theme Thus ‘History Two’ was entitled Towards a New Man. with its overarching idea of‘developing the global theme of men learning and living together’ It was claimed that the different subject branches were related, ‘each tracing man’s struggle to understand and use his environment’

CONCLUSION

Lamenting the ‘growing chasm’ between scholars and secondary school teachers, and the continuing ‘distressing lag’ he discerned between frontier research and its impact on the textbooks, one American writer, addressing the aspiring history pedagogue, concluded: ‘Refresh yourself at the spring of scholarship, or remain forever an uninspired teacher' (Haefner, 1961, pp. 362-3). Underlying the thinking behind (his chapter has been the argument that while content was demonstrably over-prioritised in the compendious geography and history textbooks of the nineteenth century, and in the regional geographies and comparable histories targeted mainly at the secondary grammar school audience until the 1960s, since then there has been an exaggerated shift away from subject content to an over-stress on process and purpose The reduction in the proportion of extended text in both geography and history textbooks has been one factor serving to play down content Insofar as subject matter is concerned, in both geography and history textbooks the overriding impression must be that in two centuries of devel­ opment, while similar issues have recurred, change has been monumental. Though a textbook remains a textbook, there is little similarity between those characteristic of the different temporal phases of subject development in schools. Crudely, a geography example from, say, the 1830s, is more similar to a history book of its time than to a geography text of the 1990s. Part of the difference can be attributed to advancing technology, part to

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changing conceptions of what has constituted the essential matter of particular subjects, and part to varying social and political contexts To equate the spirit and purpose of textbooks of the final decades of the twentieth century with their nineteenth-century predecessors flies out­ rageously in the face of the historical evidence accumulated in this chap­ ter There have been dramatic changes in pedagogical approaches also, often overlapping with content, and these will be considered in the next chapter.

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6 Method: Continuity and Change in Pedagogical Processes content separated from pedagogy is an incomplete metaphor for knowledge Yet the dichotomous formulation has tremendous staying power (P. Seixas. (1999) ‘Beyond “Content” and “Pedagogy1 \ Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31,3,pp 317-37 (p. 318))

From time immemorial, textbook authors in their prefaces have assured teachers that they would find in the pupil material to follow improvements never before imagined, More often than not these were claimed on the grounds of the introduction of a novel teaching method, which would ser ve afresh to exercise the minds and enhance the motivation of pupils. In this chapter, two centuries of change in various aspects of the process element: the pedagogy of textbooks, will be examined

EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY Britain

The most prevalent early nineteenth-century teaching method, the catechet­ ical, was based on the Anglican prayer book catechism and meant systematic oral instruction by question and answer The British and Foreign Schools Society (BFSS) used a similar approach referred to as the interrogative system. Its effectiveness depended ‘in a very great degree on its repetition * (BFSS Handbook, 1854, p 42) Youthful monitors, under the scrutiny of the master, would read out a section from the Bible, to which one of the children in his draft would respond, as nearly as possible in the language of the Scriptures Monitor ‘Blessed are they that mourn’ 1st Boy ‘For they shall be com-fort-ed ’ (Anon., 1911,pp 253-4)

As indicated previously, secular subjects were subsumed under religious instruction. The Society laid out detailed model lesson plans, which among 93

The School Textbook other things demonstrated each subject’s contribution One lesson on Palestine, for example, showed the pupil teacher dispensing information as par t of a lesson on the historical geography of the Holy Land

Teacher: * Where is it? * (referring to the town of Tyre in Palestine) Pupil ‘On an island ’ Teacher: ‘Describe the situation of the island?’ Pupil: ‘It is at the eastern extremity of the Levant, opposite the northern part of the Holy Land, from which it is separated by a narrow strait ’ (BFSS, 1854, p. 87)

The early infant schools, assumed to be based on more progressive principles than those of the monitorial system, were in essence different in degree rather than kind Samuel Wilderspin liked to think of the question and answer sessions in his infant school in Spitalfields in London as conversations, rather than as interrogations He spiced them with musical jingles, detailing characteristics and uses of objects, and for transmitting simple facts:

Geography is to children a delightful study We give some idea of it at an early period in infant schools, by singing, “London is the capital, the capital, the capital, London is the capital, the capital of *...,; England' and also by pictures of the costumes of the various peoples of the world (1840,p 255) Wilderspin was influential in his promotion of object lessons, often related to scripture history and natural history, and seen as generating interest (1840, pp. 286-8).. His questions did not, however, elicit from children any knowledge that was not on the surface (Anon ,1912,pp 368-9) One exposition began: ‘I hope you will not put your dirty hands on this picture of the crocodile The live ones have hard scales on their backs, and so many teeth, that they could bite a man’s leg off’ (Wilderspin, 1840, p 219). There were two main groups of books, textbooks and readers, very dif­ ferent in their pedagogy Early nineteenth-century geography textbooks usually contained compendious descriptions on a country by country basis, intended for memorisation, a procedure which became known as the capes and hays approach A good deal of attention was paid to defining generic terms, illustrating these with examples, and linking them to maps: ‘A strait is a narrow part of the sea, forming a passage from one sea to another; as

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Method Pedagogical Processes

the Straits of Gibraltar; the Straits of Magellan; and the Straits of Dover’ (Goldsmith, 1813, p 5) In the readers, often designed for domestic learning, more motivational ploys were used, often in the form of a simulated conversation, particularly appropriate for domestic instruction. It characteristically involved a parent, mentor or friend displaying her (in the case of a parent) or his (a relative or friend of the family) superior knowledge and maturer moral judgement, while passing on geographical, historical or nature information to a child or a small group of children Maria, Lady Calcott’s Little Arthur’s History of England (1835), still in print in the 1950s, was claimed to have been written as if narrated to an intelligent child. It began: ‘You know, my dear Arthur, that the country you now live in is called ENGLAND’ (p. 1) In some examples, such as Sarah Trimmer’s An Easy Introduction to the Knowledge of Nature, the conversation on the face of it encouraged the children to ask pertinent questions, but both questions and answers were predetermined, and the over-riding purpose always to infuse a moral and religious conditioning not to be questioned. United States

Rote learning was the tried and tested pedagogical approach in the United States also, and clearly made the lives of inexperienced and ill-qualified teachers more straightforward The early geography and history textbooks, like those in Britain, characteristically used catechetical techniques, as in Davenport’s History of the United States Q ‘When did the battle of Lexington take place?’ A ‘On the 19th of April 1775; here was shed the first blood in the American Revolution ’ (quoted in Cubberley, 1920, p 631)

Goodrich’s History of the United States (1822) was of the compendious description type All the major divisions of the book had to be committed to memory, as had material printed in large type. That in smaller type (the minority) had merely to be ‘carefully perused’ Virtually all school systems demanded that the textbook be learned by heart. As one Principal put it, the great purpose of education was ‘to store the mind with useful knowl­ edge; and in the process of so doing to give increased energy, activity and precision to the mental faculties’ (quoted in Russell, 1915, p 20) Both in Britain and the United States, the indigestibility of textbook language was exacerbated by small book and type size Nietz remarked that 95

The School Textbook the vocabulary and ideas presented ‘violated both the laws of learning as well as principles of good taste’ The reading levels of elementary grade texts by Morse. Dwight and others were later analysed and judged to have been on a level more appropriate for students high in the secondary school or at junior college Morse’s Geography Made Easy began by 'catapulting primary-grade students into the rough waters of astronomy’ (Walters, 1987, p. 157), even though he himself claimed his Elements of Geography of 1796 was suitable for pupils of from eight to fourteen years (Nietz, 1961, p 209) As early as the 1830s and 1840s some writers advocated a less mechan­ ical approach, demanding more initiative from the pupils, with the prime object of enabling them to understand the work Books better geared to the capacities of pupils were termed 'pedagogical geographies’ . An early exam­ ple was Emma Willard’s Geography for Beginners (1826) She was Principal of Troy Female Seminary, and in her youth had found Morse’s texts a prob­ lem She regarded it as pedagogically important not to attempt to cover too much, to be intelligible to children, and to start with the familiar Maps were described as 'the most important written language of geography’ Visual material in the form of woodcuts was introduced Her book, in conversa­ tional style, began with the familiar products in a country store, from which, through a mother-son dialogue, the content was extended to the wider world At the outset, the son. Frank, requested that his mother fulfil her 'promise of teaching me geography’ He was avid for knowledge of the wonders of the world 'The cloth for my new coat, my father says, was made by people who live in England’ (quoted in Brigham and Dodge. 1933, pp 9-10) Goodrich’s famed 'Peter Parley’ books were readers, using various ped­ agogic devices to stimulate interest Published both in Britain and the United States, they were conceived on the principle that to be useful as books for the young they must stimulate youthful interest They were liberal in the use of tales of horror and suffering, such as the devastation of earth­ quakes, and the tortures and burnings at the stake of the Spanish Inquisition Here the text was followed by questions such as 'How were the accused persons tortured?’ and 'Describe the burning of the prisoners’ (1869, p 180). Another device was to be found in the so-called ‘journey’ geographies, in which Parley look the young pupil on a sightseeing tour through America, The information was later described as ‘more entertaining than accurate’ (Hall-Quest, 1920, p 35) The various Peter Parley books used short and numbered paragraphs, with text presented in a relatively large type size. The illustrations were linked to the text by a phrase such as ‘Here is a pic­ ture of------ ’ al the end of the associated paragraph Another remarkable feature was to present what were in effect the ‘key questions’ of the subject at the beginning:

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• • • • ♦ •

What place do you live in? Is it a town or a city you live in? What is a town? What is a city? Which way is North? Which South? Which way is East? Which West? Have you ever been in another town or city than the one you live in?

For the local study, might be added more detail: • • •

What field, or road, bounds the house to the north? What mountains or hills are in sight? In which direction is the church, etc. (1838,pp 12-13)

As Tryon concluded, however, while the supporters of pure rote work became fewer as the nineteenth century progressed, in practice it contin­ ued in many schools well into the next (1921, pp 54-5)

LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Britain The late nineteenth-century textbook market, as already stated, increasingly demanded that textbooks be written by experts in the field. Better books in terms of content were produced, which did not necessarily mean that such improvement was matched by an equivalent pedagogical advance The specialist textbook could be even more indigestible than its prede­ cessors, as demonstrated in those of William Hughes While innovative in content terms (see Chapter 5), he was unable to translate his academic vision into a pedagogical scheme that transcended the encyclopaedic. His compilations reflected in addition his view of the great importance of the textbook in providing test material for use in examinations In writing for all levels he merely watered down the advanced ones for younger pupils (Vaughan, 1985, pp 50-1) The ‘capes and bays’ nature of the material was evident down to the elementary text The following extract in the section on ‘Coasts’, covering ‘Capes’, is given more or less in the type size used ‘Capes:- The principal are: * Cape Ortegal. the north-west point of Spain; Cape Fiiiisterrc, on the west coast; Cape Trafalgar, on the south-west coast; Cape Tarifa.

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The School Textbook the southernmost point of Spain, and of Europe; Cape C reins, the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees (1883.p 88)

Even the progressive Sir Archibald Geikie was less successful in the practice than the theory. His Elementary Geography of the British Isles he claimed to have been prepared in accordance with the plan of instruction advocated in his famed methodological text, and to have been written as ‘a kind of guide to the map’, whether a wall map or an atlas map (1888, pp. v-vi). While a reader-type text, and certainly more digestible than the books of Hughes, it still contained 127 pages of continuous prose, with virtually no illustration (see Graves, 1996). His Scottish compatriot George Chisholm, like Hughes, sought to make geography more of a mental discipline than a body of knowledge As with Geikie, he did not include maps as he thought the textbook was supplementary and should not supersede the atlas (Maclean, 1975, pp 76-7) His texts were heavily content dominated and indeed he maintained that drudgery was ‘certainly required for the discipline of children’ (Maclean, 1985, p. 70) The presentation exemplified Choppin’s later maxim (1992c) that ‘a textbook’s typography plays a part in the didac­ tic message’ His Longmans' School Geography (1888) deployed an array of different type sizes, of bold and capitals, and of footnotes in this irre­ deemably academic approach It also included, not shown here, much detail on the government and history of the United States It also, for its time, contained a range of illustrations of good quality (see Figure 3). In history too, the more authentic content of the scholar author was not accompanied by comparable reforms in the teaching and learning method. The Revd G R. Gleig, like William Hughes, sought to move away from the school reader approach, which he argued contained ‘the most miscellaneous matter’: Scraps of history, geography, natural science, - tales of personal adventure by land and sea, - snatches of biography, - anecdotes of the sagacity of animals, - essays on moral, religious and political top­ ics, all so interlaced and jumbled together, that the mind of the scholar has no time to receive a distinct impression on any one subject, ere by the course of his daily or hourly instruction, he is hurried on to another (1868, p iv)

Gleig claimed that he graded the language throughout his own textbooks, the first fifteen pages or so containing, apart from proper names, no words of

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Method Pedagogical Processes

E £ g

3 12

Figure 3 G G Chisholm, Longmans School Geography (London: Longmans, Green & Company, 1888, pp 292-3)

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The School Textbook

more than one syllable; the next fifty no more than two, and so on, until the end of his History of England. when he indicated the language was that of the mature adult (pp v-vi) Schmitz's manual History of England for Junior Classes was the historical equivalent of the ‘capes and bays’ geography, written in a style which later writers regularly claimed had put off genera­ tions of children from an interest in history In 1704, Rooke took Gibraltar, and inflicted so severe a blow on the French fleet at Malaga that it did not venture upon another battle during the war. In 1708, Admiral Leake took the island of Sardinia, and in the West Indies large and valuable prizes were gained (quoted in Gould, 1928, p. 233)

Charles described such historical texts as abuses of children on a whole host of cr iter ia: • • • •

• •

teaching of a large number of unconnected facts; giving an isolated bird’s eye view of history of England; drilling in dates, names of kings, battles, treaties, executions; tabulating relationships in order to learn whose aunt was someone else’s cousin; schematising, analysing, dogmatising and cram; and learning the causes and results of everything that happened. (1895, p.379)

Perhaps conscious of the desperate image geography textbooks had acquired, the textbook writers of the last two or three decades of the century introduced numerous gambits in their attempts to relieve the monotony of the 'capes and bays’ approach. The negative stereotypes of other peoples were still reckoned to generate interest in pupils, as in Miss Sturgeon’s account of the Turks, 'not called Turkeys as you would natu­ rally suppose’ (1887, p. 910) (see Chapter 7). The School Board Chronicle reviewers were generally caustic in their appraisals of some of the more heavy-handed innovations, as in the Reverend Alexander Mackay’s employment of doggerel as an aide-memoire in his Geography in Rhyme (1873).

Glamorgan lying further east With measureless coalfields An inexhaustible supply Of iron it also yields 100

Method Pedagogical Procesues

This was dismissed as ‘a burlesque of knowledge rather than a hand­ book of learning Children must not be approached as if they were idiots' (Anon., 1873a, p 364) Scornful reaction was also excited by J E Taylors Geological Slones. A Series of Autobiographies. His novel tactic was to allow objects of the mineral world to talk in the first person singular A piece of granite thus explained itself: "There are few rock substances on the surface of the globe which have received more discussion and been more investigated than myself’ The reviewer found a more informative summary emerging when, to his relief, the lump of coal "stopped being talk­ ative’ and "the stones ceased to prattle’ (Anon , 1873b, p 358). Technological advances later in the century, where applied, enhanced the pedagogical input of a minority of textbooks Baker’s Realistic Geography by Picture and Plan (1888) used oblique aerial "balloon’ or "bird’s eye’ views showing the pattern of buildings and streets in settlements, linked with relevant maps Tangier’s Pictorial Geography for Young Beginners (1875) was lauded in the School Board Chronicle for its beautiful printing and illustration, with hardly a page without "finely executed wood engrav­ ings' (Anon., 1875, p 388) A real breakthrough was evident in the fourpage section headed "The Map and its Uses’ which included woodcuts, first a ground view of shops and civic buildings in the town centre, then an oblique aerial view of the same, followed by a larger scale map of the central area, and finally by a smaller scale one placing this central area in the context of the town as a whole (see Figure 4, reduced in size) (Tangier, 1875, pp 4-5). But despite his favourable comment, the reviewer rated it as "a charming prize-book’ rather than as a standard text. There was also more use of illustrations, often artistic portrayals of famous events or personages, in history textbooks. These tended to be more cosmetic and less fully integrated with text than in the best geography books In general the importance of the text held sway in history. There were attempts to translate the materials into a manageable form for pupils, however, as in W B Adams’ case-study approach in his Leading Events in English History He divided the material into causes and consequences, which he judged to be an aid to historical understanding. There was a definite sense of connection, in contrast to the strictly chronological com­ pilations of many historical texts of the time Italics were used for key terms, to signal the need for definition by the teacher Despite being a teacher, Adams’ language remained academic in nature. To force John into submission, the Pope laid the kingdom under an interdict (1208), Finding this unavailing, a sentence of excommu­ nication was passed on the king by the pontiff (1209). Three years

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The School Textbook

P/C 1 Oil (A L G EOG HA HH:

THE MAP AND ITS USE Look, hero uro fuur pictures When yon look nt I with doors and windows, mid, pt’tbnp.\ I be chimneyhouses from the street you cun only w their front walls | tap's with a churclespire bepmd If you look at them

from any high place yon may see over their roofs other

houses, ami the hi 11b fur away No. 1 is the view of the houses seen from the street No 2 is the tamo view from a high place

But if you were t> go

street is Market Street, leading to the Square, and High Street and George Street join it, one on the right and the other on the left. You can see the church and the schooh close to it

up still higher, in a balloon, the whole town would seem very anmll. ami the homes and streets would he

like the picture (No. 3) You would look down ujmhi the town and the fields all around it. That brand

