textbooks around the world

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

"
The Saudi education minister says the books are being revised—but that it will take another three years. Mr Ahmed says change is not happening sooner "because the state would be putting its survival at risk. The purpose of education is to ensure social obedience to the ruler."
"
http://www.economist.com/node/21564554?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709





Drama cat says: They is mad.

[bayonetbrant]

that was a pretty interesting article.  you don't realize how screwed up those textbooks are until you get the laundry list of all their foibles around the world.

[Longdan]

It is funny how everybody seems to think "their" textbooks
are okay and everybody else's are not.  I remember being
actually shocked when, as a child I went from grade school
Canada to the USA!  I got bumped up a grade (which got taken away
when I went back to Kanookistan) but the History and Social
Studies books were amazing.  It was the 1960's and you can
maybe imagine what a long strange trip that was.  I learned how
in 1776 an entire nation rose up and cast off the evil pop-eyed
runt who was their king.  I learned how there had been a great civil
war between the North and the South ..something about negroes
but mostly because of...well because.  Anyway it is all better now.
Then America went on to beat Germany twice in the two world wars
between American and Germany and Japan.  France surrendered.
Later i was shocked when my own kids were in school and the entire
genocidal struggle between France and England and the Dutch and
their various native allies was written off as something like "a political
struggle for control of the wealth of the new continent"  "ending
with English dominance."   The French vs English thing and the English vs American
thing and the everybody-and-their-microbes vs the Native Americans thing
were all judged to be too sensitive and complicated.  I saw some Lebanese
text books and they bore the same resemblence to history that the Chronicles
of Narnia do in that they both mentioned WW2.  Whether we know it or not
these things have a lifetime impact on us for good or mostly ill.