White Washing American Education

Recent attacks on Ethnic Studies, revisionist actions in curriculum content, and anti-immigrant policies are creating a new culture war in America. This important work lays out the current debates—both in K–12 and higher education—to uncover the dangers and to offer solutions. In 2010, HB 2281—a law that bans ethnic studies in Arizona—was passed; in the same year, Texas whitewashed curriculum and textbook changes at the K–12 level. Since then, the nation has seen a rise in the legal and political war on Ethnic Studies, revisionist actions in curriculum content, and anti-immigrant policies, creating a new culture war in America. "White" Washing American Education demonstrates the value and necessity of Ethnic Studies in the 21st century by sharing the voices of those in the trenches—educators, students, community activists, and cultural workers—who are effectively using multidisciplinary approaches to education. This two-volume set of contributed essays provides readers with a historical context to the current struggles and attacks on Ethnic Studies by examining the various cultural and political "wars" that are making an impact on American educational systems, and how students, faculty, and communities are impacted as a result. It investigates specific cases of educational whitewashing and challenges to that whitewashing, such as Tom Horne's attack along with the State Board of Education against the Mexican American studies in the Tucson School District, the experiences of professors of color teaching Ethnic Studies in primarily white universities across the United States, and the role that student activists play in the movements for Ethnic Studies in their high schools, universities, and communities. Readers will come away with an understanding of the history of Ethnic Studies in the United States, the challenges and barriers that Ethnic Studies scholars and practitioners currently face, and the ways to advocate for the development of Ethnic Studies within formal and community-based spaces.

Recent attacks on Ethnic Studies, revisionist actions in curriculum content, and anti-immigrant policies are creating a new culture war in America. This important work lays out the current debates—both in K–12 and higher education—to uncover the dangers and to offer solutions. In 2010, HB 2281—a law that bans ethnic studies in Arizona—was passed; in the same year, Texas whitewashed curriculum and textbook changes at the K–12 level. Since then, the nation has seen a rise in the legal and political war on Ethnic Studies, revisionist actions in curriculum content, and anti-immigrant policies, creating a new culture war in America. "White" Washing American Education demonstrates the value and necessity of Ethnic Studies in the 21st century by sharing the voices of those in the trenches—educators, students, community activists, and cultural workers—who are effectively using multidisciplinary approaches to education. This two-volume set of contributed essays provides readers with a historical context to the current struggles and attacks on Ethnic Studies by examining the various cultural and political "wars" that are making an impact on American educational systems, and how students, faculty, and communities are impacted as a result. It investigates specific cases of educational whitewashing and challenges to that whitewashing, such as Tom Horne's attack along with the State Board of Education against the Mexican American studies in the Tucson School District, the experiences of professors of color teaching Ethnic Studies in primarily white universities across the United States, and the role that student activists play in the movements for Ethnic Studies in their high schools, universities, and communities. Readers will come away with an understanding of the history of Ethnic Studies in the United States, the challenges and barriers that Ethnic Studies scholars and practitioners currently face, and the ways to advocate for the development of Ethnic Studies within formal and community-based spaces.

In an updated new edition of this classic work, a team of highly respected sociologists, political scientists, economists, criminologists, and legal scholars scrutinize the resilience of racial inequality in twenty-first-century America. Whitewashing Race argues that contemporary racism manifests as discrimination in nearly every realm of American life, and is further perpetuated by failures to address the compounding effects of generations of disinvestment. Police violence, mass incarceration of Black people, employment and housing discrimination, economic deprivation, and gross inequities in health care combine to deeply embed racial inequality in American society and economy. Updated to include the most recent evidence, including contemporary research on the racially disparate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, this edition of Whitewashing Race analyzes the consequential and ongoing legacy of "disaccumulation" for Black communities and lives. While some progress has been made, the authors argue that real racial justice can be achieved only if we actively attack and undo pervasive structural racism and its legacies.

"Recent attacks on ethnic studies, revisionist actions in curriculum content, and anti-immigrant policies are creating a new culture war in America. This important work lays out the current debates--both in K-12 and higher education--to uncover the dangers and to offer solutions. Presents an innovative exploration of the new culture wars that address the various debates and views on ethnic studies that are under attack in American education, both in grades K-12 and in higher education Provides information and insights presented by outstanding editors and contributors who are influential in the field Includes case studies of ethnic studies at risk in higher education as well as personal narratives regarding the challenges and struggles of ethnic studies scholars and practitioners Suggests solutions for strengthening diverse curricula in K-12 classrooms and in higher education classrooms"--

Whitewashing War explores perhaps the most critical issue social studies educators presently face: How do we teach our students about war? In this timely book, Christopher Leahey investigates how the political struggles over the social studies curriculum, the corporate domination of the textbook and testing industry, and the curricular constraints of the No Child Left Behind Act combine to stifle historical inquiry and deprive students of meaningful social studies instruction. Using the controversial Vietnam War as a case study, Leahey holds textbook narratives up to the light, illuminating how the adoption process, interpretive framework, and selection of evidence combine to transform the past into thinly veiled historical myths. By attending to questions traditionally ignored in history education, this dynamic book challenges educators to rethink their pedagogical approaches to military conflict, American and otherwise. It calls on teachers to develop students critical sensibilities to ask questions, conduct research, evaluate evidence, and make meaning of the past, and provides classroom lessons for history educators and students to engage in rich, intellectual encounters with the historical record.

From the Publisher: The Middle Eastern question lies at the heart of the most pressing issues of our time: the war in Iraq and on terrorism, the growing tension between preservation of our national security and protection of our civil rights, and the debate over immigration, assimilation, and our national identity. Yet paradoxically, little attention is focused on our domestic Middle Eastern population and its place in American society. Focusing on the contemporary immigration debate, the war on terrorism, media portrayals of Middle Easterners, and the processes of creating racial stereo-types, Tehranian argues that, despite its many successes, the modern civil rights movement has not done enough to protect the liberties of Middle Eastern Americans. By following how concepts of whiteness have transformed over time, Whitewashed forces readers to rethink and question some of their most deeply held assumptions about race in American society.

Culture Wars in American Education: Past and Present Struggles Over the Symbolic Order radically questions norms and values held within US Education and analyses why and how culture wars in American education are intense, consequential, and recurrent. Applying the concept of “symbolic order,” this volume elaborates ways in which symbolic representations are used to draw boundaries, allocate status, and legitimate the exercise of authority and power within American schooling. In particular, the book illustrates the “terms of inclusion” by which full membership in the national community is defined, limited, and contested. It suggests that repetitive patterns in the symbolic order, for example, the persistence of the representation of an individualistic basis of American society and polity, constrain the reach of progressive change. The book examines the World War I era Americanization movement, the World War II era Intercultural Education movement, the late-twentieth-century Multicultural Education movement, continuing right-wing assaults on Ethnic Studies and Critical Race Theory in the first decades of the twenty-first century, and historical and contemporary conflicts over the incorporation of languages other than Standard English into approved instructional approaches. In the context of continuing culture wars in the United States and across the globe, this book will be of interest to graduate students and scholars in critical studies of education, history of education, sociology of education, curriculum theory, Multicultural Education, and comparative education, as well as to educators enmeshed in contemporary tensions and conflicts.