Two large black marks near tho square show where arc the Market and Town Hall Ton may also learn the names of r,otne other Directs Tho dark parts show the houses, ami the light parts tho^slrecta. Near conic

Figure 4 JR L angler, Pic torial Geography for Young Beginners (London; Virtue, Spalding & Company, 1875, p. 4)

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Method Pedagogical Processes

after wards. Innocent released the people from their oaths of allegiance, and entrusted Philip, King of France, with the carrying out of the sentence of deposition (1872,p. 16) United States

In the United States there were initially more impressive breakthroughs in textbook production than was the case in Britain, whether measured in terms of technology, content or pedagogy. Not least was the larger octavo format adopted by, among others, the progressive textbook writer Guyot Apart from other advantages, this made possible a more realistic size and better quality of woodcut and, later, of photographic illustration Guyot’s ideas of progression were that there was a preparatory, ‘perceptive’ stage, a common-school ‘analytic’ stage, and a final scientific and ‘synthetic’ stage, the latter requiring demonstration of the power of generalisation The presentation of geographical material had to obey these psychological laws To ensure that the theory was implemented in practice, in his texts for younger children he made use of the skills of Mary Smith, a teacher of geography at Oswego Normal College in New York State, claimed to be well versed in Pestalozzian principles.. In Guyots Geographical Series Primary; or, An Introduction to the Study of Geography (1866, pp ii-iii), she used the already well-established simulated geographical journey approach, taking pupils through regions of the United States and other continents, illustrating with maps and prints Frye’s textbooks demonstrated further advances. In his Elements of Geography (1898), for example, the section on mountains began with a definition, followed by a striking double-page spread of largely visual material, which included no less than ten assorted pictures of mountains and hills These were engraved directly from photographs from a Harvard University collection. In his study of the world’s peoples Frye made use of the McMurry type-study approach, based on descriptions of some of the world’s children in their home localities. Archer and Thomas’s ‘Bombo of the Congo’ of the 1930s was indeed anticipated by Frye’s ‘The Kongo Boy’, little Tibbu (1898, pp 35—7). While some of the many questions used demanded little more than straightforward reproduction of knowledge, there were others such as ‘Would you like to live in Holland?’ It was held as important that children should be able to respond in their own words, not in those of the book British geographers and publishers were particu­ larly impressed by the choice and execution of the illustrations in Frye’s Complete Geography of 1895, based as they were on the collection of 103

The School Textbook

RACE, LATCH AGE,. A HD HELlOHiN’—lOLlTlCAL DXV«iO>

Race, Language and Religion. The majority ci’ Europeans belong to thu white race, but in Uw north and cx-it there are ineuberj erf the yellow race. Must of the. white people speak Aryan Iniiguagea; but sumo of the Kws_ who arc found i-cattcred throughout Europe, tdsu iwc their own tongue. The Bxisqmsi of the

of people speaking Romance and Keltic huiguiigea am Roman Cat holies. The majority of those speaking Teutonic language belong to different brauchtw of the Protezitant Church Political Divisions.

Political map me ever changing. Two thousand yeura ago the political map of Europe would have been little more than a map of thn Romrni Empire, out f tlrn ruiua of which have emerged "the pnsttt European SUtes, whose botHidarien have differed widely at different periods Where natural boundaries exist there has been a certain stability Where these arc absent, two forces contend for niiuitery: th a righU of conquest and the ! and rqumali, French, kalian ainl l!:n;tuiiiu 8nol.an in the cui;uL) i.ui with Uk> sax»> muuex The Tinii §

nd to

X 0) rC

(D 8

aS

Figure 10 H. Rugg and L Krueger. Man and His Changing Society : The First Book of the Earth (Boston, MA: Ginn & Company, 1936, pp 3-4)

115

The School Textbook concerted campaign to introduce integrated social studies (see Chapter 3). It provoked vigorous resistance, most passionately articulated by a leading physical geographer. Professor Wooldridge, who regarded giving method precedence over matter as an imposition by educationists Having been invited to address a group of teachers, he declared:

I remember my anger and mortification to hear my class told before I uttered a word that it didn’t really matter very much what geography was or might be since their task was not to teach geogra­ phy but to teach 'George’ Thus was alliteration’s artful aid applied in support of that most dangerous damnable for m of heresy (1955,pp 76-7) In the event, subjects like geography and history maintained their hold. The pedagogic factor gained ground in the sample study approach, seen to combine the best of the worlds of geography and education. Fairgrieve and (Ernest) Young’s Real Geography series, anticipated in spirit by the earlier Brooks and Finch series, constituted a major breakthrough The approach helped to resolve the difficulty authors faced of selecting from a huge mass of available material. It allowed the introduction of an element of depth into the discussion, at the same time focusing on the concrete world at a level appropriate to the age group (see Zhang, 1996, pp 213-14) The world was brought into the classroom through vivid coverage of 'a particular real place’ Photographs were regarded as ‘an essential and integral part of each * chapter Questions or exercises were built in at the end as 'work to be done’ (1939, pp iii-iv). Again not subscribing to the Stamp assertion, the opening study was of a simple society inhabiting the Amazon forest. Maps were not included, because children were first required to find on globes and in atlases where the places considered were. Honeybone’s later Geography for Schools series also used detailed sample studies, and a much wider range of stimulus material, in a more complex format, than Fairgrieve and Young. The resources included coloured Ordnance Survey and land use maps, integral to the places con­ sidered in the chapter Unlike texts which traditionally included questions at the end of each chapter, or even at the end of the book. Geography for Schools was seminal in intercalating frequent blocks of questions, fully integrated with the text and other resources (see Figure 11). The text was carefully constructed, in some cases almost in a conversational style, with advanced organisers, or summaries of what had previously been covered: Tn the two previous chapters we visited two farms and found out what the farmers grow and what animals they keep ’ (p 36) The photographs in

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Method: Pedagogical Processes

Figure 11 R C Honeybone and M.G Goss, Geography for Schools Britain and Overseas (London: Heinemann, 1956,pp 136-7)

117

The School Textbook each chapter were cross-referenced with text and included for consideration in enquiry-based questions As indicated in Chapter 5, after the Second World War new formats for secondary modern school textbooks were introduced The overall objective was to simplify the presentation, and infuse something of the reader-type approach (see Jay, 1958) (Eric) Young and Mosby’s Our World series targeted this market. It aimed to ‘evoke a sustained interest’ through con­ sistently relating its materials to the pupil’s experience, and to avoid the ‘advanced and academic styles’ of grammar school textbooks. It did not use chapters, and made each page self-contained, anticipating the ‘two-page spread’ principle of textbooks of the 1980s It was stated not to be a ‘reader’ but a collection of materials ‘on which the pr actical teacher can base a series of enjoyable and purposeful lessons’ ‘Loose ends’ were left to promote the development of project work The focus throughout was very much on life and work of people at home and abroad Using it as a young teacher in a secondary modern school, Walford recalled the series as having ‘big print and simple diagrams’ and seeming ‘to go down well with the first years’ (1989, p. 309) Jumping ahead in time, Beddis’ colourful and successful series, A Sense of Place (1981), was designed for pupils of average ability in mixed ability classes With a sound geographical content footing, it relied heavily on the ‘two-page spread’ approach as a means of offering digestible chunks of material for the now widely introduced double-period timetabling of geog­ raphy lessons It also exemplified the trend towards including an accom­ panying pupil workbook, made up of photocopiable worksheets, in this case one for more and one for less able pupils In the eyes of some, an unfortu­ nate trend was exemplified in the ‘Alternative Workbooks’, namely in the ‘dumbing-down’ element evident in the use of caricatured presentations of real human beings in demeaning situations, associated with the use of ‘speech-bubbles’ to transmit sound-bites of information or opinion in place of authentic information and evidence (see Marsden, 1992b). The series also reflected moves towards the inclusion not only of more illustrations and less text, but also a plethora of exercises within the text. Many teach­ ers, however, continued to see it as their prerogative to use their own sets of questions and activities, as appropriate for their own pupils (Lidstone, 1985, p. 384). British History Textbooks While the Marten and Carter series remained popular, the brand leader after the Second World War was to be R J Unstead It is interesting to speculate

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Method: Pedagogical Processes

why so many historical educationists became so hostile to his textbooks. Clearly teachers did not share their opinion Neither did some of the review­ ers, including one who praised his Looking at History series, both for its copious illustrations * which admirably underline the text’, and for its notable service in backing the chronological method with 'the best features of more recent techniques’ (Anon 1953a, p. 422) Although he was perhaps most condemned for continuing to present the nation’s story in an over-favourable light (Berghahn and Schissler, 1987, p, 7), in terms of the methods used his allegedly 'know that’ rather than 'know how’ approach was also criticised (Rogers, 1981, pp 28-9). It may be too that his revisions of the 1970s, intended presumably to bring his books into line with prevailing opinion, as in his statement in the 1974 edition of his Looking at History series that he was presenting the story of ordinary people: 'You will not find very much about kings, queens and battles in this book ’ (1974, p. 4), were rejected as merely opportunistic It appeared to contradict the author’s earlier views that history was about great events and great leaders (see Chapter 3). Unstead also followed the Marten and Carter line of not including questions for pupils. That was the teacher’s prerogative The books in this series in fact included illustrations of comparable quality to most others of this period, with some colour pho­ tographs and art work, and source materials dating from mediaeval times. There was thus liberal illustration, and at the same time maintenance of an extended, more or less unbroken text for pupils to read. One of the most innovative publishing ventures in the 1950s and 1960s was the Longman Then and There series. Edited by Marjorie Reeves and Paula Hodgson, each book was addressed to a particular historical theme or event: the 'patch’ or, in geographical terms, the 'case study’ to be covered in some depth It drew material from original sources but, for younger chil­ dren, did not present these 'raw’ For the children, the series also adopted an age-old motivational device, namely the conversational approach In one of the set, on The Railway Revolution 1925-1845 (Greenwood, 1955), for example, James Kennedy’s Uncle John came to the rescue of his nephew, whose mother had verbally scolded him for wasting his time poring over Bradshaw’s Railway Guide. The uncle invited James to find him the times of trains for a business journey he was undertaking from Manchester to Liverpool (pp. 3-4), demonstrating to the mother the practical use of such skills One set of source materials detailed the views of those for and against the railways Additionally explicit attempts were made to help the children to 'feel at home’ and ‘really live’ with the historical actors ‘as they thought and worked "then and there”’ (p iv), anticipating the later advocacy of using history to promote empathy.

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The School Textbook

The Language of Textbooks One of the main weapons in the armoury of those attacking textbooks has persistently been that textbooks have not been made accessible to pupils of the age group targeted, part of which was what Kantor and colleagues (1983) referred to as the ‘inconsiderateness1 of the language used Text­ books were found wanting on a range of criteria including legibility and print size; vocabulary level; conceptual difficulty; syntax; and organisation, failing, for example, to manipulate the structures in such a way as to clarify through advance organisers, such as summarising key concepts in advance, judicious use of subheadings, italicising key words, and so on (Harrison, 1980), Empirical studies of text difficulty were far from new, but from the late 1960s a copious literature on readability emerged Some of this was based on quantitative criteria, including the size of type and the design of font used, and on various reading ease formulae (Perera, 1986, p 53) In the event, most primary school texts of this period were already using at least a twelve-point font, as recommended by the theorists. Choppin insisted that ‘a textbook's typography plays a part in the didactic message' The devices used had become more elaborate not only in terms of the switches in type size and changes in font, use of bold, underlining and italics, and so on, but also in the deployment of boxes or screened backgrounds, and inserted exercises. The teacher and pupil had to learn to comprehend the system, complicated by the fact that different publishers used diverse systems (I992c, pp. 89-90) In respect oflhe maturity of the vocabulary and syn­ tax which prevailed, it was contended that the language of science, geog­ raphy, history and social and environmental studies was more difficult than that in other subjects (Harrison, 1979, p. 85) It needs to be said, however, that while such criticism has properly and mainly been addressed to text­ books, some of the worst examples of inappropriate vocabulary found by Lunzer were not in the textbooks themselves, but in teacher-produced worksheets (1979, pp 280-9). Another fundamental problem has been that textbooks in academic sub­ jects have inevitably included ‘technical prose',presenting ‘densely packed complex information that is usually highly novel to the reader' (Kieras, 1985, p. 89) Such prose, it was argued, inhibited meaningful learning and lowered motivation. Rosen identified its traits as abstractness and formality; focusing and compression; complexity and unpredictability; bloodless impersonality and objective neutrality; and frequent lack of context (1967, p 119) The sub-systems of discrete subject languages were identif ied as riddled with their own linguistic conventions or jargon (see Milburn, 1972) 120

Method Pedagogical Processes

In geography, an important issue was the presence of homonyms, which had a technical meaning within the subject which was different from normal vernacular use as, for example, with wheat belt, extensive farming, and the like (see Marsden, 1979a). There was the further problem of the need to use vicarious description as a substitute for real-life acquaintance with the phenomena of the subject (Davies, 1988, p. 68) Historical educationists over the same period were similarly exercised over the nature of the language present in history textbooks. Here special difficulties identified included the way in which English speakers of the past used their language, including the time-distant context in which language was set, far outside the pupil’s experience, and its abstractness (Wishart, 1986, p 140) . Terms like church, king, manor have both a concrete and an abstract connotation. There was the tangible fact of ‘a church’ as a build­ ing, and the much broader concept of ‘the church’ As Bernbaum pointed out, in a textbook phrase such as 'Henry VIII confiscated monastic lands’, dealing with the term ‘monastic’ might not be as problematic as that of lands, which meant far more than the surrounding territory at the time, for then it was seen as a source of income and patronage (1962, pp. 45-6) Edwards similarly pointed to the fact that many of the terms used in history related to common-sense rather than esoteric language, but words like ‘trade’, ‘transport’ and the like could be construed anachronistically in relation to a present-day context (1978, p. 57) He concluded that the wider and more distant the time period covered, the more these problems were exacerbated. He suggested in preference studying fewer past events in greater detail in order to be able to relate carefully the terminology to its historical context (pp. 67-8) Following Edwards, the consensus has tended to be that it is better to select a few topics and explore them in greater depth (see Wertsch. 1998, pp 81-5), as reflected in a case study approach. A more recent trend in language research has been the focus on so-called discourse analysis, seeking to ‘deconstruct’ text by probing discontinuities between what the author claimed and what the logic of the text implied. Here text was construed as carrying multiple meanings, with concealed and possibly contradictory ideologies lying below the surface. The author inevitably held a bias, which often was left implicit or was not recognised at all. The context has already been discussed in Chapter 4, and the sub­ stance of the argument is more appropriately returned to in the following chapter More relevant to this chapter has been the focus of discourse ana­ lysts on the issue of passivity Like Rosen in the past, various writers have referred to the ‘textbookese’ of school books as characteristically objective, academic, sterile, and emotionless (see Lester and Slater, 1998, p. 6) By way of exemplification, Bennett, in discussing textbook treatment of street

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The School Fextbook

demonstrations, highlighted the difference between the phrase ‘demon­ strators were shot’ and ‘the police shot demonstrators’ (1996, pp 166-9). A continuing problem has therefore been the tension between what text­ book authors, translating down and truncating principles and concepts from a higher academic level, have presented, and the often incompatible and unformed, if not ill-informed, sets of meanings which pupils bring to bear on the material. Lester and Slater have argued for the use of meta-discourse, defined as active and personal intervention from the author, warning of what is coming This might be done through advance organisers, or by explicit highlighting of the need for a particular consideration of salient passages In other words, textbooks would not only deal in content, but also would provide careful guidance on routes to understanding unfamiliar language and meanings (1998,pp 9-10) In the United States, Paxton simi­ larly registered profound concern over the gaps in understanding between professional historians writing ‘anonymous, third-person historical accounts’, and the thinking about the past of pupils: ‘a deafening silence reigns between those who write history textbooks and the K-12 students who read them (Paxton, 1999, p. 333).. The Use of Visual Materials

Not for the first time in more general complaints about visual materials in textbooks, David indicated that while pictures have ‘often been regarded as easy pickings for the less able’, deciphering their meanings can be very difficult, especially in history texts (2000, p 244) In geography, analogous pedagogic problems have too easily been ignored, though they have long been considered (see, among others, Bayliss and Renwick, 1966) In the process of supposedly simplifying material for the average child, stereo­ typical artwork and, even worse, the caricatures of cartoon strips, have in some cases rendered peripheral real-wor ld photographs Academically use­ ful photographs too can be problematic for pupils, perhaps including too much ‘noise’ not central to the concepts being addressed A major problem in recent times has been the temptation to fit in loo much visual material, leading to photographs of such small size that the associated questions, where present, are difficult to answer New technology has also introduced a fresh set of pedagogical issues, as in the now readily available abstract vertical satellite and computer-generated images In geography there is now an embarrassment of visual riches. Even today there exists more scepticism among history than geography teachers over the value of visual infor mation In geography, a great deal of the material used has been in the form of contemporary photographs In

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Method: Pedagogical Processes

history, however, some ‘images’ of the past were created at the time, but had to be based on personally created sketches Others were ‘imaginings’, devised later at second hand. David itemised these and other difficulties, ranging from the artificiality of early photographs, such as those made of native American Indians, depicted in romantic and/or artistic poses; to bias in the selection of material to be photographed; cropping of pictures with the potential consequence ofchanging their meaning; lack of context in the photograph in terms of location and environment, making sensible inter­ pretation difficult or impossible; faults of presentation in the actual text­ book; and the use of illustrations for merely cosmetic purposes (2000, pp, 228-33). Even so, current history textbooks contain far more visual material than their predecessors, and it would seem where this is well con­ trived, it is appreciated.

