While there has been some genuine improvement in the textbook presentations of Jews, Nazi persecutions, black Americans, and Americans of Indian, Oriental, and Spanish-speaking heritage, it has been uneven at the best. A significant number of texts continue to present a principally white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant view of America. (DM)

The "Garcia-Armstrong Matrix System" provides specific instructions for evaluating the way textbooks depict ethnic/minority groups. The matrix is formed by evaluating individual sentences for their references to the activity or passivity of the target group and to the status of the target group in relation to other groups named in the same…

This study investigates the image of the American family presented in six recent basal readers published by Allyn and Bacon, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Harper and Row, Laidlaw, Macmillan, and Scott Foresman. It compares these model families to social reality in terms of family structure, ethnicity, and father and grandparent roles. (Author/SJL)

In recent years European textbook research has begun to examine the topics of ethnic minorities, multiculturalism, hostility to foreigners, and racism. Its task is not only to ask whether textbooks should present such topics but also how they should be presented. In addressing the issues, an important question to answer is whether the textbooks…

Studies have shown that textbooks have treated the black person as invisible or as a problem and generally have failed to note that bigotry has been a fundamental American attitude since the arrival of Columbus. One might have thought that by 1973 publishing houses would have eliminated the need for this type of criticism, but this is not the…

This report of a study, undertaken at the request of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, details: 1) precedents and historical backgrounds in textbook analysis; 2) the methodology of the present study; and, 3) recommendations based on the findings. Groups selected for study were: Jews, immigrants, Moslems, Negroes, and American Indians. The…

This 1976 review by the Michigan Department of Education of senior high school government textbooks used in Michigan schools suggests that the majority of textbooks are "grossly lacking" in terms of the fair inclusion of the "achievements and accomplishments of ethnic and racial groups," as specified in Act 127 (Social Studies…

An analysis is presented of nine textbooks that have been developed in Germany for English language instruction in secondary schools. The purpose of the study is to describe the view that Germans appear to have of the United States as reflected in the information and opinions expressed in these textbooks. It is noted that all the textbooks…