# Doper Parents (USA Dopers, Public Schools): Do Your Kids' School Textbooks Contain Anything You Disagree With? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582 "2023-02-10T16:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/1 "2023-02-10T16:17:43Z")
I’m not and have never been a parent, so I have no iron in this fire. But I’m curious: it seems pretty apparent to me that one battleground of the left/right culture wars is what is written in school textbooks. I’m curious as to how this has shaken out in terms of what the Littlest Dopers are reading. Are yours reading science textbooks that leave creationism open as an option? Do their history texts paint Columbus as a visionary to whom the West owes a debt of gratitude? Do their social studies texts insist that the nuclear family of one mother, one father, 2.5 children is the norm? For whatever it’s worth, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the school a few blocks from my house. It’s not like I can just walk in there and ask to see their textbooks. Edited to Add: Has Book Banning made it to your children’s schools? Have their librarians been forced to remove “objectionable” books in the past couple of years? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/2 "2023-02-10T16:31:06Z")
I honestly didn’t spend too much time with the kids’ textbooks. (Other than math and science, where they tended to need help. They certainly didn’t embrace creationism. I didn’t reveiw the actual texts, but I’m sure Columbus was not treated as a hero in the Seattle Public Schools in the early 2000s. For all the shitting on public schools, all of my kids (including stepkids) got a good education. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/3 "2023-02-10T16:46:34Z")
I’m sure of it, not that I bothered to check. Lol, but when _my daughter_ started objecting! There was this one HS teacher, beloved by all, unfortunately taught religion. He said to her mother and I “You don’t understand. She’s always arguing. And she’s relentless. But she’s not doing anything I can call her on.” The poor man was genuinely shaken… and partially wrong: We _did_ understand. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/4 "2023-02-10T16:47:46Z")
I’d like to learn more about this, if you’re OK with sharing. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/5 "2023-02-10T16:49:14Z")
I don’t remember the particulars, but there were some parts of my son’s calculus book that my husband, a mathematician, objected to. Nothing political, it was sloppy about some important math details. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/6 "2023-02-10T16:49:24Z")
Me? Lol, sure, ask away. May help to know that Sophia went to Catholic schools from pre-kindergarten all the way through her HS graduation. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/7 "2023-02-10T16:52:18Z")
So did she read a passage that favors Catholic dogma instead of science and say “That’s bullshit!” or something? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/8 "2023-02-10T16:53:43Z")
Oh, no, she was the class atheist. Sophia just has an issue with authority and her teachers in subjects she thought useless were a favorite target. And religion was just throwing meat to the wolf. “No, really: exactly _when_ does the communion wafer turn into the body and blood of Jesus? In my mouth? The esophagus? My stomach?” “Sophia, I don’t know, it just does.” Stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/9 "2023-02-10T17:19:51Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “No, really: exactly _when_ does the communion wafer turn into the body and blood of Jesus? In my mouth? The esophagus? My stomach?” “Sophia, I don’t know, it just does.” For anyone who wonders, [the theological answer](https://thecatholicspirit.com/faith/focus-on-faith/faith-fundamentals/transubstantiation-not-as-difficult-as-it-sounds/#:~:text=Transubstantiation%20takes%20place%20at%20the%20moment%20of%20the%20consecration%20when%20the%20priest%20pronounces%20the%20words%20of%20institution) is apparently when it the priest consecrates it during the eucharistic prayer. So well before it goes into your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/10 "2023-02-10T17:28:42Z")
Sophia would note that it still looks and tastes suspiciously like bread. (Not that I want to have this argument on her behalf, lol. I was just relaying that the kids see things they disagree with too.) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/11 "2023-02-10T17:52:32Z")
My kids also went to Catholic school from pre-k through high school although it was a while ago and the idea that a passage could “favor Catholic dogma instead of science” doesn’t really make sense to me. It’s not as if Catholic schools teach creationism in science classes - they don’t teach creationism at all , they teach evolution. \* And while religion might leak into social studies or English classes, science is another story. So sort of back to the OP - no, I never saw anything I actually disagreed with in my children’s textbooks for secular subjects. \* Talking about mainstream Catholic schools here - there are definitely some offshoots that operate schools and I don’t know what they teach ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/12 "2023-02-10T17:54:53Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > the idea that a passage could “favor Catholic dogma instead of science” doesn’t really make sense to me Spitballing here. That the rhythym method is preferable to hormonal birth control because reasons. That hormonal birth control can lead to all of these terrible things because reasons. That homosexuality is a choice. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/13 "2023-02-10T18:03:30Z")
Nope - they absolutely taught that homosexual activity is sinful but not that homosexuality itself is a choice. Same for birth control, abortion , pre-marital sex , remarriage after divorce and a host of other things. There wasn’t any conflict with science - all those things were covered in religion classes with no need to claim that hormonal birth control is going to lead to any terrible things. It didn’t matter if it leads to terrible things or not - you weren’t supposed to use it because the only sexual activity that was permitted was between a married couple that was open to conception. Plenty of people (including me) don’t agree with plenty of those positions but none of those positions are based in any way on science and neither do they conflict with science. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/14 "2023-02-10T18:03:41Z")