CONCLUSION: CONTINUIT Y OR CHANGE FOR THE BETTER? It has been pointed out that, together with English literature, the most sig­ nificant source of reading mater ial in the school system remains the textbook (see Newton, 1990, p 9) Hummel has also acknowledged the textbook as a reading instrument of high importance in education

The school textbook creates - or should create - the habit of reading Through using the textbook the pupil can develop familiarity with books and, above all, skills in using books as indispensable working instruments for cognitive development (1988, p 15) Lyle, among others, has highlighted the potential value of non-fictional material for developing literacy skills in upper pr imary school pupils, using geography in supporting the construction of meaning through real world stimulus (2000, p. 154). In the previous chapter it was contended that to an extent the content of textbooks had improved and kept up with developments in the disci­ pline So it can be argued that textbooks in these subjects have improved on complementary pedagogic criteria. At the most basic level, for exam­ ple, it can reasonably be suggested that in terms of accessibility and clarity of presentation The Middle Ages text of the maligned R J Unstead (see Figure 12, shown here in black and white) was a considerable advance on the those of, for example. Goldsmith and Gleig in the nine­ teenth century Have later textbooks, however, in taking account of the

123

.1Wilth, fil'dtin by jive hartcj

The School Textbook

figure 12 R.J Unsteady Looking at History: The Middle Ages (London: A . & C. Black, 1974, pp 36-7)

124

Method Pedagogical Processes subject and curricular reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, improved on Unstead? As already indicated, one very significant change has been the shift away from the dominance of text, to a concern to include many more illus­ trations and pupil activities. For example, Robert Unwin's Mediaeval Britain book (1979), in his Openings in History series, reversed the approach of Unstead Using a ltwo-page spread1 format, Unwin began with twenty-five multiple choice items, to be answered there and then, and returned to at the end as a post-test check of improvement Each section began with questions which, with illustrations and original sources, were placed before the narrative (see Figure 13, reduced in size from the original). Bearing in mind again the different age groups targeted, if good illustra­ tion helped to enhance motivation, then both Unstead and Unwin provided a similar range: for example, in depicting mediaeval law and order, the same print of a friar with a woman in the stocks, and of a public execution, while similar old prints of mediaeval pilgrims were deployed (Figures 11 and 12). In Unwin, there was a more self-conscious justification of what was being offered, of a type which writers of Unstead's ilk had taken for granted In the Unwin series therefore, the arrangement of material and the associated questions suggested that process was being prioritised above content Questions were tightly pinned to the accompanying print, such as, in the case of Figure 12: lHow many pilgrims can you see sitting round the table?’ By contrast, following the Marten principle, Unstead left the setting of tasks to the individual teacher Which constituted the greater invasion of teacher autonomy is a question which will be returned to in Chapter 10 The pedagogic changes in geography texts can similarly be illustrated by comparing in turn the Geography for Today ser ies of Longman, heavily biased towards text, with its illustrations captioned but otherwise isolated from the text; with the Honeybone series Geography for Schools, in which tasks and illustrations were closely integrated with the text; and the later Oxford Geography Project (OGP) (Kent et al., 1974/75) The OGP series similarly integrated text, illustrations and tasks, but was an improvement on Honeybone's set in terms of their more spacious format allowing larger photographs. It also had benefited from the stimulus of the subject and cur­ riculum reforms which had taken place in the post-Honeybone period, and with which its authors were well acquainted. Progressive textbook writers, as much as the members of Schools Council Project teams with whom they overlapped, have also over the last thirty years and more emphasised the importance of textbooks being regarded as source books rather than course books (see Marsden, 1974, preface) They generally have subscribed to Young’s wish that they should 125

The School Textbook

The Wife of Bath In making cloth she showed: • so great a bent She bettered those of Ypres and of Ghent The Monk There was a monk; a leader of the fashions Inspecting farms and hunting were his passions A manly man, to be an Abbot able Many a dainty horse he had in stable

Two of Chaucer's pilgrims (translated from the original)

Taken from one of the earliest printed editions of The Canterbury Tales

5

How many pilgrims can you see sitting round the table?

9

6

What items of food can you see on the table? What are they using to eat with?

10

7

Where do you think the Canterbury pilgrims stayed at night?

8

Why do you think that pilgrims often travelled in groups?

Write a play about a group of pilgrims, incorporating these scenes: Scene 1 Meeting of the pilgrims and setting off from their home town Scene 2 Events on the journey - roads, dangers, inns Scene 3 Arrival at the shrine

11

Whose shrine was in Canterbury?

as they passed through the towns and country­ side. Sometimes the pilgrims bought small metal emblems or badges at the shrine, which they fastened to their large hats

Geoffrey Chaucer and *The Canterbury Tales’ Chaucer lived in the late fourteenth century and was the greatest poet of his time He translated works from Latin and French into English and wrote The Canterbury Tales in English, so every * one could understand and enjoy it. This was his most famous work. It tells the story of pilgrims who travelled, the ‘Holy Blissful Martyr for to seek’ (to find the shrine of Thomas Becket)

Draw and design badges for pilgrims to wear in their hats.

The company of pilgrims described by Chaucer included a monk, a prioress, a merchant, a reeve, a knight and many more The journey to Canter­ bury was made more interesting by each pilgrim telling a tale in turn The Canterbury Talcs gives an amusing picture of English life in the later Middle Ages

Figure 13 R Unwin, Openings in History' Medieval Britain (London: Hutchinson, 1979, Section 17)

126

Method. PedagogicaI Pvoces5 es be used as a ‘walking stick’ but not as a ‘crutch’ (Wright. 1977. p 173) As an American writer put it: Textbooks designed to meet both the requirements of society and of education will be process-centred. They will be enabling materials ‘see-how’ resources The process-centred textbook should be a source book of ideas that would enable all pupils to gain a base of information and learn how to proceed outside the textbook at respective levels (Benthul. 1978. p, 91)

The beliefs and the blandishments of the wider society have, however, frequently not allowed textbook writers to stray too far in an ‘enabling’ direction, and these external constraints will in different ways be the focus of the next three chapters.

127

Mission: (1) Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping In the game of bowls, bias is the built-in tendency of the bowl to swerve from the straight when travelling across the green The idea of the. game is to take account of the bias . Much the same applies to historians

(S Lang (1993), ‘What is bias?’. Teaching History., 73,pp 9-13 (p 13))

DEGREES OF BIAS IN TEXTBOOKS While egregious examples of bias and prejudice in school textbooks can be spotted readily enough, it has been argued that textbook material by definition contains in addition to the more obvious problems hidden agen­ das, expressive of the social and political ideologies of particular vested interests (see Anyon, 1979). Apart from overtly offensive statements, there­ fore, the writer introduces bias and prejudice both in the expurgation of relevant but in some way discomforting material, and/or in the inclusion of an unbalanced selection or other distortion of content (see Gilbert, 1984, p. 178) Historians have long recognised such problems The study of history, maintained Professor Firth in his inaugural lecture at Oxford University in 1904, brought him face to face with ‘peculiar difficulties’: When a man has familiarised himself with the evidence upon which the history of a particular period must be based, the difficulty of rep­ resenting it comes home to him How is he to compress into a small space a faithful representation of the life of the time, to represent the whole life in its variety and complexity? (P 8) F A Hill, a Massachusetts headteacher, had been even more explicit, stating that even the ‘most elaborate’ professional history was ‘a merciless abridgement’ of reality, that ‘the school history abridges such abridgement, and the boy or girl who would conquer a school history must be trained to a further abridgement still’ (see Fiske, 1894, p. xix) In Britain, over 60 128

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping years later EH Dance viewed the idea that historians could uncover the truth as ‘ludicrously untrustworthy’ Historians could not be objective, and the most insidious form of bias was that which was unconscious (1960, pp. 25-8). Eva Hubback, however; had ear tier distinguished what she deemed ‘unfair bias’ from the unavoidable bias that was ever-present in the selection and rejection of material Undue or unfair bias was most likely in discussing controversial contemporary problems, but if these were not considered, then the pupil would be unprotected from the more exaggerated forms of bias met with in the outside world (in Simon and Hubback, 1935, p 33).

SOURCES OF BIAS IN TEXTBOOKS The very process of the production and use of textbooks and other cur­ riculum materials carries with it the potential for infusing bias at each stage The responsibility for bias might lay in turn with publishers; of writers in their choice of sources, and in transmitting their own sets of values; of those selecting textbooks, especially where these are government or state agencies; of teachers teaching from them; and of pupils learning from them . Gilbert’s research, for example, revealed widely and complexly different slants in pupil interpretations of the same material (1989, pp. 69-70).

Publishers as Sources of Bias A prime factor in the allegations against publishers of bias in textbooks has been their territorial location. Particular countries, states or even urban publishing centres have been interpreted as being privileged over others As noted in Chapter 2, from the late eighteenth century there were protests from the newly independent United States about the dominance of British textbooks. Later the southern states of the Union condemned the ‘peonage’ of their booksellers to the baron publishers of the North (Beale, 1941, p 156), a state of affairs not helped from the start by, for example, Jedidiah Morse’s conception of New England, ‘formed by nature to be a home for a hardy race of free, independent Republicans’, then contrasted with the native ‘indolence’ of peoples of the southern states (Carpenter, 1963, p. 248; Nietz, 1961, pp. 213-16). There were many layers of criticism, starting with the quantitative: Why should geography texts allot two pages to Connecticut onions and ten lines only to Louisiana sugar? Northern history textbooks were denounced as ‘polluted’ and ‘hostile’, full of concealed messages of ‘enraged fanaticism’ (Pierce, 1926, pp 140-2). In response to the strictures. 129

The School Textbook one ploy of the publishers was to produce a textbook edition for the North and one for the South, deleting what might be deemed objectionable passages from the latter (Bryson and Detty, 1982, p. 36). There remains in Canada antipathy towards the publishing dominance of the United States, exemplified in an unacceptable level of neglect of Canadian content (Robinson, 1979, p. 87 and p 90). Former colonial pow­ ers have long complained about the Anglo- and Eurocentric biases in the textbooks produced for their consumption. Among others, King and Morrissey indicated that the major British publishers had put considerable investment into former colonial markets, in this case into the Caribbean (1988, pp 15-16) A key issue has indeed been the alleged propensity of the multinational publisher to play down diversity to enable its books to fit different target audiences Lorimer and Keeney argued that multinational publishing (a) either implicitly or explicitly imparted an ideology rein­ forcing the dominant spirit of multinational business; and (b) promoted certain pedagogic styles which nicely complemented mass market principles in providing a universally acceptable product (1989, pp 170-1).

Authors as Sources of Bias Authors of geography, history and social studies textbooks have persistently been in the forefront of those in education accused of being agents of bias. As already indicated, their slants demonstrably vary in level of culpability The level of jingoistic prejudice reduces, for example, from that of Fletcher and Kipling, to Unstead (see below), and then to the writers of the last two decades One source of bias has been purely academic, namely where the writer has been over-reliant on particular explanatory paradigms within the sub­ ject, a significant issue in various phases in the history of geographical education (see Gilbert, 1984, p. 77 and p 88) Authors over-influenced by the quantitative approach of the 1960s, for example, were accused of unac­ ceptably dehumanising the subject. Another source of bias has related to the level of knowledge and understanding possessed by authors. This was a larger problem in the early days of amateur writers who thought them­ selves capable of covering different subjects C.H.K. Marten regarded the quality of the historian qua historian as a key factor in whether historical material would be presented fairly (1938, p. 54) More recently Hinrichs has argued that the work of less expert historians is much more subject to bias than that of the more learned. ‘The deepest pit between scholarly writing and what finally appears in textbooks is dug by two factors to which every textbook author must resort selection and reduction' (1992,

130

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping

p, 50) Academic expertise, however, has never been a guarantee of fairness, as the personal values and prejudices of authors may have over-ridden their professional detachment, and sometimes overtly so Halford Mackinder in geography (1911), and R J Unstead in history (quoted in Low-Beer, 1974, p. 394), are examples of textbook authors openly admitting that their con­ tributions had been written from a British point of view (see Chapter 8). Other reasons cited for the presence of bias and prejudice among writers have been their age and gender, national or regional location, and ethnic or social class affiliation . Again the balance of these has shifted over time and between countries, but they clearly have variously been inculpated as important factors.

EXPLAINING BIAS AND PREJUDICE

Social Stereotyping and the Avoidance of Controversy Any differentiated account of bias and prejudice in textbooks must recog­ nise, therefore, that different types and different intensities within types exist In the worst cases, few would dispute that purely negative stereo­ typing of other countries and peoples brings bias into the more damaging territory of prejudice In a survey of the literature of the 1950s, Fishman argued that stereotypes, as images in the mind, were generally characterised by disparaging, bigoted and harmful opinions and beliefs about outgroups He highlighted four characteristics of social stereotypes:

• •

•

T hey were often characterised by false information.. They comprised inferior forms of mental processing, involving ‘catch­ all’ reactions rather than weighing the evidence, making distinctions, and so on, as would be typical of higher level mental processing. They were essentially group-related, generally ascribing unfavourable and alien qualities to out-groups and favourable to in-groups. They were frequently associated with an aggressive attitudinal rigidity in which the image became fixed in the person’s thinking and emotions, and could not readily be dislodged by factual evidence or logical argument (1956, pp 34-6)

While no reasonable case can be made for supporting prejudice in text­ books, at the same time, the greater awareness of and complaints about stereotyping have had the negative impact of publishers playing for safety 131

The School Textbook

and avoiding controversial topics (see Chapter 9). Porter urged that rather than being preoccupied with the illusion that textbook authors and teach­ ers could be unbiased, it was more useful to seek to equip students to recog­ nise bias and prejudice and resist inculcation and indoctrination (1986, p. 371). Davies also concluded that the presence of bias in textbooks could be 'considered grounds for teachers to censor or censure them, or to use them to encourage pupils actively to evaluate the texts themselves' (1986, p 110) White accepted that history in textbooks was either an interpreta­ tion or an interpretation of an interpretation, but found this unremarkable.. 4 am mystified as to why reviewers are so horrified to learn that textbooks are not objective' (1988, p. 116). In the United States, Elson instanced basic differences between the early nineteenth-century texts and those of the late twentieth. ‘Unlike many mod­ ern school books, those of the nineteenth century made no pretence of neu­ trality.' While ideologically simple, therefore, they were not bland. Instead of the friendly postman, fireman or milkman used as familiar starting points in progressive primary teaching, reality was likely to be represented by the 'deeper realities' of death and disease, hardship, and tragedy (1964, pp. 338-9). Remond more recently reiterated that something would be missing from historical research and teaching if the historian sat on the fence and was unable or unwilling to make value judgements They must describe actions for what they are and, if necessary, point the finger of blame, thus distancing themselves both from a certain positivist tradition which denied itself the right to judge and from a certain contemporary attitude to cultural identities which verges on relativism. (1998, p. 347) Harvey too queried the cautious approach he discerned in current edu­ cational materials, and suggested that in promoting the idea of human diver­ sity in different cultures it may often be improper to avoid making moral judgements Should issues such as the continuance of slavery, amputation of the limbs of thieves, and other invasions of human rights be accepted, rejected, or just avoided? (1990, pp, 48-9)

Pedagogical Factors

Publishers, authors and teachers have perennially laid stress on matching their curriculum materials to the capacities of the pupils being targeted In geography this has traditionally meant beginning with the straightforward, 132

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping

the concrete and the familiar Historians as well as geographers have, how­ ever, recognised the inevitability of bias creeping in where seeking to sim­ plify the complex (see Low-Beer, 1974, p 394). Evans pointed out that stereotypes were an outcome of such simplification . They were not neces­ sarily intentionally demeaning, and in some cases essentially stemmed from using ‘convenient caricatures’ in the zeal for ‘rushing early into generali­ sations’ (1933, pp. 31-2) While the simple, economical generalisation can convey a wealth of meaning to the initiated, therefore, at the same time in every one ‘there lurks a stereotype’ (Marsden, 1976, p. 229). Clammer drew attention to the age-old dilemma that while emphasising similarities was what it was hoped would serve to unite us with foreigners, what was more interesting to the reader were the differences in customs and ways of life that so easily lent themselves to stereotypes. He suggested that more research was needed to identify the point at which relatively harmless stereotypes, offering in effect a kind of ‘visual shorthand’, and which offended few, became harmful (1986, p 37 and pp. 62-3). Another potential source of bias has been the popularity of the case study approach (see Chapter 6) For all its advantages, the act of selecting a case study involves omitting many other contenders The history of geo­ graphical education is littered with examples, using pygmies to exemplify the Congo forest; a wheat farm the Prairie provinces, to cover the concept of extensive farming practice; or, more recently, the tourist industry to stand in for the geography of Spain. Similarly, the much advocated post-1970s issues-based approaches in geography have frequently been slanted in the direction of highlighting down-beaten and in some case doom-laden stereo­ types of places in the developing world In promoting the idea of education for international understanding, it is clearly important for textbook writers and teachers to comprehend how children’s attitudes to other nationalities are formed. Jahoda drew attention to the enormous intellectual distance travelled by children in the junior school phase in their interpreting of their world (1963b). Following on from Jahoda, Carnie concluded that by the age of eleven children’s images of and attitudes towards other nationalities were quite firmly entrenched, car­ rying the message that the years between seven and eleven were crucial if the geography teacher was to foster positive attitudes (1973). Lambert and Klineberg similarly argued that early training in contrasts was helpful . Chil­ dren of a particular country learned better what it was to have a national identity by having their group compared and contrasted with others They would learn to see and react to foreign groups as in significant ways differ­ ent from their own, though not exclusively as strange and perhaps unfriendly (1967, p. 222 and p 225; see also Duijker and Frijda, 1960). One conclusion 133

The School Textbook would be that contrasts should not be avoided, but should be embedded in an empathetic approach which sought to value differences and find com­ mon ground Another would be that the concept of the stereotype was one worth introducing openly in any comparative studies of peoples. While this section has focused on stereotyping in geography, the same principles hold good in history, whether in studies of national contrasts in the past, or of differences between British people now and in the past Here the concept of promoting empathy has been crucial, and has of course loomed large in history education in recent decades (see Chapter 3).

