PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120)-- Reports- Descriptive (141)

Savage, blood-thirsty, drunk, monosyllabic, naked, and primitive are the stereotypes of Native Americans in textbooks. These stereotypes are so pervasive that they tend to be accepted uncritically by the rest of society. The evidence suggests that many textbooks are biased and, in a large number of cases, outright racist. The concept of "errors by omission " has been noted as important by several educators. Also, many authors who are critical of textbooks state that texts are written from a white Eurocentric perspective. In the pamphlet "Two History Texts: A Study in Contrasts " (1975), Moore states that judging one culture by the standards of another represents its own type of bias. Hence, Indians are named Indians instead of a name of their own choosing; authors report that "funny sounding " place names come from Indians; Indian religions practices are called myths; and the Indians were "discovered " or "found " by Europeans. Critics of biased textbooks feel that, until things change for the better, another generation of school children will learn that some people in society are more valuable than others. In conclusion, the treatment of natives in textbooks and in education generally reflects that the society has low expectations for natives as a group and fails to see them as individuals. (Bz) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document