KTLA News: "Minority representation in textbooks" (1971)

well I thought that Dr Roberts did an excellent job of reporting on a very difficult subject uh it's quite a dilemma that this task force fac to really for the the first time face up to the problems of including ethnic minorities properly in textbooks could these books be changed or are they already printed would it be a tremendous cost to include these additions yes uh they can be changed there were limited numbers printed uh for this election process now I understand according to the report that some can be easily changed others would require major revisions and uh I doubt where rather in the time constraints that those requiring major revisions could uh be in compliance commitment of the individual Publishers all of these books could be revised to comply with the code but the extent of revision necessary vares from minor modifications of a few words or illustrations to almost total reconceptualization restructuring and rewriting e I'll just side two from Education Code um section 8553 we read instruction now General commentary on the textbooks the task force finds that the books generally reflect an absence of intellectual rigor a superabundance of factual errors a p vasive ethnocentrism in both framework and content and an insensitivity to peoples of various ethnic groups and at times an apparent intellectual dishonesty such inaccuracy in sensitivity and ethnocentrism provade not only basic and supplementary tax materials but also such standard reference sources as atlases and Alman some of the most flagrant abuses occur in the teachers guides and teachers additions which often compound the pre previously mentioned deficiencies by providing prejudicial supplementary material and by instructing teachers as to what answers and conclusions they are to extract from supposedly inquiring students the blame for the sorry state of these textbooks must be shared by many it must be shared by Publishers who have made insufficient efforts in our view to produce books which deal satisfactory with ethnic groups who too often select authors with insufficient scholarly knowledge of a subject about which they write and who fail to hire consultants and authors with sufficient knowledge and understanding of matters relating to ethnic groups it must be shared further by education Specialists who author books on topics about which they have obviously limited knowledge must further be shared by scholarly authors who though versed in the facts of subject matter right with a careless ethnocentrism which is offensive and injurious to those of various ethnic groups it must be shared St in short feel that it can make a judgment on how long it would take to revise an individual book to meet the stipulated California standards this is a matter for each publishing company based on its own dedication to the highest standards of scholar scholarship and its willingness to mobilize its resources for making the necessary changes it is the task Force's opinion that Publishers can provide substantial revisions in textbooks if they have the commitment and manifest such a commitment as well as the desire to produce accurate sensitive representive of materials they drct what is your reaction to the report this morning I don't know I hate to second guess them uh they will probably take this under advisement listen to the tapes uh we will report to them what their options are and my guess is that at the January meeting they will make the hard decision that only the State Board must make in this case at this point what would you be your personal vote accept the recommendation uh thank