TYPES OF BIAS AND PREJUDICE

An American historian, HE Barnes, offered judgements on the types of bias and prejudice he thought most likely to be malign. Religious bigotry he regarded as the most persistent; ideas of racial hierarchy as ‘the most weird and vulgar’; ‘patriotic ardour’ as ‘not less barbarous’; partisan polit­ ical affiliations as ‘not less foolish’; and caste and class as particularly dis­ concerting, especially where an alliance with God was associated with a particular economic class (1926, pp. 10—22).. In a much later study of his­ torians' contributions to Anglo-American misunderstanding, Billington distinguished the following types of textbook bias: Bias of inertia, including the failure to keep abreast with current schol­ arship, maintaining well-worn lines of argument that might include bias • Unconscious falsification, seen as steeped in the thinking of all authors, who could only avoid it by, for example, looking at national history through foreign eyes, and by immersing themselves in other cultures • Bias by omission, resulting from the inevitable need to select, but often reflected in an imbalance, perhaps dictated by outside influences, such as emphasising the deeds of men rather than women in history. • Bias by cumulative implication, in which the textbook writer, without necessarily being untruthful in detail, nevertheless distorted history by ascribing cumulative virtues to a particular country or race, ignoring the positive contributions of others • Bias in use of language, using uncomplimentary epithets, which might be deliberate or unintended, such as equating Prussianism with mili­ tarism, as though no other nations were culpable (1966, pp 5-13)

•

134

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping Religious Bias and Prejudice

One of the basic tenets of early nineteenth-century instruction was that the religions of the world should be divided into two categories: true and false (Elson, 1964, p 45), a dichotomy pervading the textbooks and readers of the time In one early ‘Missionary Geography", for example, sensational descriptions of martyred missionaries, of child sacrifice before idols, of widows burning themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands, and so on, were intrinsic to the presentation. By way of explanation the children were informed that these things happened because the heathen ‘know not the true God, nor Jesus Christ, the prince of peace and love’ (Irish Clergy­ man, 1825,pp.5-7) Within the Christian domain, Protestant writers identified Romanism as the leading enemy (Chancellor, 1970, p. 90). Arrowsmith’s A Grammar of Modern Geography (1832), for example, pilloried the Roman Catholic church in Spain: The clergy of Spain are a numerous body, irrationally zealous in their opinions, and disgracefully lax in their morals to these the people are slaves In support of the church the dreadful tribunal of the Inquisition exercises its disgraceful and inhumane power and is now little else than an engine of political rapine. (1832,p 89) Tate’s violent anti-Catholic sentiments were equally evident in the con­ trasts he drew between England’s ‘tolerant’ Protestantism and Spain’s ‘big­ oted’ Catholicism. His unflattering comparison of Mary Queen of Scots with Queen Victoria was in similar vein MARY Despotic and cruel.. Bigoted and intolerant. Morose and miserable A blind Romanist Died childless. A friend of ignorance and superstition Lived in an age of darkness and ignorance An age of thumbscrews, racks and other instruments of torture

VICTORIA Liberal and benevolent Pious and tolerant. Cheerful and happy An enlightened Protestant. Lives the mother of a large family. A promoter of education and religion Lives in an age of knowledge and progress. An age of science, of steam engines, and of all the arts which add to human happiness (1860, pp. 189-91)

135

The Sc hcwl Textbook

Belittling stereotypes of the Catholic church were widespread also in American Protestant textbooks John Dunmore Lang conceded in his 1840 study that * the scriptural education of youth in the common schools of the Middle and Northern States’ was ‘decidedly unfavourable to the main­ tenance of the Popish system in America’ (p. 403) A centur y later. Fell was still complaining that anti-Catholic attitudes were found in all American textbooks, apart from those produced for Catholic schools (1941,p 224) Negative images persisted in British history textbooks well into the twentieth century, Catholic protests focusing on the over-emphasis of history textbook authors on the cruelties of Mary Queen of Scots and derogation of the Pope, while persecution of Catholics and denials of their civic rights in Britain for over two hundred years were ignored (Poynter, 1922, pp 7—8) The Catholic Education Council in the 1920s criticised what they regarded as the ‘unsatisfactory character’ of history texts used in London County Council schools Most upsetting were the attitudes to Catholic doctrine and the authority of the Church: ‘ we do claim that not only is it unhistorical to suppose that authority is always tyranny, always irksome to a rightthinking man, but to imbue children’s minds with that impression is unques­ tionably demoralising’(Westminster Catholic Federation, 1928, pp 1153—4) T he post-Second World War period was one of lessening of the religious tensions in education in Britain With their counterparts, Catholics period­ ically addressed questions of how controversial issues should be presented in both religious and history textbooks How, for example, could Roman Catholic and Protestant authors similarly view the Reformation? One con­ cept proposed was that there should be ‘impartiality without neutrality’ Another was that the author should declare her or his prejudices in the preface of the textbook (Anon. 1953b, p. 753). Yet Dance as late as 1974 maintained that bias in history teaching remained most conspicuous in matters of religion (p. 24) The major social changes of the post-war years in Britain included the emergence of a multicultural society in which large minorities of the pop­ ulation were non-Christian. The treatment of their religions in textbooks became increasingly criticised. Attention was drawn, among other issues, to the inadequate treatment of Islam (Rogers, 1981, p 4). Textbooks had portrayed the Muslim world stereotypically in images of ‘cruelty, barbarism and warlike characteristics’, and ignored the positive historical impact of Muslim civilisation on cultural progress (pp. 6-7). Equally in the United States, the preoccupation after the Second World War continued to be the need to take on board ‘the nation’s historical con­ dition of ethnic pluralism’ So far as the minority religions were concerned, however, there remained a widespread sense of grievance, again over both 136

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping

sins of omission and commission in the textbooks Kane argued that so long as they continued not to recognise Jewish achievements in American and world history, they contributed to ‘the development of anti-Semitic stereo­ types and in fact to the very anti-Semitism that so frequently surfaces in periods of social stress' (1970, pp. 50-1) The treatment of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, both in the United States, and other countries, and particularly in Israel, became one of the most contentious topics. In these circumstances, publishers once more tended to play for safety and evade the controversial (see Foster, 1999, pp. 277-8). Vitz’s 1986 analysis of American textbooks, for example, revealed decreasing reference to religious matters for historical periods after 1700 (pp. 29-32). Davis and his team, in surveying history textbook adoption in Texas, also found ‘a conspicuous absence of religious ideas, practices, motivations, and insti­ tutions’ in almost all textbooks (1992, p. 64).

National and Racial Stereotyping

Grotesque stereotypes of foreigners go back for centuries in geographical education. ‘Lurid tales of torture and adventure, descriptions of arcane customs and peoples’ spiced the travel literature that was the fare of many Elizabethan university geography students (Cormack, 1997, pp 129-30) Descriptive geography remained the most popular component of the subject The universal geographies of the Georgian period included not only ‘the situation, extent, soil and productions of Kingdoms’, but also the ‘genius, manners, religion, government, commerce, science and arts of all the inhabitants upon the earth’ (Downes, 1971, p. 382), allowing rampant judgemental comment on foreign peoples. The strangeness of the material in textbooks and readers ‘probably endowed these national qualities in the child’s mind with connotations of eternal validity, comparable to the phys­ ical features of the country’ (Elson, 1964, p. 102) No distinction was made between fact and opinion. Currie indeed argued that it was inappropriate to attempt to interpret the causes of differing national characters, as they were too complicated to be understood, even by mature minds. Tn teach­ ing geography, therefore, national character should be stated as fact (1861, p^ 443) The extremes of prejudice exemplified in the resulting stereotypes in the early geography and history textbooks were, however, increasingly being regarded as anachronistic by the late nineteenth century. One School Board Chronicle reviewer, for example, was savagely critical of the com­ ically inaccurate nature, the fiercely uncharitable tone, and the sheer tittletattle of some of FL Bevan’s (anonymously published) contributions 1.37

The School Textbook (Anon., 1871a, pp. 26) ‘What silly lives ladies lead in Turkey! They can­ not read, and if they could, they have not the Bible’ (1849, p. 84). Foreign embassies periodically complained over the disparaging por­ trayals of their peoples in British textbooks An official Portuguese spokesman expressed his country's offence against the vilification in a British textbook used in India, where Portugal still had interests, which had concluded: 4 Add hypocrisy to the vices of a Spaniard, and you have a Portuguese’ (Anon , 1876, p 840). Even into the 1920s there were similar protests, one from Denmark, finding in a textbook by Professor Meiklejohn reference to the country as ‘one of the smallest, weakest, poorest and least populous of all the states of Europe’ The comment was made as a response to Denmark’s defeat by Prussia in the 1860s For over half a cen­ tury the book had not been updated (Anon., 1924b, p 459) There was also criticism horn the Netherlands of Professor Lyde’s stereotypes, among them the comment that the Frisians were the ‘cleanest and most indepen­ dent of the Dutch people’, implying negative characteristics in those of other regions (Beekman, 1926, p 54) More sinister, however, was the prejudiced stereotypes against rival nations transmitted in history and other textbooks in the heyday of imperialism and aggressive nationalism in the lead up to the First World War, to be considered in the next two chapters Geographical determinism, though not so defined, was a major force in the early and mid-nineteenth century textbooks which claimed they were going beyond compilations of facts and into the realm of explanation While Currie had ruled that teachers should not try to explain contrasts in national character, he made an exception where he felt the cause and effect rela­ tionships were self-evident. These included those linking

• • •

mountain environments with freedom and independence; living on the plain with steadiness, dullness, and even effeminacy; and the rigours of the north with the stunted growth of body and mind of Arctic tribes. (1861,p.443)

Associated with the determinism was what Livingstone later referred to as the ‘moral economy of climate’, in which loaded descriptors such as ‘enervating, monotonous, lazy, indolent’, were applied to tropical peoples, and laid down as ‘settled scientific maxims’ (1994, p 141 and p 154). The stereotypes were hardly refined by the developments in academic geogra­ phy associated with the natural regions framework of Herbertson, which served to reinforce the equation of polar, temperate and tropical groups with different levels of human advance. 138

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping

White men are the most civilised people in the world. They have always been great travellers, explorers and inventors In the cool parts of the globe where they lived, they were full of energy They had not been made lazy by too much of the sun's heat. Neither were they stunted by too much frost and snow. (Guest, 1924, pp 95-6) The most offensive and sinister stereotypes were those based on pseudo­ scientific hypotheses. Common to craniologist, phrenologist and physiog­ nomist alike was the idea that from physical attributes could be inferred human character and potential (Marsden, 1990). Social Darwinist theory asserted that natural selection meant that the higher races must replace the lower, linked with the eugenic view which saw racial improvement as contingent upon judicious mating. The principle was applied not only to the lesser races abroad but the urban under-class at home Francis Galton, the found­ ing father of eugenics, ominously observed that the land was ‘overstocked and over-burdened with the listless and the incapable’ (1907, pp 18-19) While James Fairgrieve is perhaps best known for his opinion that the prime objective of geography was the study of ‘the great world stage’ and its peoples (1926, p. 18), at the same time he would appear to have sub­ scribed to the survival of the fittest ideology.. There was no doubting his superior placing of the Europeans in the chain of being. ‘Thus Africa, long occupied only by barbarous peoples has lately naturally and inevitably been partitioned among the peoples that matter, and those that matter most have had most say in the partitioning’ (Fairgrieve, 1924, p. 281). Similar determinism was present in many history textbooks (see Glendenning, 1971 and 1973), not least in Fletcher and Kipling’s notoriously xenophobic A School History of England, published in 1911, in which, for example, the Social Darwinist ‘lazy native’ view that the prosperity of the West Indies had declined since slavery was abolished, was made explicit (see Figure 14) In the United States, Professor Fiske’s school history of the country made distinctions between (he savage Indians of the western slates and Canada; the barbarous Indians of the east of the continent; and the half­ civilised Indians of Latin America, of which the Incas represented such peoples ‘at their best’ (1894, pp. 3—12). In geography textbooks, the approved pedagogical principle of starting with simple peoples before moving on to the more complex had the nega­ tive side-effect of promoting stereotyping. While the children of such groups were generally depicted as happy and congenial, as in the Archer and Thomas series (see Chapter 6), the general social and environmental determinism of textbooks presented European children with the triple 139

The School Textbook

240

Other

Colonies.

The West

i-c.

’

The West Indies

is now almost a thing of the past South Africa owes its recent prosperity more to the discovery of great gold and diamond mines than to agriculture; but almost anything can be grown there. The vast territory of Rhodesia, in the centre of the ^ai'h continent of Africa, and the British ‘ Protector­ ates ’ of Uganda, British East Africa and British Central Africa farther to the North, are still, as yet, more or less undeveloped; but great things may be expected of all of them, both as agricultural, com­ mercial and mining colonies. The natives everywhere welcome the mercy and justice of our rule, and they are no longer liable, as they were before we came, to be carried off as slaves by Arab slave-dealers. There are other countries, like Ceylon, the West Indies, the several stations on the North-west African coast, Singapore on the Straits of Malacca, Guiana on the north coast of South America, and islands too numerous to mention, both in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, which belong to Great Britain. But most of these are called * Crown Colonies ’ and do not enjoy any form of Parliamentary government nor need it. The prosperity of the West Indies, once our richest possession, has very largely declined since slavery was abolished in 1833. The population is mainly black, descended from slaves imported in previous centuries, or of mixed black and white race; lazy, vicious and incapable of any serious improvement, or of work except under compulsion. In such a climate a few bananas will sustain the life of a negro quite sufficiently; why should he work to get more than this? He is quite happy and quite useless, and spends any extra wages which he may earn upon finery.

Figure 14 CR.L. Fletcher and R Kipling, A School History of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911, p. 240)

140

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping proposition of hostile climate and vegetation, dangerous animals, and sav­ age peoples (see Marsden, 1988a, p. 335) Horniblow’s Land and Life series followed the journeys of young Tom, travelling the world by aeroplane accompanied by an indulgent uncle, who expressed his revulsion of the pygmies quite openly:

‘They are ugly and dirty I should not like to live with them They look sad, yet fierce, and seldom laugh I’m glad I’m not a pygmy ’1 So am I’, replied Uncle Mac ‘They are not very nice people They have no God, and certainly do not have very lovable ways to each other They are more like animals than men. (1930, p 52 and p. 59) In post-Second World War textbooks, the more pernicious stereotypes had generally been excised, but more subtle ones remained While the exploitation of slaves certainly would not have been condoned, the condi­ tion of, for example, plantation workers at least implicitly was. The benign textbook image was of tea-pickers and others labouring contentedly in the tropical heat, to which they were acclimatised, their low wages more than adequate to cover their limited needs Economic disparities were frequently justified in geography and history texts, not least in the case of South Africa, in which a general conclusion, presented as non-controversial, was that the white minority was protecting the country from a return to barbarism and tribal warfare, and the unequal economic situation of the black population and even apartheid was unashamedly justified (see, for example, Houston, 1952, pp.77-8). The disappearance of the more blatant examples of racism in textbooks from the 1960s required a more nuanced analysis to check the level of bias and prejudice remaining. Hicks helpfully grouped racial treatment in geog­ raphy texts into three clusters In the first, operating within the discredited regional paradigm of geography, he suggested that images of other peoples continued to be ethnocentric, patronising and at least to a degree racist. Here environmental determinism remained, and explanations of colonial­ ism communicated the idea that Britain had little to be ashamed of and much to be proud of in its colonial management In Hicks’ second cluster, the most typical, authors operated within a broadly liberal framework, vary­ ing in perspective from ethnocentric to non-racist, but tending ‘to mistake neutrality for objectivity and objectivity to mean lack of fundamental con­ troversy’ The third group had moved towards the concerns of more activist commentators, and made explicit the awareness of possible ethnocentric bias (Hicks, 1981a, pp 32-3)

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The School Textbook

The incipient racism of Hicks1 second category was discerned not only in the textbooks but also in the teaching materials of the prestigious Geog­ raphy for the Young School Leaver Project (GYSL) Dawn Gill attacked what she regarded as latter-day racist thinking, citing a case study of Calcutta, which she complained transmitted disparaging images of a scav­ enging, unemployable multitude of gutterside slum dwellers, rather than portraying them as the victims of an ongoing process of underdevelopment in which capitalism had played an important role (1982, pp, 21-3) The categorisation of ethnic minority groups as problem people living in prob­ lem places was increasingly condemned as an insidious form of negative stereotyping (see Jackson and Penrose, 1993, p. 6). Gender Bias and Prejudice Some things are so obvious that there is no need of putting them in a book. One of them is that women have been in existence for some time Another is that they cast a shadow, just as men do. (Robinson, 1918, p 121)

It was not until 50 years after Robinson’s ironic comment that women’s studies as a teaching and research field, an offshoot of the women’s rights movement, began seriously to take wing (Monk, 1996, pp. 274-5) An increasing number of articles on sexism in geography textbooks appeared in the 1980s Bale revealed, for example, that men outnumbered women by four to one in the illustrations used in the geography textbooks he surveyed (1981). Wright’s numerical study of visual materials in fifteen textbooks indicated a three to one ratio in favour of men, activities involving women being less frequently portrayed, and virtually none of them in interestingly demanding roles (1985a) In some textbooks, while there was an obvious concern to avoid racism, illustrations still portrayed women in traditional and usually subservient situations. Slater referred to sexism and racism in geography texts as 'parallel experiences’ (1983), a linkage also made evident in Lee’s analysis (1996, pp. 63-8), Many articles appeared also on the roles of women in history textbooks Zimet, reviewing the literature of the early 1970s, complained of long­ standing under-representation in the history books: 'Were there no women - only queens?’ (1976, pp 85-9) A review of ten popular primary school history textbooks suggested that while there was a greater range and vari­ ety of material on women in history in the texts than previously, little had changed regarding their contributions In all but one of the textbooks the economic role of women was ignored, and where included could be