My district uses a language arts curriculum that makes some nods toward diversity, but still has some serious problems. There are a lot of units about Native Americans; but they’re all (or virtually all) about pre-twentieth-century Native Americans, and the books are all (or virtually all) written by White authors, instead of by Indigenous authors. I was subbing in a fifth grade class when they were reading about the Nez Perce, and I asked them, “Are the Nez Perce still around?” The class confidently told me that they weren’t, that they lived hundreds of years ago. When I showed them the Nez Perce tribal website, with its daily calendar (something like “Noon: come by the fire station to get your baby seat installed in your car! 2 pm: traditional weaving lessons at the community center!”) it blew their minds. And the fiction books they read are overwhelmingly white guys from a half-century ago. Think Phantom Tollbooth and Little Prince: not bad per se, just not remotely representative of our student population. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/15 "2023-02-10T18:04:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sophia would note that it still looks and tastes suspiciously like bread. (Not that I want to have this argument on her behalf, lol. I was just relaying that the kids see things they disagree with too.) The priest is fully aware of that. And it’s outside the scope of this thread, but there’s an answer. Not one i personally believe in, but it’s all reasonably consistent and coincides with physical observations. Anyway, yeah, I’m sure health class and intro to human sexuality are topics where politics can intrude. My biology text was fine, but my high school biology teacher apologized to the class for the text book’s presentation of evolution. One of my history teachers always referred to “the war between the states”. Lots of areas can be political. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/16 "2023-02-10T18:29:05Z")
My son is in 4th grade in Florida (I know!), but I haven’t reviewed any of his textbooks. He does, however, have to do some reading each night as part of his homework, and he gets to choose what he wants to read (Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a popular series, but he also recently finished a series by the woman who wrote The Hunger Games). He’s also probably gotten way too much access to the internet, so he gets lots of other education - he turned me on to VSauce (a guy who talks about deep stuff like theoretical math concepts), for example. > **[Vsauce](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vsauce)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Vsauce (/ˈviːsɔːs/) is a YouTube brand created by educator Michael Stevens. The channels feature videos on scientific, psychological, mathematical, and philosophical topics, as well as gaming, technology, popular culture, and other general interest subjects. > On April 17, 2010, Michael Stevens launched the main Vsauce channel. According to episode #18 of LÜT on the original Vsauce channel, the name "Vsauce" was generated using the fake website g... Oh, and he loves rap music - Eminem, specially. So I know he’s heard things considered inappropriate for his age. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/17 "2023-02-10T23:09:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Oh, no, she was the class atheist. Sophia just has an issue with authority and her teachers in subjects she thought useless were a favorite target. And religion was just throwing meat to the wolf. > > “No, really: exactly _when_ does the communion wafer turn into the body and blood of Jesus? In my mouth? The esophagus? My stomach?” “Sophia, I don’t know, it just does.” > > Stuff like that Sounds like a kid with a good idea of what to do with the gray stuff between her ears. I’d be proud. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/18 "2023-02-10T23:21:22Z")
I live in the Bay Area, so no problem with book banning here. When my kid was in high school I got on a textbook review committee one year, which consisted of meeting and getting to look at the books for about 2 hours before voting on them. They were doing biology books that year, picked by the biology teachers, so to save time I compared what they all said on evolution. Not enough, but what was there was excellent. The AP book had a one page interview with Richard Dawkins. The high school American history book was dumbed down, even for AP. Not wrong, but too many pictures. I went with my daughter to the book store and we got a non-textbook American history book, and she had no problem with the AP test. My wife ghost wrote a high school biology book, and she was quite frustrated, because the large number of topics to cover and low word count (to make room for those pictures) prevented her from doing good transitions or giving good examples. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/19 "2023-02-10T23:56:55Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Sounds like a kid with a good idea of what to do with the gray stuff between her ears. I’d be proud. Lol, you have no idea. She’s kicking ass. Not too sure what she will do with her life, but she figured out the basics of this adulthood thing unusually early: > [@'"Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.'... 'Dammit, we made him angry'", a tale of customer service](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-make-me-angry-you-wouldnt-like-me-when-im-angry-dammit-we-made-him-angry-a-tale-of-customer-service/970377/54): > > Just so we are all clear about Sophia - she moved to NYC right after high school, and her mother and I remained in San Antonio, over 1,600 miles away. She went to St John’s for 1 semester, Fall 2020, and withdrew, saying COVID-era college education wasn’t worth the full price they were charging. Her plan was to find a job, find an apartment, and live in NYC long enough to become an in-state resident so she qualifies for cheaper tuition. She found a job paying $55k/year, she found an apartment i… Her friends are worried about their debt. Sophia gets near-free schooling and cost of living subsidy checks. Proud? I’m amazed. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582/20 "2023-02-12T00:34:33Z")
Where i live it never crossed my mind. I doubt there would be anything crazy in there [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-parents-usa-dopers-public-schools-do-your-kids-school-textbooks-contain-anything-you-disagree-with/979582.md?page=2)