Flawed textbook

Glaring shortcomings should relegate tome on Mexican-Americans to the trash heap.

Textbooks are supposed to impart knowledge and shape the thinking of new generations. They should be balanced, factual and written by content specialists who are current in their fields. “Mexican American Heritage,” the first Mexican-American Studies textbook ever included in a list of pre-approved instructional materials for Texas schoolchildren, fails to meet any of these criteria.

In Texas, Hispanics — most of them Mexican-American — are the largest ethnic group enrolled in public schools. So it was welcome news when last year the State Board of Education included Mexican-American Studies in the state curriculum and voted to allow textbooks on this subject in classrooms. But the introduction of a deeply flawed textbook titled “Mexican American Heritage” cut any celebration short. The State Board of Education should reject it.

In addition to a portrayal of a slice of history, one purpose of a MexicanAmerican Studies class is to promote understanding of and pride in culture. In the textbook, Chicanos, as many Mexican-Americans referred to themselves in the 1960s and ’70s (and as some still do), are described as people who “adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society,” notes Chronicle reporter Olivia P. Tallet (“Preapproved Mexican-American history book called ‘poorly written,’ ‘racist’”, Page A1, Monday) In another passage, Mexican-Americans are linked to undocumented immigrants.

The book claims, “After years of hard work, Mexican-Americans and Latinos are well-represented in the U.S. government on local, state and federal levels.” To take one example that refutes the assertion: The city of Houston — which is nearly 44 percent Hispanic — doesn’t have a Hispanic member of Congress.

Much of the book merely retells the separate histories of the U.S. and Mexico, but it fails to display sufficient appreciation of Mexican culture. As noted by the Texas Observer, “A passage on ‘Latin Literature’ features the beloved Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez — who at least lived in Mexico — along with the Chilean-American Isabel Allende and the Brazilian Pablo Coelho, who wrote in Portuguese.”

The identity of the book’s publisher — it appears to be a company run by Cynthia Dunbar, a conservative ideologue who served on the SBOE — makes the textbook’s shortcomings a little more transparent, but not in a good way. During her four-year term, Dunbar earned a reputation as a religious zealot, not as an expert in multiculturalism.

Jaime Riddle, one of the authors, lists her experience on LinkedIn, and it includes editing an anti-abortion book and filing extensive book reviews on Amazon focusing on “subtle antiWestern themes in popular children’s literature.” She doesn’t mention a background in Mexican-American studies but states that she “is conversant in topics in the humanities … and several disciplines of history.”

What’s wrong with this picture? Tony Diaz, host of “Nuestra Palabra” (“Our Word”) radio program in Houston and Director of Intercultural Initiatives at Lone Star College-North Harris put it succinctly. As he told Tallet, “Instead of a text that is respectful of the MexicanAmerican history, we have a book poorly written, racist and prepared by nonexperts.”

It’s not necessary for the state to approve textbooks for school districts to use them. And districts can elect not to buy any textbooks that are on the approved list. If the SBOE should not have the good sense to reject it — Texans have until September to submit comments about proposed textbooks — districts have some wiggle room here. They should use it.