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trivial ised, as in one on society in the Victorian period in which the rele­ vant paragraphs were all about fashion (Cairns and Inglis. 1989, p. 225) Such bias was discerned not only in the normal run of textbooks, but also in the Schools Council History Project 13-16. While claiming to promote empathy, it was criticised for portraying women in subservient and passive roles, in this case in its study of the topic of medicine through the ages (Davies, 1986, p. 20) Osler’s survey of post-National Curriculum Key Stage 3 history textbooks, among other things examined the numerical rep­ resentation of women in illustrations The ratio was found to range from, at best, 2:1 in favour of men to, at worst, 26:1 (1994a, p. 223) Yet unlike Fianchi, who in the 1980s produced a pioneering curriculum unit specifically on ‘Women’s Work’, Osler disapproved of the ‘ghettoising’ tendency in providing separate gender history units in order to achieve a more balanced content. She preferred a more nuanced permeation of women’s experiences and contributions into a historical narrative in which they had previously been under-represented In general, she took the view that there had been improvement in the avoidance of the worst excesses of sexist language of the previous generation of textbooks, in those written for the National Curriculum, at the same time remaining critical of the con­ tinuing gender imbalance in the texts (1994a, pp. 230-1 and p. 234) Part of this, she suggested. was a result of the preponderance of exclusively male authors, responsible for 32 out of the 36 textbooks she surveyed (1995, pp. 23-4). In the United States, Tracker's attack on high school history texts was on similar grounds: first, the obfuscation or even omission of women of importance from the American historical record: and second, the presenta­ tion of stereotypes of women i n passive and inferior roles (1971, pp. 250-1) Sleeterand Grant’s later account of American social studies texts also found that the historical contribution of women was marginalised, at best appended in that might be termed a ‘Special People’ section. The presentation of coloured women was even more peripheral On the positive side, relatively little overtly sexist language was discovered (1991. pp. 86-7) Lerner and colleagues, in a content analysis of history textbooks., found that the rep­ resentation of women had improved somewhat From the 1940s to the 1970s men represented 95 per cent of the characters, a proportion which had declined to 87 per cent in the 1980s. Additionally, none of the women included were depicted in a critical light, while a minority of men were subject to increas­ ingly unfavourable portrayals (1995, p. 56), The documentation of geography, history and social studies textbooks in both Britain and the United States has therefore indicated a significant decline in overt sexism, but from an unacceptable base, suggesting the continuing need for scrutiny

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The School Textbook

Social Class, Age and Disability Drawing rare attention for his time to class issues in textbooks, Mark Starr of the Teachers' Labour League, a left wing group attacked in the Conser­ vative press of the 1920s and 1930s for providing a home for Communist Party members (Lawn, 1996, p. 40), strongly criticised the general tenor of history textbooks in being written ‘from above' He claimed that they equated the ‘lower orders' at home with the ‘lesser breeds' in the lands of Empire (1929, pp. 12-14) He quoted examples, such as commentaries on the Poor Law of 1834 which criticised ‘spendthrift workers', and the one­ sided treatment of the French Revolution, one book referring to the ‘imag­ inary natural rights’ of the ‘mob' (pp 52—5), Chancellor, to a degree, later concurred, judging that while nineteenth-century history textbooks might be ‘acquitted of being purveyors of monolithic propaganda for the ruling classes’, their authors were ‘in a more subtle way a brake on changing opin­ ion’ For example, fears of revolution and the awakening of democratic ideas among the working classes, in Chartist and other disturbances, were echoed in savage attacks both in the media and in the textbooks (1970, P 141). As previously noted, socio-economic problems in the United States were unusually prominent in both Rugg's social studies series, and the later Building America texts (see Chapters 2 and 5) but, as will be outlined in Chapter 9, their reward was to be subject to a vicious censorship campaign.. Above all this led to the playing for safety priority of publishers of post­ war American social studies textbooks. During the 1960s there was some limited address to social class issues, with textbooks and readers criticised for disseminating as the norm middle-class lifestyles and values. Mayer argued that many children using textbooks might as well have been reading about life in another country. No job was shown that was ‘ever seriously tiring, or painful or degrading’ Sentiment was ‘slopped’ over grimmer realities wherever possible (1961, p. 122) Subsequently, while the proponents of equal opportunity have justifi­ ably been exercised by the bias and prejudice evident in respect of race and gender in textbooks, the political and academic clout they have built up has at least served to ensure that such issues have continuingly been sustained in the public gaze There have been no similarly effective lobbies, at least within the educational sphere, addressing issues of social class, age and dis­ ability, as such In a recent bibliography of geographical education, cover­ ing the 1970s, 1980s and most of the 1990s, the disparity in coverage of the different equal opportunities issues was striking. In the relevant section of the bibliography, 21 articles on multicultural issues, 27 on gender, 13 on

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social justice/wel fare concerns, though with none explicitly on social class, and only nine on age/disability, were cited (Foskett and Marsden, 1998, pp. 117-21) Hopefully a recent Geographical Association publication for the 16-19 range focusing on disability signals a new trend (Kitchin, 2000) No doubt triggered by the demographic certainty of increasingly age­ ing populations in western nations, more academic research in this area has been evident in the last two decades It has hardly percolated into the schools, however, even though elderly groups are specially liable to suffer from poverty and a restricted lifestyle The proportion of old people depicted in the textbooks is generally considerably smaller than that, for example, of ethnic minorities or of women Fillmer and Meadows’ work on American basal readers revealed also that older people, where present, were not portrayed in realistic contexts. Less than 4 per cent were shown as retired, and none were widowed or divorcees There were, however, some unfortunate stereotypes of old people being crabby, ill, forgetful, tired, unattractive and unproductive (1986, p. 657). In geography textbooks, opportunities for addressing ageism have been widely neglected. British holiday resorts, for example, under the academic heading of settlement studies, are normally treated as leisure locations rather than, as they could and should be, as significant places of retirement The growth of resorts in this context provides a potentially fascinating historical as well as geographical and sociological study. In the United States Haddock has demonstrated the potentialities of the investigations of retirement destinations as authentically geographical (1993) and equally, with Mulvihili, as a fruitful topic for field studies (1981) New approaches are therefore vital if the stereotypes of grey hairs and senescence associ­ ated with doddering old age are not to remain, revealing rather the variety and complexity of lifestyles and circumstances of this cohort, cutting across social class, ethnicity and gender (see Marsden. 1988b, pp. 146-8)

CONCLUSION

Allegations of racism against past textbook authors by current critics have been denounced as anachronistic, illicitly applying back in time latter-day attitudes and values The accusation can, however, be countered by the fact that throughout the last two hundred years at least, there have been organ­ isations and jour nals, and also geographical educationists such as Welpton (1923, p 7) and Unstead (1928, p. 321) who. if not using the term 'racist', equally strongly sought to counter the prejudices against foreign peoples they found in school books, and urged more sympathetic consideration. 145

The Sc hool Textbook

The condemnations of bias and prejudice have of course not only been directed at historical targets, but also at contemporary textbooks. Current critics of these have in turn had their work scrutinised on the same grounds. The issue of whether balanced samples of text have been selected for eval­ uation has been opened up Woodward, for example, queried how history textbooks were selected for content analysis. He suggested that the process was frequently impressionistic, without address, among other things, to which textbooks analysed were widely used, and which not (1982, pp 39-44) Wade was equally critical, suggesting that while social studies textbooks were condemned for being biased, superficial or poorly written, less atten­ tion had been paid to the calibre of the textbook surveys themselves (1993, pp. 232-3). Those censuring textbooks may therefore themselves not be free of the taint of stereotyping curriculum materials on the basis of preconceived opinion and/or incomplete evidence Thus while some surveys may have covered an appropriate number and range of textbooks, the examples selected and most criticised in analytical reviews have on occasions been later editions of ear lier outmoded series not disposed of by schools, possi­ bly on economic grounds In Proctor's scathing commentary of 1975 on a number of well-known geography texts. Young and Mosby’s Our World series was condemned as presenting ‘ridiculous’ stereotypes of Africa. This series was first published in the early 1950s, and was little used by the 1970s. Similarly Moss’ People and Homes in Many Lands, accused of ‘inexcusable’ and ‘pernicious’ stereotyping, first appeared in 1930 (p. 25 and p 28) Though it was republished in 1966, by the time of Proctor’s review it too was certainly not typical of the textbooks being widely purchased Similarly the worst case elements in specific texts have been singled out , and presented as typical, in order to make broader critical generalisations. It may also be that some of the texts that were ignored did not provide evidence of significant prejudice, so were not considered, an example of bias by omission It would be improper on these grounds to suggest that the improvements that have slowly evolved in textbooks in respect of bias and prejudice should be a cause for complacency The hidden messages are still there and need to be addressed. It remains a matter of concern also that publishers and authors in the United States, Britain, and indeed in many other countries, quailing before the criticism, prefer to steer clear of certain types of con­ troversy It is important in any event that future critiques are based on evi­ dence drawn from a large and current sample of textbooks (see Chapter 11). Whatever the legitimate residual criticisms, far from reverting to a dehu­ manised positivism and narrow academicism, British geography textbooks 146

Bias, Prejudice and Stereotyping of the 1980s and 1990s have been awash with issues-based topics, in some cases dominated by coverage of the social and economic disparities and environmental concerns of the real world T hat similar concerns have been the case with history and social studies textbooks can more clearly be demonstrated in the following chapters, covering complementary issues of bias and prejudice in the contexts of nationalism and internationalism

147

8 Mission: (2) Nationalism and Internationalism: Schooling for War and Peace The books whic h the scholar learns to read teach the child to hate or despise every nation but his own; they represent war as the theatre of glory they render him passionately ambitious to wear the ensanguined laurels of victory Unhappy youth who has his stnd so early contaminated (D Bogue. (1819) ‘Discourses on lhe Millennium', The Herald of Peace, 1, pp. 107-12 (p 109))

EXPECTATIONS OF EDUCATION

Educational systems have repeatedly faced demands from politicians and public alike to shape recoveries from national crises, to prevent war and, more recently, to rescue the environment from human-induced hazards. Despite regular failures to deliver these holy grails, faith in the potential of education to succeed has persisted More palpable, however, have been the condemnations of subsequent failure. The poisoned chalice metaphor, and even more that of Scylla and Charybdis, are arguably more appropriate than that of the holy grail. Thus education has been blamed for, on the one hand, being ineffective in preventing war. and on the other for being effective promoting it. Among the possible causes of war. education holds a particular and significant place for in so far as it embodies dangerous national­ istic prejudices, it is a means of disseminating them constantly to all the people. It is the seed of international discord for both present and future generations (Schlesinger, 1938,p xiii)

At the other extreme, even on the eve of war unreal optimism has been evident: ‘We can hope to have a peaceful nation only by teaching the boy to be compassionate ' Children brought up in this way would be the ‘Peace Priests of tomorrow', As a result4 wars will cease We are coming to the

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dawning of a new and grander time' (Guvol, 1914, pp. 142-3). Again, as militarism was building up inexorably in Europe during the 1930s, WynneTyson appeared oblivious, writing of advances towards peace, and insist­ ing that ‘all progress, all reform has been the result of education' (WynneTyson, 1936, p 11). Other inter-war writers were more cautious. Findlay, for example, was dubious about continuingly passing the buck to education. Tt needs only a moment's reflection to see that the appeal (to education) merely shifts the solution of political difficulties from the shoulders of the present genera­ tion' (1920, p 161 and p 167) The Amer ican educationist George Counts was more forthright: Like all simple and unsophisticated peoples we Americans have a sublime faith in education. Faced with any difficult problem in life we set our minds at rest sooner or later by the appeal to the school. We are convinced that education is the one unfailing remedy for every ill to which man is subject We cling to this faith in spite of the fact that the very period in which our troubles have multiplied so rapidly has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of organised education.. (1932, p. 1) Moving on in time, Galtung, a pioneer of the post-Second World War peace movement, was also cautious about education’s effectiveness, reflecting that one of the main oppressors was The USSR, which has the second highest rate of education in the world’ (1974, p 89) Despite the counter-evidence of a time of educational advance, in one of the most savage half-centuries in human history, optimism over the ability of the school systems to resolve the great world problems, not least through the geography, history and social studies textbooks used, remains frequently expressed in mission statements in the theoretical literature, and in the thinking of politicians and public

DEFINITIONS: NATIONAL CHARACTER, NATIONAL IDENTITY AND NATIONALISM

Whether educational systems have been responsible for generating nation­ alistic traits, and in fostering a sense of superiority over countries, has there­ fore long been debated Hagendoorm and Linssen referred to the ‘wide­ spread and irresistible inclination to attribute personality traits to certain nationalities’ (1994, p 104) . A major nineteenth-century preoccupation was 149

The School Textbook over the distinctiveness and separateness of the nation, as found in Creighton’s discussion of the English national character (1896). The pecu­ liar qualities ascribed to people of different countries in previous times were indeed often grouped under the generic term, national character Educa­ tion was seen to play an important role in its shaping

From education, as the leading cause, The public character its colour draws; Thence the prevailing manners take their cast, Extravagant or sober, loose or chaste (Cowper, 1784,p 374)

National identity is a term which has been used in tandem, if not interchangeably, with national character It was defined by Hobsbawm as 'a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies conti­ nuity with the past’ (1983, p. 1). The object was to create a continuity with a heroic national past usable for present and future purposes, an issue which has loomed large in debates over history in recent decades in Britain (see Chapter 11) Out of concepts of national character and national identity emerged the often malign force of nationalism, This was defined relatively neutrally by the Royal Institute of International Affairs as la consciousness, on the part of individuals or groups, of membership in a nation, or of a desire to forward the strength, liberty, or prosperity of a nation ’ (1939, p xviii) Nationalism in Britain and other colonial nations was at its most intense and belligerent prior to the First World War It was intimately associated with imperialism in the colonising nations of western Europe Nationalism remains alive in such countries, though it has mellowed somewhat over the last century Billig in 1995 itemised different intensities of nationalist feeling, ranging, for example, from the flag waved aggressively by the ethnic cleanser in political street demonstrations, to that hanging tokenistically over the municipal building on state occasions. The 'weak’ end of the spectrum he termed banal nationalism which, though, lacking the violent pro-active passions of the extremist, was still endemic, latent and not necessarily benign (pp 6-7) It is over the different forms of national­ ism and internationalism, however defined, and how they have been rep­ resented in textbooks, that this chapter is concerned

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NATIONALISM. WAR AND EMPIRE IN GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS In the major public schools of the nineteenth century it was presumed that many boys would be considering the armed forces as a career For this pur­ pose, the key subjects included geography, history, ‘fortification’, and also, of course, team games and religion, geared to the generation of the ideal courageous and intelligent Christian soldier (Hear!, 1976, p 261) Wars were won not only on the public school playing fields but also in the geo­ graphy rooms: ‘if the fate of the nation may depend on a battle, a battle may depend on a knowledge of geography’ (Royal Geographical Society. 1886, p, 36). ‘What did the old Duke of Wellington say? “That he best carried on a war who guessed what the other fellow was doing over the hili’” (Burrows, 1916, pp. .3-5) British disasters in the Crimean War were attributed to deficient geographical intelligence (Hefferman, 1996, p. 506) Lack of the relevant maps was blamed for some of the British defeats in the Boer War (Freshfield, 1914, pp 528) Geography was also approved as contributing to the interests of the public, making it better able to follow intelligently the news from the ubiquitous foreign fronts, assisting readers through text and maps to journey side by side with the soldiers ‘from one battlefield to another’(Sturgeon. 1887, p 85) Across the Channel, both winning and losing the Franco-Prussian War would seem to have boosted the cause of geography The Prussian success led to an expansion of particular elements of the subject, namely military, maritime and colonial geography (Sandner. 1994, pp . 71-2). In France.defeat was blamed on the superiority of geography teaching in the schools of the German states (Anon . 1871b. p. 51) In consequence, geography and his­ tory were thenceforth ‘allocated a central role in revised programmes of patriotic civic education’ (Hefferman, 1995, pp. 223-4) The First World War was also claimed in Britain and America to have been of benefit to these subjects. While the United States entered the war late, it was seen to have encouraged topical teaching about other countries To understand the war, it was necessary to make some study of Germany (McMurry. 1920). ‘Maps were very much in demand, not only for the use of armies but for the use of millions of citizens at home who were keenly interested in the progress of the conflict’ (Crawford and McDonald, 1929, pp. 12-13). During the years between the Franco-Prussian and the First World War, geography and history had in any case gained higher status than hitherto as patriotic subjects National and imperial pride was rarely made more explicit than in Yoxall’s The Pupil Teacher’s Geography, written in the 1890s Though overt scurrilous comment on foreign nations was less evident than in earlier texts, the chauvinism was blatant, whether glorifying in the

