History Textbook Draws National Attention to Local Schools
The "Our Virginia" history textbook has gained notoriety across the country for a glaring error and faulty editing process.
It's time for a pop quiz. True of False: Thousands of black slaves fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.
According to most historians, the correct answer is false. But a history textbook for fifth graders in Virginia claims the opposite.
Joy Masoff authored the textbook "Our Virginia: Past and Present" to be used in elementary history classes.
Within that textbook, Masoff authored the following statement:
"Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson."
This simple sentence sparked outcry from teachers, parents and historians throughout Virginia and the nation.
The troublesome line was discovered by a parent who is also a history professor at William and Mary. Though history is a tricky subject to discuss objectively, many historians and professors agree that this claim, which Masoff found through internet research, is completely untrue.
More importantly, it has brought to light the review process for education texts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In order to be used in schools, books must survive a Department of Education vetting process. This process entails an in-depth look of texts by a panel of content specialists and teachers.
Though indications have been given that the book was not reviewed by historians, it was reviewed and approved by several teachers. One reviewer, Beth Cooke, is currently a Rolling Valley Elementary fifth grade teacher in Springfield.
FCPS spokesperson Paul Regnier confirmed Cooke was on the panel. He also said that she was not speaking to the press, nor had she given him a statement regarding the situation.
Belle View Elementary Principal Tom Kuntz found the incident rather telling of the new information age and the review procedures.
"As writers and researchers, it's important for us to get the facts before we publish anything," Kuntz said. "Unfortunately, we live in a time where we think that just because it is in the newspaper or on the internet, it is true."
Kuntz, however, has reason to be positive about the textbook.
"This is a great learning experience for us as educators and for our students as well," he said.
The textbook has been suspended in Loudoun County, but Fairfax will continue to use it. Regnier explained that the section of the book with the line in question will not be approached in class until the spring per standard curriculum, so the school system has time to change its mind or better prepare for the subject.
The book's publisher, Five Ponds Press, has published 14 books used in Virginia's school system at this time. Masoff wrote all of the texbooks.
Five Ponds Press has begun to ship publishing stickers to cover Masoff's troublesome line, and FCPS will apply the stickers to all of the "Our Virginia" textbooks.
Janet Hedrick
1:34 pm on Thursday, October 28, 2010
While my parents are originally from Virginia, my father worked with the railroad and I attended elementary school in Alabama. When I moved to Virginia and entered the seventh grade, the class was studying Virginia history, which the students had also studied in the fourth grade. The teacher and the students were shocked that I did not know Virginia history. The belief was "Everybody studies Virginia history!" In Alabama, I had learned the history of Alabama, including the various Indian tribes.
I hope that we do not continue to tell young people in Virginia that "Everyone studies Virginia history!" Yes, Virginia was one of the thirteen colonies and important events in American history happened in the Commonwealth, but Virginia is not the center of the Universe. Other states have different histories and pride in those states is encouraged among the youth who live in those states.
Is the book referenced in this article distributed nationwide? Or primarily in Virginia?
Kristin Rubisch
6:27 pm on Thursday, October 28, 2010
Janet,
I'm personally from Pennsylvania, so we studied our own version of the Civil War (having at the time been the capital state of the north). But to answer your particular question, the book "Our Virginia" is distributed and used only in Virginia schools, and not all of them. Only certain counties, like Fairfax and Loudoun, have decided to use it.
The response to the text, however, has been across the nation. A professor from Yale, once he read about it, was rather upset. So while the text isn't shipped or purchased for schools elsewhere, other states have heard and are a little upset (to say the least).
Cheryl
4:10 am on Sunday, November 21, 2010
You are so right Janet ! I grew up in Virginia and attended Virginia Public Schools . Reading your post immediately brought back memories I have of being taught all of that Virginian history that I was suprised to learn had not been required of children who grew up elsewhere in the 50 states . I will never forget the embarasment that I felt when , upon moving to California , I was in a group of people and we were discussing Federal Holidays and I said something about "Lee-Jackson-King" day . At first my comment was met with confusion .. when I began to explain the whole controversy that had erupted around combining Lee's and Jackson's Birthdays with Dr. Martin Luther King's one of the others said something like " We don't Celebrate Confederate General's Birthdays or have to learn about them in our schools ... "
Dan
11:23 am on Saturday, January 8, 2011
We learned another rendition in my home state of Ohio. I suppose each state views the Civil War, and history writ large, through the prism of its own experience. For a very good exposition of the CSA's decision to free and arm slaves to reinforce its ranks during the waning months of the war (well after Jackson's death at Chancellorsville), i recommend Jay Winik's "April 1865: The Month That Saved America", a NYT Best Seller endorsed by, inter alia, the Boston Globe, Washington Times, NYT Book Review, Civil War Times, Washington Post Book World, Philadelphia Enquirer, Weekly Standard, National Review, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Commentary, and numerous eminent historians and authors in the field.
Dave C
10:00 am on Sunday, January 9, 2011
I don't know about Virginia or about the veracity of the Stonewall Jackson claim, but In 8th grade Louisiana History, I learned that there were thousands of black confederate soldiers. There were believed to be over 3,000 according to this academic research article:
http://vcwsg.com/PDF%20Files/Free%20Men%20of%20Color%20in%20Grey.pdf
Kristin Rubisch
11:18 am on Sunday, January 9, 2011
I think that's been a point of contention for years. Most scholars (and specifically, almost all from the North) think that claim is false. But there are some groups that advocate that it was true. But this author actually just did a lot of internet research and found that specific information from a group for descendants of Confederate soldiers, which is not a scholarly source and technically shouldn't be used as a fact in a text book.