Schools expect textbooks to be a valuable source of
information for students. My research suggests, however,
that textbooks that address the place of Native Americans
within he history of the United States distort history to suit
(5) a particular cultural value system. In some textbooks, for
example, settlers are pictured as more humane, complex,
skillful, and wise than Native American. In essence,
textbooks stereotype and deprecate the numerous Native
American cultures while reinforcing the attitude that the
(10) European conquest of the New World denotes the superi-
ority of European cultures. Although textbooks evaluete
Native American architecture, political systems, and home-
making. I contend that they do it from an ethnocentric,
(15) European perspective without recognizing that other per-
spectives are possible.
One argument against my contention asserts that, by
nature, textbooks are culturally biased and that I am simply
underestimating children’s ability to see through these
(20) biases. Some researchers even claim that by the time
students are in high school, they know they cannot take
textbooks literally. Yet substantial evidence exists to the
contrary. Two researchers, for example, have conducted
studies that suggest that children’s attitudes about particular
(25) culture are strongly influenced by the textbooks used in
schools. Given this, an ongoing, careful review of how
school textbooks depict Native American is certainly
warranted.