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England and Wales. i. England 1$ the “mothei^ud" of the Empire, the home of comfort, the abode of freedom and peace, the richest and most famous country in the world. It is the land of the ship, the manufactory, the mine, the-railway, the machine, and the newspaper; of the author, the landsoape^vrtut, and the brewer; of Stephenson and Arkwright; of Hogarth and Turner; of Dickens and Xamb; of Newton and Darwin; of Alfred, Elizabeth, Cromwell, Pitt, and Peel; of Chaucer, Milton, and Shakespeare. It is the pioneer land in civil and religious liberty, constitutional government, and free speech. 11 The land, where girt with friends or foes, A man may apeak the thing he will, A land of settled government, A land of just and old renowrv Where Freedom broadens slowly down From precedent to precedent "—Ttrmyson,

i. The character of the English People U indititrioui, liberty laving, Indepen­ dent, eaterptidng, wealth-respecting, law-abiding, itedfnit, illogical, and rather * solemn Bonaparte.Mid the Englhh soldiers never knew when they were beaten; the French say that the Englhh “Uko lheir pleuures sadly? * Drunkenness and gambling are the national vices, a. National Sports and Games, Fox hunting and horse racing are characteristic * sports Cricket and football ore the popular national gomes *

2, Wales is the land of the descendants of the Ancient Briton/ the druid gnd the bard; the country of the * uEisteddfod” public celebrations of music and verse; the region of “ancient mountains” and romantic castles; the home pf a Celtic People, tenacious of their nationality and language * Figure 15 .1 H Yoxall, The Pupil Teacher \ Geography (London: Jarrold & Sons, 1890s, p. 32)

‘valour and enterprise' which had established the Empire, or in describing London as ‘the mightiest camp of men the world has seen’ (pp. 30-1) (see Figure 15). Within geography the imperial cause was more skilfully espoused by Sir Halford Mackinder, both a distinguished academic and a Member of Parliament He held passionately the view that the British Empire was a template for world improvement and cooperation between nations. His faith in the Empire over-rode any scientific detachment: ‘ through

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all, let our teaching be from the British standpoint. When we teach the millions we are not training scientific investigators, but the citizens of an empire which has to hold its place through efficiency and effort" (1911, pp.. 79-80) One of his most interesting ventures was based on (he view that the children in the schools of the Empire could most advantageously learn to empathise with the peoples of the scattered components of the realm, and of the home country, by visual means. A Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office sponsored a series of illustrated lectures, including notably a set on India, prepared by Mackinder himself (1910, pp iv-viii) Like Mackinder, Herbertson detected no incompatibility between colonising an Empire and promoting international harmony: Geography is essential for the proper understanding of the problems of the different parts of the Empire, and for the promotion of a sym­ pathetic attitude towards the other nations, great and small, with whom our contact becomes closer every year Its study should thus develop first a local patriotism, then the larger patriotism of country and Empire, and, finally, as knowledge widens, and imagination and sympathy become more acute, the largest patriotism of all - that of a citizen of the world (Herbertson, 1907, p, 147) The concept of a benign British imperial type, based on ‘ties of affec­ tion", and ‘free from the weakness of the military empires of old’ (Hay­ ward, 1910, p. 368), was maintained by geographers and historians, by the various imperial lobbies and their journals, by organisations such as the Boy Scout movement and, of course, through the schools Much was made after 1918 of the need to disown the older brash and militant imperialism. Between the ‘new’ patriotism and the general welfare of humanity, how­ ever, there was surely no conflict (Fayle, 1914, pp. 16-17 and p. 37) Patriotism with one’s own kindred, could lead to something ‘broader, larger, and world-embracing’ (Conway, 1924, p 1010)

NATIONALISM, WAR AND EMPIRE IN HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

Nationalist, imperialist and associated military content helped also to popu­ larise history in schools In explaining and justifying Britain’s achieve­ ments, history textbook writers joined those of geography in demonstrat­ ing that Britain owed ‘gratitude towards the Almighty Dispenser oi events’ 153

The School Textbook (quoted in Chancellor; 1970. p 116), having inherited the benefits of a range of natural resources, a variable climate as a stimulus to human energy and invention, a sea-girt location generating a race of intrepid mariners and explorers, and having been offered the historic role of sending out mission­ aries to convert the heathen Other nations made similar claims In United States textbooks, for example, the home country was equally assumed to have been ‘particularly blessed by providence' (Elson, 1964, p. 61) The expansion of Empire increased the proportion of military content of textbooks and that of children's literature in general, to an extent that more than the peace lobbies protested Tales of war had ‘undoubtedly usurped an unwarrantable position in our books and teaching’ (Walker, 1935, p 39 and p. 50) George Pitt’s English History with the Wars Left Ont! (1893),despite its seemingly contradictory subtitle beginning Englands Greatness and Power Among Nations, reflected this feeling It was a rarity, as was, in the United States, Leeds’ Against the Teaching of War. which accused American textbook wr iters of a ‘persistent indoctrination of war­ like ideas’, and of begetting ‘in youthful minds something of the malignant sentiment of murderers’ (1896, p. 5) These were, at least until the First World War, minority views Fletcher and Kipling’s A School History of England (see Figure 14) was an anachronistic and bellicose throwback to the so-called ‘kings-wars-and-laws’ style of history textbooks (Jones, 1929, p 182) Apart from the racism noted in the previous chapter, they exhorted their readers to fit themselves to fight in the next great war: T don’t think there can be any doubt that the only safe thing for all of us who love our country is to learn soldiering at once, and be prepared to fight at any moment’ (Fletcher and Kipling. 1911, p. 245) The xenophobia of Fletcher and Kipling was at the same time denounced in The Educational Times (1912) as ‘uncontrollable and irresponsible’ The book was in need of revision ‘in a serious spirit’ (quoted in Chancellor, 1970, p 114). Following the First World War, there was more intense objec­ tion to the romanticisalion of conflict in history textbooks. Wynne-Tyson pointed to the absurdity of permitting the child to imagine that alluring accounts of the Battle of Agincourt had anything in common with ‘the ashen hues of modern warfare -reeking khaki-tanks-poison gas-submarines all without a trace of glamour; if rightly described’ (1936, p 57) Curry also objected to the premise of traditional textbooks that going to war meant ‘wearing nice uniforms and marching to stirring tunes’: rather it was about ‘frost-bile, being tormented by lice, and having bits of one’s face blown off ’ (1935, pp 127-8).. At the same time, there remained hostile responses from the imperial lobby to any suggestion that textbooks should forswear patriotic senti­

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ments. Pacifist arguments were denounced in the journal The English Race for their failure to perceive the enemy within, the enemy including the ‘red5 international socialist movement Educationists were to blame At their door lies this great sin of omission patr iotism has found no place in the curricula Even incidental references to love of coun­ try, like the Flag itself, symbol of our nationhood and Imperial power, were, and still are, banned (Anon., 1909, p, 3)

One historian described the animus he perceived against things imperial as a ‘silly prejudice’, against which the Great War was providing a ‘whole­ some corrective’ (Lucas, 1916, p. 5) Hopes that history textbooks would promote peace rather than war rose in mainland Europe after 1918, but the nationalistic feeling was hard to efface In the United States, a participant in a 1925 peace conference expressed dissatisfaction at the disproportionate amount of space still allot­ ted to war in the average history text Little attention was paid to heroes for peace (Owen, 1925, p 50). In his School Histories at War, Walworth feared that in the textbooks ‘enough embers of war feeling remain to flare up at the first fanning that may come’ (1938, p. 74). Lieven, in a vivid account of the errors and misrepresentations in the treatment of the Zulu Wars in history textbooks, concluded that the desire for peace and the work of the League of Nations after 1918 had made little impact on exorcising the warlike imperialist spirit (2000, p, 23).

NATIONALISM, WAR AND EMPIRE IN CIVICS TEXTBOOKS AND IN CROSS-CURRICULAR PROJECTS

In the heyday of Empire, it was argued in some quarters that so great a cause demanded more than a separate subject approach, which was said to be uncoordinated and to leave too many matters to chance Even a leading promoter of geography in schools, Sir Halford Mackinder, maintained that combining the study of geography and history would be more effective (1913). Others went further and demanded fuller curriculum integration Patriotism was already as much an element of the thinking of Froebelians and other educational progressives as it was among subject specialists The Froebelian journal Child Life warmly supported the national cause in the Boer War, for example, and thought all but the more timid young chil­ dren would be ‘the better for insight into the horrors of war’ (Anon ., 1900

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pp. 50-1). Edmond Holmes,a pioneer British progressive,declared in 1899 that the village school should have a 'national, not to say imperial’ role, preparing country children for the battle of life, including imperial battles, and not just to be hedgers and ditchers (quoted in Horn, 1988, p, 40) For decades the school project most frequently advocated in the progressive teachers’ press was 'The Flag’, one readily permeated into geography, history, drama, needlework, handwork, and religious instruction (see Dexter and Garlick, 1899, pp. 198-200) During the First World War, teacher journals intensified their support for an the integrated curricular approach to 'patriotic citizenship’. The Teachers World, for example, headlined its set of guidance articles on ‘ The Great War’ as 'of the highest educational importance’ Sub-topics ranged from 'What can the Children do for Britain’, to 'Why Belgium had to Fight’, and 'Economic Dishes for Wartime’ (Anon , 1914a) The Schoolmistress, in its series of 'Lessons on the War’, similarly offered detailed advice on how to pervade the curriculum with war issues including, for example, a model framework which involved classifying and studying the numbers of British warships of different types against the equivalent German complement, as a basis of lessons in mathematics and handwork (Anon , 1914b, p. 154). Thomas Pickles, later well known as a writer of geography textbooks, sug­ gested undertaking war-linked practical exercises, including plotting the flight of shells and bullets, and essay topics such as: 'Write an original story commencing: ‘Heedless of shot and shell, the brave soldier dashed forwards towards ’ (Let your story describe a deed worthy of the VC.) (1915, p 13). Composers of Froebelian action songs regularly included patriotic material, whether for use in the classroom or for school entertainments A well-known contemporary composer of such songs, Louisa Walker, advised that it 'caused much merriment if a tiny boy was called a Major and put in front of a class with a pail for a helmet and a poker for a gun’ (see Marsden, 1991 a, p 151) Even the babies’ class had a contr i but ion to make:

I want to be a soldier, With bayonet and gun, I want to cross the Channel, And fight this cruel Hun, I’m much too old for playthings, Like whips and tops and bricks, I want to be a soldier, For, listen! I am six! (Anon , 1917, p viii) 156

Schooling for War and Peace Toy-making of objects associated with the war was held to be highly motivating A wartime adaptation of Froebelian pedagogy was to have the children make models of a fort, a Red Cross ambulance, cannon balls, sandbags, marching soldiers, horses, nurses, and ‘poor wounded warriors’ (Anon , 1915, p. vii). Though promotion of nationalism and imperialism remained widely present in post-1918 geography and history textbooks, as it waned in these so it waxed in the new generation of post-war civics and citizenship pub­ lications Their writers variously extolled the British Empire as ‘one of the marvels of the world’, built up by the ‘pluck, enterprise, and tact of our forefathers’ (Newland, 1924, p 185). ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ of free peoples, was judged by Worts to be ‘ nearly as good as it can be’ (1919, p. 2 and p 277) Others returned to the spirit of Yoxall (1890s), applauding Britain’s as a greater Empire ‘not even than any that have existed in the world before, but greater than has ever been dreamt of in the world before’ (Wilson, 1920, p 215), and as, if not perfect, reaching ‘nearer to perfection than any state that went before it’ (Bevan, 1930, p. 1)

FROM NATIONALISM TO INTERNATIONALISM: EDUCATION FOR PEACE Reaction to the horrors of the Great War predictably brought fresh demands to educate for peace rather than conflict, rekindling efforts which could be traced back to ‘a handful of forgotten Quakers in England and America at the close of the Napoleonic Wars’ (Beales. 1931, p v). By 1820 in both countries there were organised peace societies and journals, promulgating the need forteaching for peace Founded in 1819, The Herald of Peace, in one of its earliest editions criticised the ‘faulty education’ of youth as ‘the most fertile source of the War-spirit’ (Anon., 1819, pp. 105-6). The Archdeacon of Stafford, also promulgating the need for a Christian educa­ tion for peace, maintained in one of his sermons that it was each person’s duty to ‘follow after those things that make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another’ (Nares, 1818, p. 27). During the 1850s, the educational equivalent of The Herald of Peace was The Olive Leaf, its prime object to lead children in the path to peace. Guidance was based on biblical truth, and was offered through stories, poetry and illustrative woodcuts One of its anonymous poems was entitled ‘Willy would a soldier be’, in which the youth, on beholding a troop of soldiers, declared his ambition to become one. He faced vehement opposition from his mother, however, who directed him to Christian teaching:

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The swords rude law, its right of might, Must e’er be shunned, dear child, by thee; The teachings of the Nazarite, His gentle law thy rule must be (1855, p. 12)

Moving ahead in time, each of Pease’s lessons on peace education of 1911 were prefaced by appropriate biblical extracts, such as, from the Ser­ mon on the Mount: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God,’ A new monthly peace journal for the young, again entitled The Olive Leaf, appeared in 1903 Like its predecessor, it made regular use of anti-war poetry, biblical extracts, and stories with moral homilies attached. Children’s essays were invited and were published The youthful Jeanette Diack of Aberdeen, for example, was convinced that through the influence of Christianity and education more and more people had ‘come to see that war in all its hideousness was nothing but folly’, and that the ‘kingdom of the Prince of Peace’ would finally arrive (1907, p. 96). While many post-war British geographers and historians, whether aca­ demics, teachers or textbook authors, retained their allegiance to a patriotic education, others, if not part of the pacifist movement as such, reconfigured their thinking, and espoused the idea of education for international under­ standing, which would in turn promote peace Robert Finch, a well-known textbook writer, regarded the study of the League and its work for human­ ity as an important a topic of study in geography as the trade winds and great ocean highways (1926, p 934) The League of Nations was from the start concerned about the continuing incitement of hatred in textbooks, especially those in history. The Nordic countries had led the way at the end of the Great War in seeking to delete from textbooks any promotion of nationalist attitudes, and expunging elements of each other ’s history texts which might be deemed objectionable (Vigander, 1950) The Casares Res­ olution of 1926, adopted by the League, recommended national commit­ tees to be established for this purpose (Clammer, 1986, p 11). The League defined the main purpose of geography as helping to train ‘citizens of the world’, and that of history as seeking to implant in the hearts and minds of the young ideals of humanity and peace (Benda, 1936, p 16) The British teachers’ press was generally strong in its support for the League, publishing innumerable articles during the 1920s and 1930s, such as Robert Jones’ 1928 series on ‘The Schools and the League of Nations’ Even the Board of Education, after earlier negativism, and now under a more internationally minded Labour government (Elliott, 1977, p. 133 and p 135), agreed to make mention of the League’s work in its 1925 Hand­ 158

Schooling for War and Peace book oj Suggestions for Teachers (Anon , 1928, p. 647). A leading moral educationist, F.L Gould, conceived of a ‘vast educational cathedral’ devoted to League of Nations teaching, though accepting that ‘long years must be passed before the dome is touched by the sun’ (1927, p. 2). In the United States too, campaigners for peace education were active, the horrors of the First World War having given a huge impetus to the peace movement (Reeve and Sugarman, 1940, p. 7.3, and pp. 82-3). Though isola­ tionism remained a powerful force, key members of the scientific movement in education such as John Dewey and Harold Rugg characteristically went against the grain in their writings Dewey wished to combat the ‘martial spirit’ by eliminating chauvinistic patriotism from textbooks, the ‘military­ industrial stranglehold’ on the academic community, and by the development of a ‘collective intelligence’ through structured educational programmes. ‘Dewey’s goal for achieving world peace and universal citizenship was based on a social science approach to education In particular, two subjects, history and geography, represented the foundation blocks on which to build international understanding (Howlett, 1982, pp. 439-40,and p 443). Simi­ larly, Rugg attacked the Amer ican government propaganda machine which he saw as galvanising public opinion in favour of rearmament. The schools were the ‘chief contestant in the battle between humanitarian international cooperation and selfish nationalism’ (quoted in Kliebard and Wegner. 1987, pp. 283-4). In Britain, the rise of Fascism made it very difficult for League of Nation’s supporters to escape the charge of pacifist white-washing of aggression In this light, the credibility of the Union was gradually under­ mined by the opposition of members of the inspectorate, the Historical Association, and elements in the Conservative Party. League of Nations teaching was accused of transmitting bias, sentimentalism and sheer pro­ paganda in state schools (see Marsden, 2000) History teachers who had earlier espoused League of Nations teaching were to be excoriated in the early years of the Second World War for having encouraged not interna­ tionalism but anti-nationalism (Robbins, 1981, p. 424).

THE SECOND WORLD WAR As with its predecessor, the Second World War made a forceful impact upon teachers and pupils Elliott’s research on history teaching between 1939 and 1945 revealed that many children accumulated an astonishing amount of knowledge about the war (1994, p. 156) The old moral dilemma of the extent to which teachers true to their calling as educators could

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engage with prejudice resurfaced. Moore advised that while they should continue to seek impartial truth, as citizens of a nation at war it was their duty to help to win it ‘ The lore of the bombing instructor and the spirit of the bayonet inevitably assert themselves’ (1940. p 53) In helping educa­ tion to prioritise its contribution to the war effort, the teachers’ press offered factual current affairs series on ‘Geography in the News’ (Cons, 1941, p. 26). and ‘History in the News’(Orford, 1941, p. 389), while Lesley Paul’s com­ pilations of ‘Topical Lesson Notes’, included a set on ‘The Gestapo’ (1941, p 1007) Negative images of Germany increasingly characterised British wartime textbooks. While there was little overt stirring up of ‘anti-Kraut’ hatred, as had happened in the First World War, the enemy’s vices were presented as mirror images of our virtues . Germans were in general stereo­ typed as mindless, error-prone, and amoral, in distinct contrast to praise for the technical and tactical ingenuity of the British . Hitler was treated unsur­ prisingly with hostility and scorn (Conan, 1996, pp 331-5) In the United States, entry into the Second World War provoked rapid responses from the textbook industry Helped by members of the armed forces, courses were redesigned to stress faith in democracy, the fight for freedom and the importance of air power (Nelson, 1986, pp. 268-70). The necessary contributions of contemporary history and world geography to social studies curricula in pursuit of these causes were at the same time highlighted (Field, 1994)

POST-1945 Internationalising Textbooks

Following the war, there was predictably a legacy of hatred towards the axis powers, and especially Germany, to overcome Cross-national monitoring of textbooks found, if not direct incitement of anti-German feeling, at least the implicit fostering of negative stereotypes through, for example, the dis­ proportionate amount of attention allotted to the ‘war-mongers’, namely Bismarck, the Kaiser and Hitler (Lewis, 1984, p. 17) International agencies once again probed the influence of nationalism on textbooks The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) took on board the educational roles for merly exercised by the League of Nations. It was reported, however, that not all British teachers were wholly behind UNESCO’s work, having reacted negatively to some overstated and nebulous claims (Anon, 1949b, p. 454) While there was a more positive attitude to textbook reform within the Histor ical Association than had been 160

Schooling for War and Peace (he case between the wars, there remained conservative forces doubtful of the desirability of agreed statements on international understanding (Dance, 1974, pp 20-1). A number of British historians, however, cooperated actively with European colleagues in this area (see, for example, Payne, 1959/60) The Historical Association produced an account of English history as seen through foreign eyes (Hunt, 1954) The post-war British historian most famously associated with the attack on bias, E H Dance (1960, 1970 and 1971), recognised among other things the logistical difficulty of selec­ tion of material in the internationalisation of texts, which needed to be drawn not just from British, but from world history. ‘Rejecting the nonessential is comparatively easy; what has to be tackled is the much harder task of rejecting what we have always taught ’ (I960, p. 49). Too readily the textbook writer could be described as wr iting a History with the Chinese Left Out (Dance, 1971, p 246) UNESCO was in any case proactive in producing guidelines for teachers. Among its many publications were a 1946 study of textbooks; a ‘Handbook’ of 1949 on the improvement of textbooks and other teaching materials; the 1953 report on bilateral consultations on history textbooks between different countries; Hill’s Suggestions on the Teaching ofHistory (1951); and Strong’s on Teaching for International Understanding (1952) The International Bureau of Education’s 1959 survey of primary school textbooks included a detailed questionnaire seeking information on their preparation, selection and use, sent to 69 countries. UNESCO also initiated a series of publications under the title Towards World Understanding, which included contributions on geography (1951) and history (Lauwetys, 1953). In 1953, however, UNESCO cut its budget for textbook revision, recognising the presence of unresolvable differences between east and west It was unable to establish sets of criteria for truth agreed by both sides, not least that of the capacity to be self-critical, unacceptable in totalitarian societies (Luntinen, 1988, pp 345-6) UNESCO publications continued, however, including another report on a project for the exchange and review of history textbooks (1970), a set of recommendations concerning education for international under­ standing (1974), and a major review of racism in South African history text­ books by Dean et al (1983) More recently, there have been a UNESCO collection of articles discussing issues and prospects for education in the twenty-first century (1998), and a guidebook on textbook research and revision, written by Falk Pingel of the Georg-Eckert Institute (1999) The Council of Europe over this period also sought both to eradicate bias and prejudice in history textbooks, and to focus on the status of sub­ jects such as history and geography in the secondary curriculum (Stobart, 1974, p 230). This resulted in the Schiiddekopf study of history teaching

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The School Textbook and textbook revision (1967), Marchant's for geography (also 1967), and a series of investigations of education in Europe sponsored by the Council for Cultural Cooperation of the Council of Europe (Dance, 1970) Its work has been sustained into the 1990s Pingel surveyed for the Council a study of the extent to which the European dimension had been presented in his­ tory textbooks in nine different countries in this century (1997), while a substantial Council of Europe series published by Cassell has included Shennan on Teaching about Europe (1991), Starkey on The Challenge of Human Rights Education (1991), Osler on Development Education (1994b), and Slater on Teaching History in the New Europe (1995). Following the demise of state socialism in eastern Europe, the Council of Europe’s priority shifted to working for integration of East and West through a broadened promotion of the European dimension in secondary education (Stobart, 1996). The relevant publications of the Georg-Eckert Institute are too numer­ ous to cite individually Eckert’s pioneering post-Nazi history materials were already exciting warm praise in the Tinies Educational Supplement in 1950 (Anon , p 97) In Dance’s words, by 1974 the Institute had produced enough material for ‘a lifetime of research on bias’ (p 33). Particularly valuable have been its journals: Internationales Jahtbuch fur Geschichts Unterricht, covering first history, then geography as well, and the later Internationale Schulbuchforschung, uniquely devoted to international text­ book research The Institute implemented the policy of arranging bilateral and multilateral conferences between countries on their geography, history and social studies textbooks The history of these international endeavours has been reported by, among others, Boden, identifying problems and set­ ting out ideas for promoting international understanding through geogra­ phy, history and social textbooks (1977, p 13; see also Williams, 1984) and, more recently, by Pingel (1999) Many of these initiatives have set out criteria for identifying flaws and effecting improvement, which will be con­ sidered in Chapter 10 Particularly active in the hosting of cross-national textbook conferences was also the Information and Documentation Centre for the Geography of the Netherlands in Utrecht (IDG) (see, for example, Meijer and Wiegand, 1980, and Meijer and Hilliers, 1981), as was, more particularly in history, the Council of Europe (see Slater, 1995). While most commentators during the last two decades have agreed that positive revision has taken place, and that there is much less objectionable material to be found in geography and history textbooks than in the past, a degree of chauvinism none the less persisted Thus a French critic in sur­ veying British history textbooks, mostly of the 1960s, was aggravated by the slanted and simplistic presentation of the issue of Britain’s entry into the European Community, portrayed as a bilateral Anglo-French confrontation,

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with characteristic ‘anti-De Gaulle diatribes’ (Millat, 1993,p. 132). A more recent comparative survey of 1990s British and German history textbook coverage of the Second World War found that while the British texts no longer contained ‘unbridled patriotism banal nationalism and xenopho­ bia’, there remained vestiges of traditional ideas of ‘heroic sacrifice’ and the ‘righteousness of the cause’, stimulating pride in being British, which was interpreted as predisposing pupils to hold negative stereotypes of Germans, The greater sensitivity, self-criticism and contextualisation in comparable German history textbooks, it was argued, showed a desire to promote reflection on a national tragedy Predictably the German texts were more overtly pro-European (Crawford, 2000, pp 35-6) Foster and Morris investigated the treatment of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in English and American history textbooks In this case they found the British preferable to the extent that they included first-hand documenta­ tion of what it was like to have experienced the bombing They also sug­ gested there had been alternatives to using the bomb In American texts it was asserted routinely that Truman had had no alternative Though there were criticisms of the British textbooks in terms of the selection of material, they were at the same time judged to be more balanced in basing discussion on the documentation rather than the author’s own narrative (1994, pp 165-71)

History Textbooks and the Cold War The break-down of relations between East and West in the early post-war period shifted emphasis in the educational systems of the capitalist countries from hostility towards Germany to antipathy towards communist states Herz’s analysis of how the Cold War was treated in six American history textbooks was unusual, however, in suggesting there was not sufficient justification of the United States’ position, with explanations failing ade­ quately to represent American reactions to the Communist threat as purely defensive He was particularly critical of the ‘inquiry-based’ texts as being ill-suited to the complexities of the Cold War, maintaining that students in perusing documents would be ‘surreptitiously directed’ towards ‘authorpreferred conclusions’ (1978, pp. 71-6). Most American commentators took a different view. Carlson argued that American history textbooks persistently presented a Cold War stereotype which stigmatised all socialist political thinking and consistently posited the Soviet Union as an aggressive power bent on world domination He scorned their one-sided legitimation of the American stance, which he con­ tended was used to justify military expenditure and to benefit to the dom­ inant corporate interests of the nation (1989, pp 46-50) Fitzgerald in turn

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referred to the Cold War as provoking a ‘super-patriotic’ bias in the nation’s textbooks (1979, p. 114 and p. 122) Fleming found an anti-communist bias of various levels of intensity in American geography as well as history text­ books (1981, pp. 377-80) Equally, on the other side of the Iron Curtain, no punches were pulled in the anti-capitalist vilification which appeared in textbooks of communist countries during the Cold War, to be considered in Chapter 9.

Recycling Education for Peace History teaching in Britain by the 1970s had by no means shaken off its conflict-promoting image. Redolent of times past were the detailed accounts and depictions of torture and public execution which remained popular in history textbooks Richardson complained in 1975 of the ‘Warmania’ which had spread into the classroom, concurrent with contemporary history becoming a curriculum ‘boom area’ He drew attention to a renaissance in the coverage of things violent, suggesting that war in the classroom brought to the fore an appealing clash of absolutes, ‘goodies’ versus ‘baddies’, with which children could readily identify (pp 28-31) Another factor was the popularity at the time of war-games, of which the National War Museum was an initiator. Through these, youngsters were ‘beguiled by the curious contemporary hobby plying their miniature armies to and fro across bare table-tops’, despite the reservations of the teachers that this was not really history (Taylor and Limm, 1975, p. 138) It was easy to demonstrate the cross-curricular potentiality of projects on the theme of war. ‘Consider, too, the range of imaginative writing possible - the evacu­ ation, one’s first view of the countryside, the blitz, or even devising a pro­ paganda campaign against waste or “careless talk” ’ Geography covered anti-aircraft and bombing effectiveness through map work: economics developed strategies for food rationing, and design for utility clothing ( Jones. 1976, p 308) There was at the same time a revival of interest in education for peace, stimulated by, among other things, external campaigns for nuclear disar­ mament (see Marsden, 2000) T he aims of peace education were redefined as developing ‘the skills, attitudes and knowledge which are needed to resolve conflict peacefully in order to work towards a more just and less violent world’ (Hicks. 1988a, pp 172-3) It was suggested that the idea of peace education as concerned mainly with the Cold War and inter-state con­ flict was too narrow, and should be extended into the sphere of the inbuilt structural violence of society (1987, p 3). In a species of mission creep, peace education was construed as subsuming anti-racist, anti-sexist and

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general human rights education, and indeed aspects of environmental education as well (Fien, 1992, p 129) For schools, Hicks * collection of methodological articles covered not only war and peace as such, but also power, justice, gender, race, environment and futures (1988b). Hicks and colleagues were at pains to advise teachers on the criteria they could apply in evaluating materials, whether relating to issues of peace and conflict in particular, or to global issues in general (see Fisher and Hicks, 1985). In lists of recommended materials for peace education, however, textbooks as such were normally sidelined. In his consideration of three different approaches to peace education: traditional, integrationist and radical, for example, Harwood placed textbooks explicitly in the traditional camp, guilty by association of promoting chalk and talk methods of instruction (1987, p. 165) Members of right-wing think tanks accused the peace education move­ ment of politicising the curriculum and of using indoctrination to promote left-wing views (see Chapter 9). In the event, even by the time of the Education Reform Act of 1988, the ‘new’ education for peace and interna­ tional understanding had generated only ‘isolated pockets of enthusiasm * (Harwood, 1987, p. 147) The decline of the nuclear threat following the collapse of state socialism in Europe, and preoccupations with the National Curriculum (see Chapter 11), in Britain shifted the slant of the welfare component in the curriculum away from the focus on peace

CONCLUSION

Three striking features emerge from the treatment of education for war and peace in this chapter The first has been the persistent similarity in the methods practised, whatever good cause was avowed The second has been the justification of the use of propaganda and indoctrination, again in support of that good cause.. Churchmen, imperialists, national socialists and communists have unashamedly promoted their ideologies in the schools through inculcative techniques, backed by varying degrees of moral, social and political coercion, to be the focus of the next chapter The third has been the sheer unreality of public expectations of what educational systems might deliver. All these factors have impinged on text­ book publishers and authors. In its 1950 review, Looking at the World through Textbooks. UNESCO defined them as the ‘binoculars’ through which children looked at the world If good, they were a step towards international understanding of people and places But if bad, the effect upon the observer was harmful 165

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and sometimes disastrous, the resulting attitudes and actions often con­ tributing to world misunderstanding and helping to provoke international hostilities. A continuing stereotype has been of the latter as the norm Politicians and the public have tended to demand if not expect impos­ sibly quick ‘fixes’ of the great world problems. More balanced and realis­ tic critics have taken the view that education does matter but that any successes are likely to take effect only in the long term In Britain, Findlay’s opinion was that an internationalist history course could not be a saviour in the absence of an external will for peace, but its diffusion was a first step. ‘It is the one contribution which the teacher through his syllabus can make towards the healing of nations’ (Findlay, 1923, p. 179) Over 50 years later, Ravitch was clear that American politicians and the public alike had forgotten not only the limitations of schools, but also their real strengths. Probably no other idea has seemed more typically American than the belief that schooling could cure society’s ills Whether in the early nineteenth century or the late twentieth century, Americans have argued for more schooling on the grounds that it would preserve democracy, eliminate poverty, lower the crime rate, enrich the com­ mon culture, reduce unemployment, ease the assimilation of immi­ grants to the nation, overcome differences between the ethnic groups, advance scientific and technological progress, prevent traffic acci­ dents, raise health standards, and guide young people into useful occupations . While it has become fashionable in recent years to assert that schools and universities do little more than preserve the status quo and parcel out credentials, this hard-edged cynicism has less truth in it than the ‘myth’ it is intended to debunk. (1983, p. xii) The historical evidence drawn upon in this and the previous chapter suggests that the worst aspects of bias and prejudice, the associated nega­ tive stereotyping of other peoples, and the promotion of nationalistic and militaristic sentiments have been, if not eliminated, at least significantly toned down This does not mean that the undertones are no longer present, whether in Britain or the United States, an issue to be returned to in Chapter 11 The question of propaganda and censorship is a related issue, to be considered in the next chapter

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9 Mission (3): Propaganda, Indoctrination and Censorship Tables can be learnt with horseshoe nails Logarithms find their most beautiful adjustment in the science of ballistics, in geography the world war can come into its own limitless rights. History is full to overflowing with examples of warpolitics Chemistry has equal application in the fight for daily bread as for the military struggle with gas Physic s problems can be explained equally well with a motor or tank (quoted in Anon , (1938) Education in Nazi Germany, p 17)

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON PROPAGANDA AND INDOCTRINATION IN SCHOOLS Inculcation, indoctrination, censorship and the spread of propaganda con­ stitute an overlapping set of techniques designed to allow powerful and often dominant forces, notably governments and churches, to convert indi­ viduals and groups in various ways to particular points of view Together they offer potent means of political and social control Such procedures have been imposed on school systems and on the broader society, some­ times with draconian severity. They are manifestly at odds with liberal views of education, which stress the need to develop autonomous, think­ ing individuals. In schools, instruction has historically exerted a control­ ling grip through inculcation (the process of forcibly impressing upon the mind through frequent repetition and admonition) and indoctrination (the associated content - the doctrine or belief system being inculcated) Propaganda is disseminated through organised publicity programmes, whether within or without the educational system, propagating particular doctrines orcreeds through highly selective and deliberately distorted infor­ mation Key strategies of the propagandist are the use of calumny against opponents and public censorship of their views. Alternative doctrines and opinions unpalatable to those in power are thus suppressed. Historically, such methods have been especially evident where education for a particular good cause has been prosyletised, whether religion, the national and/or imperial interest, the physical and moral health of the population, a political ideology or, more recently, the environment (see Marsden, 1989 and 1993),

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In the twentieth century the most extreme forms of propaganda and cen­ sorship were to be found under totalitarian governments, most obviously national socialist and state socialist regimes In a different way. under more democratic rule, attempts have been made by outside groups, sometimes self-appointed, sometimes officially supported, and sometimes successful, 'to impose the beliefs and world view of an over-zealous minority upon a tolerant majority by banning books chosen by elected school officials, their agents and experts * (Arons, 1989, p 203). This has periodically been a sinister feature of the American situation, Viereck described propaganda as 'the primary weapon of the world’s invisible government The microbes it scatters infect humanity like a plague’ Propaganda 'hides its paternity and dissembles its motives It may insidi­ ously disguise itself as education’ It 'need not be bellicose It may be pacific. It may be political or commercial or religious’ (1931, p. 13 and p. 22),. During the inter-war period there was much debate as to whether propa­ ganda was permissible in a democracy In Britain, many saw the educational activity of the League of Nations Union as implicitly if not intentionally propagandist, despite the protestations of its supporters to the contrary (see Chapter 8), The recognised effectiveness of totalitarian propaganda methods was a major cause of concern at the time. As Hayward witnessed, the indoc­ trination taking place in Fascist countries was their version, albeit 'exag­ gerated’, of 'Education for Citizenship’, a widely approved mission in this country (1935. p 438). While Frederic Evans, a chief education officerinvolved with League of Nations teaching, in principle did not favour indoctrination, he was haunted by the possibility that nearly two decades of the more pacifist psychology of League teaching might have reduced the will of the people to fight Fascism (1937, p. 5) The attitudes of the Association for Education in Citizenship were mixed. While Sir Ernest Simon, like Hayward, noted the enthusiasm Nazi indoc­ trination engendered in German youth, he and others contended that this could not be acceptable in a democratic state Eva Hubback took the view, however, that while unfair bias should be ruled out, teachers should not be afraid of the accusation of indoctrination In any case, 'the measure of advo­ cacy required is so much less in degree as to constitute a difference in kind from that required in the authoritarian state’ (in Simon and Hubback. 1935, p 35) The politician Eleanor Rathbone was much less inhibited, arguing forcefully that dictators were 'apparently more successful in stimulating and uniting the young on behalf of their false ends pursued by hideous methods There is current today an absurd prejudice against the very word propaganda - as though propaganda must necessarily be unfair and exaggerated if not mendacious’ Democracy had to be defended in similar

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Propaganda, Indoctrination and Censorship

ways, and beliefs in justice, humanitarian conduct and Christian ethics must be consciously propagated, not least through making ‘our propaganda as all-pervasive and effective as that of those who hold opposite beliefs’ (1938, p 2).

TEXTBOOK CENSORSHIP: BRITISH HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Despite containing periodically controversial and even offensive material, British geography and history textbooks have never been subject to overt censorship by a central authority, nor indeed in any serious way through the interventionism of fundamentalist vigilante groups. Almost from the beginnings of the official funding of popular education, apart from some early support for certain approved textbooks on financial grounds, the gov­ ernment soon distanced itself from any attempt to approve or disapprove textbooks (see Chapter 3). In his later account of the Board of Education, Selby-Bigge outlined the official position, to the effect that the government could not 'supply or prescribe or proscribe any textbooks for use in grantaided schools, though it may criticise, through its inspectors, the use of unsuitable textbooks as affecting the efficiency of schools’ (1927, p. 25). The one area in which censorship was present was that imposed by the religious bodies in their own schools. Here they exercised de facto control over which textbooks they would countenance, to avoid their pupils being subject to the heretical influences of other doctrines. Tilleard, in his survey of elementary school textbooks in the middle of the nineteenth century, made clear his opposition both to this practice and to any government interference:

No educational society should, either directly or indirectly, require the schools in connection with it to use the books published by it; nor should any school be bound down by its trust-deed to use the books of any particular society. Further, Her Majesty’s Inspectors, should avoid every interference in the sale and in the production of school books they should also keep their own hands entirely clear of the writing or editing of school books (1859,p.396)

The religious problem in English education had by no means evaporated in the inter-war years, as was exemplified when the Westminster Catholic Federation protested over what it regarded as the anti-Catholic bias in the history textbooks approved by London County Council (see Chapter 7). 169

The School Textbook Counter-claims were made that this was effectively a demand for censor­ ship of history textbooks, which would be 'transformed into works con­ taining large quantities of Roman Catholic propaganda' The Federation's specific proposals included changing the favourable description of Luther to 'an unworthy German friar’ who had broken away from the Catholic Church and started the Reformation, while the Inquisition was to be 'depicted in amiable colours’ (Poynter, 1930, pp. 3-11) While the Catholic church, as with other religious bodies, had no authority to proscribe books beyond the limits of its own schools, there remained effective indoctrination and censorship within 'Protestants do not come out of Catholic schools’, observed Starr (1929, p. 14). Even though exceptional, there were British cases in which local vigilantism was recorded The Schoolmaster drew attention to an instance as part of its coverage of the famous Tennessee case in the United States in 1925 (see below), in which a biology teacher was accused of violation of an anti-evolution law, 'Lest there should be disposition on the part of Britishers to raise their eyes to Heaven and declare that nothing like the Tennessee case is possible on this side of the Atlantic’, readers were reminded that the National Union of Teachers had in 1907 been drawn into a local dispute in which a West Riding schoolmistress had been accused by her local vicar, supported by neighbouring nonconformist ministers, of 'infidel teaching’ (Anon , 1925a, p 18) The teacher’s lapse had been to introduce Darwinian theory into her lessons What had been pointed out in a 'Citizenship’ lesson was that some scientists believed men had derived from monkeys This line of thought was developed in a schoolgirl’s essay which came to the notice of the outraged local vicar, who demanded redress in court His case was a weak one, however The Local Education Authority held a public enquiry and dismissed the complaint (Anon,, 1907, pp 639-40) Another area which sporadically aroused protest was any suggestion of the teaching of socialism. A letter in a local Devon newspaper in 1925 entitled 'The Danger of Communism in our Schools’, specifically accused a woman teacher, who had stood in a national election as the prospective Labour MP for Totnes, of disseminating in her classroom atheism, revolu­ tion and 'foul Bolshevist propaganda’ The accusation relied on the evi­ dence of comments she was said to have made in an election address These remarks and their implications were strongly denied The teacher concerned was shown to have been a Wesleyan, who gave religious instruction and attended school Empire Day celebrations . The letter writer and newspaper editor were sued for libel They lost the case and the plaintiff was awarded damages (Anon , 1925b,pp 1096-7).

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Propaganda, Indoctrination and Censorship

UNITED STATES: NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR From the early days of the republic, a more proactive official oversight of textbooks and their content was evident in the United States than in Britain The dominant force for indoctrination in early nineteenth-century America, as in Britain, was religion. In both countries, Darwin’s Origin of Species was to shake religious opinion. For many the author ity of the Bible was not to be questioned, and Bishop Usher’s dating of the Creation as 4004 years before the Christian era was to be accepted as fact. It was even used as a basis for arithmetical problems in school: ‘How many seconds have passed since the creation of the world?’ (Elson, 1964, pp 16-17). Controversies over Darwin’s theory continued into the new century. Some states introduced anti-evolution statutes. In 1925 a biology textbook in Tennessee fell foul of the law against teaching evolution Its author was convicted and fined. The higher level State Supreme Court, fearing appeal to the federal level, reversed the verdict and the Tennessee statute was revised to allow subject­ matter on evolution, so long as it was stated that it was a theory and not a scientific fact (Tanner; 1988, p 129). Passages on evolution were deleted from Texas textbooks in the mid-1920s, while a Cleveland superintendent in 1926 declared that no teen-age pupils under his jurisdiction would ‘be taught that they originated from monkeys’ (Beale, 1936, p 311) The treatment in textbooks of the slavery and other issues in the souther n states was also highly charged From an early stage there were regular demands to censor northern textbook material critical of slavery The preCivil War slave-owners were deeply concerned over the presentation of themselves as treating their charges worse than in any other part of the world, over the denunciation of slavery as a moral evil, over what was regarded as abolitionist propaganda, and over predictions of slave revolt But, as Beale pointed out, what was being demanded both before and after the con­ flict was not an unbiased geography or history, but the substitution of south­ ern for northern prejudices (1941, pp. 160-2), School readers published in the southern states were advertised as having been ‘carefully revised and freed from all objectionable pieces’ (Pierce, 1926, pp 139ff) Mildred Rutherford, historian general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, found objectionable material in history textbooks published fifty years after the end of the Civil War. She stressed that there had not been a Civil War, for America was not one nation in 1861 It should have been described as a war between separate states (1914, pp. 3-4), She claimed that it was the misrepresentation of slavery in the southern states, especially in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which had stimulated emotive

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The School Textbook

abolition sentiment in the North and had had much to do with bringing on the war (pp 14-16) She produced a ‘measuring rod\ an evaluation instru­ ment for vetting textbooks On her criteria, textbooks would be rejected which, among other things, did not detail the principles for which the South fought in 1861; called a Confederate soldier a traitor or a rebel, and the war a rebellion; stated that the South fought to hold her slaves; wrote of the slave-holder as cruel and unjust to his slaves; and glorified Abraham Lincoln and vilified southern leaders (1920, p. 5)

FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR The most vocal advocates of censorship of textbooks of the inter-war period, absolutist in their commitment to the American cause, were col­ lectively known as ‘Hundred Percenters’ (see Barnes, 1926, p 16) Pierce summarised their traits

In common the greater number endorses military training and pre­ paredness; in common they hold a deep-seated aversion to radicalism garbed in the raiment of Communism, Socialism and Bolshevism; in common they subscribe to the unstained achievements of American progenitors; and in common they wish their children trained in unquestioning loyalty to American institutions as they exist today. (1933, p.3) Pierce demonstrated how the ‘Hundred Percenters’ engaged in blatant propaganda, ‘broadcasting messages with acceptable pronouncements of faith’ and using schools ‘to cany forward their special interests’ (1933. p, 316) ‘Reds under the beds’ scares were already evident, The US Defence Society believed that there was hardly a school or college in the country that had not been infiltrated by a communist nucleus (p 12) In response to such fears, various states brought in statutes which prescribed courses of instruction in patriotism and citizenship, and gave powers for inspection and enforcement Edicts in a number of states demanded of teachers open declarations of loyalty and the intention of inculcating patriotism in their pupils (Pierce, 1926, p. 75). Blacklists of organisations and persons, and of course books, which ‘did not preach the gospel of Americanism’ were pre­ pared. The Ku Klux Klan published its own sets of lessons for ‘junior citizens’, which noted that the great American leaders had been white not coloured, Gentiles and not Jews. Protestants and not Catholics, AngloSaxons and not Latins (Pierce, 1933, pp. 9-11, p 120 and p. 200) Columbia

172

Propaganda. Indoctrination and Censorship University was singled out for its malign influence on history textbook authors, their texts said to ‘follow slavishly’ the methods of Columbia’s scholars who ‘in their search after truth belittled heroes of American history’ (Beale, 1936, p .303) Even though on a different political wing from the ‘Hundred Percenters’, George Counts considered it legitimate to advance democratic collectivism through imposition and indoctrination (see Gutek, 1970, p. 115). He edited a liberal-left journal entitled The Social Frontier , many of whose contrib­ utors argued in favour of indoctrination They took the view that the minds of the American masses were already controlled by a dominant few, and therefore schools must offer a counter-indoctrination . The liberal notion of fashioning independent thinkers could only be justified in a fair society, which the United States was not (see Lerner et aL. 1995, p. 29). Counts’ book Dare the Schools Build a new Social Order?' (1932) was savagely attacked for its justification of the social regeneration of America as a reason for inculcating the right doctrine Biddle objected, arguing indoc­ trination bound children ‘to an autistic type of thought’ ‘The development of skepticism should be one of the great educational aims of our time’ (1932,p 13 and p. 69) Propaganda in education was the theme of the National Council for the Social Studies 7th Yearbook In it Biddle classified the types of propaganda which education should seek to combat, ranging from sophisticated hidden messages, to hate offensives against foreign nations (1937, p 125). Con­ tributors to the Yearbook proposed various strategies to counteract it Price sought through social studies classes to develop the critical thinking skills needed to combat not only political propaganda, but also ‘the false claims of advertisers’ (1937, p. 132). For developing resistance to propaganda, Anderson went further in evolving ‘degree of truth’ tests, moral judgement tests, ‘arguments’, and ‘generalisation’ tests, to help students to evaluate conflicting dogmatic pronouncements (1937, pp. 173-4) The seriousness with which American academics viewed the issue was also evident in the formation of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in New York, an ‘edu­ cational enterprise designed to help the intelligent citizen detect and analyse propaganda’. It worked with approximately 300 schools and colleges across the nation The way to attack propaganda was seen to be through scientific analysis, to enable students to discriminate between fact and opinion through the weighing of evidence: not only about what was said, but also about who said it, how they said it, and for what reason (Miller, 1940, pp 51-2 and p 56).

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The School Textbook

The Case of Harold Rugg The American educationist Harold Rugg has figured prominently in rele­ vant sections of previous chapters He was a leader of the American social reconstructionist group of educators, whose thinking was deeply affected by the social and economic downturns during the Great Depression. It was particularly in relation to this mission that he fell foul of outside forces His textbooks were seminal not least because he introduced controversial themes. ‘To keep issues out of the school program is to keep thought out of if, he affirmed (quoted in Blanshard, 1955, p 96), Rugg insisted that education should prepare for active participation in decision-making It involved learning activities which invited pupils to criticise the less privi­ leged face of American society. He indicted not only American capitalism, but also the government and the military (Kliebard and Wegner, 1987, p 281). His books highlighted contrasts between wealth and poverty as between sometimes adjoining urban neighbourhoods In his junior high school text Citizenship and Civic Affairs, he indicated that in 1929, 36 American families had more than $5 million to spend, while more than five million had less than $1,000 on which to live (1940, pill) He illustrated the contrasted life styles and opportunities of a prototype ‘Mr Very Poor Man’, ‘Mr Average White-Collar Man1, ‘Mr Prosperous Business Man1, the latter ‘able to afford beauty as well as comfort1 in his home (p. 116), and others. His search for a curriculum to build a new social order brought him into confrontation with various pressure groups. Between 1938 and 1942 he experienced the greatest censorship campaign ever to be waged against a textbook author The American Legion demanded that his textbooks should be banished from the schools (Blanshard, 1955, pp 9.3^1). A massive report on Rugg’s social studies materials was commissioned by the National Asso­ ciation of Manufacturers It purported to be non-evaluative, designed to allow business men and parents in local communities to come to their own conclusions But prior to this happening its author, a professor of banking, ‘spilled the beans’ at a press conference:

The whole emphasis (of Rugg’s materials) is placed on the one-third of the population who are underfed rather than the two-thirds who are well-fed Yet in most instances you don't get a leftist point of view; if you had an out-and-out leftist slant it would be much simpler to handle What you get is a critical attitude that is destructive in its influence. (quoted in Rippa, 1958, pp. 53-4) 174

Propaganda. Indoctrination and Censorship Lurid headlines such as 'treason in the textbooks', 'the Rugg technique of indoctrination’, ‘chunks of unAmericanism’, and ‘ring-master of the fifth-columnists in America, financed by the Russian government’ charac­ terised the attack (Parker; 1962, p 95) In one Ohio town, outraged citizens ‘tossed an ar mful of (his) books in the school furnace and burned a fiery cross in front of the home of the school board president’ (Nelson and Roberts, 1963, p 34). Though still acclaimed by educators, by the early 1940s school boards throughout the country were ordering the removal of the Rugg series Sales declined from nearly 300,000 in 1938 to 21,000 in 1945 (Blanshard, 1955, p. 92). Rugg and Rugg-type curricula continued to draw fire in the post­ war years Some of his texts must have remained in use, for an article in the Reader 5 Digest of 1951 described the situation as worse than in 1940, with Counts and Rugg branded as the evil geniuses Rugg’s school books were condemned for their 'tricky statistics’, for being ‘heavily charged with socialist propaganda’ Parents were warned to be on their guard against ‘this sly and dangerous movement’ (Flynn, 1951) Even in the late 1950s, when the Rugg textbooks were no longer used, the American Legion was complaining that the seeds they had planted remained ‘like the hardy germs of the new “golden staphylococcus” - they’re highly resistant to all known antibodies' (Nelson and Roberts, 1963, p. 39) In truth, Rugg himself was antipathetic to the class-conflict approach of some of his more Marxist colleagues at Teachers College. He was not a communist. The conflation of‘social studies’ and ‘socialism’ was to him absurd Other social studies texts were tarred with the same brush. After the Second World War the problem-orientated Building America series, con­ ceived during the 1930s by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and published into the 1940s, came under similar hostile scrutiny. These were published theme by theme on a monthly basis, then bound into volumes which could be used as textbooks. The titles included ‘Health’, ‘Civil Liberties’, ‘Women’, 'Advertising', and the like, and included coverage deemed critical of the nation in exploring the causes and consequences of poor housing, poverty and lack of health care (see Figure 16, reduced in size from the original) . There was also a section on pressure groups and ‘the fine art of propaganda’ (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1945, vol. XI, pp, 46-9) By 1945 sales were at a level of one million per monthly issue The attacks began in California Although the education authorities of the state had in 1947 approved a partic­ ular selection from the series, complaints by the Sons of the American Revolution were filed before the State Legislature. An investigating com­ mittee agreed that the materials were unfit for use in schools They were

175

The School Textbook condemned as sympathetic to communism, un-American and anti-Christian Sales declined sharply as school boards panicked The last issue appeared at the end of 1948 (Tanner, 1988, pp. 131-3; Gwynn, I960, pp. 215-16)

This average family could have rented a home, but it would have found it difficult to buy one The average rental in 1929 for all rented homes both urban and rural was about $27 a month f he average value of owned homes was $-1 780 which was far above what this average family

Who! Are the Causes a nd

Effects of Paar Housing ?

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another 42 per cent got less than $1,000.. If all the families in this last group had received incomes of $999 for the year (and many of them did not) the income, divided on a budget plan of nne-tfuarter for rent, one-quarter for food, and one-half for all other expenses, leaves only about $20 a month far housing fa good housing available to the average family of four on thin budget figure? (.’an good houses he purchased for $2,000? Mast good housing is expensive I he reasons far this arc many and complex Among the factors involved arc land cost; cost of building materials;

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earners in many families lost their jobs or had their wages cut. In 1935 30, according to a report of the

HE chid cause of poor housing in America is

thal a majority of the people cannot afford to live in good homes. 1 he incomes of most families are too low

In the prosperous year 1929, one-third of Ameri­ ca's families had incomes under $1 200. one-third received $1,200 to $2,000, and one-third received over $2,000 I he fam ilies with incomes below $ 1.200 a year could noL afford to buy or rent good homes. Budget experts believe that a family should

spend no more than one-fourth of its income for rent, nr no more than twice its yearly income to purchase a home. In 1929 the average city family had «an income of $1,900 Accordingly, it should have paid al. most $-10 a month in rent, or $3,800 to buy a house

cost of labor: taxes; and the cost of upkeep such as repairs and assessments for improvements in streets, sewage, etc ; and profit to the investors.. What are the effects of poor housing? Wherever there is bad housing there is liable to be a high rale of illness and death Overcrowded homes have higher infant death rates than roomy ones. Dark­ ness tends to develop rickets in young children Lack of air and sunlight and of proper sanitation and heating, also help to spread head colds, tuber­ culosis, infantile paralysis, diphtheria, typhoid fever and other diseases Many crimes anti dis­ astrous fircs are also traceable to poor housing

conditions * A housing expert han estimated that the total cost of poor housing to the American people in death, illness, and crime amounts to at least $4.250,000.000 a year—a huge waste which might he prevented in large part by the erection of modern

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