Contentious Curricula: Afrocentrism and Creationism in American Public Schools PDF
Preview Contentious Curricula: Afrocentrism and Creationism in American Public Schools
CONTENTIOUS CURRICULA PRINCETON STUDIES IN CULTURAL SOCIOLOGY EDITORS PaulJ.DiMaggio Miche`leLamont RobertJ.Wuthnow VivianaA.Zelizer OriginsofDemocraticCulture:Printing,Petitions, andthePublicSphereinEarly-ModernEngland byDavidZaret BearingWitness:Readers,Writers,andtheNovelinNigeria byWendyGriswold GiftedTongues:HighSchoolDebateandAdolescentCulture byGaryAlanFine Offside:SoccerandAmericanExceptionalism byAndreiS.MarkovitsandStevenL.Hellerman ReinventingJustice:TheAmericanDrugCourtMovement byJamesL.Nolan,Jr. KingdomofChildren:CultureandControversy intheHomeschoolingMovementbyMitchellL.Stevens BlessedEvents:ReligionandHomeBirthinAmerica byPamelaE.Klassen NegotiatingIdentities:StatesandImmigrantsinFranceand GermanybyRivaKastoryano,translatedbyBarbaraHarshav ContentiousCurricula:AfrocentrismandCreationism inAmericanPublicSchoolsbyAmyJ.Binder CONTENTIOUS CURRICULA AFROCENTRISM AND CREATIONISM IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Amy J. Binder PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright2002byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, 3MarketPlace,Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY AllRightsReserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Binder,AmyJ.,1964– Contentiouscurricula:afrocentrismandcreationisminAmerican publicschools/AmyJ.Binder. p.cm.—(Princetonstudiesinculturalsociology) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-691-09180-3(alk.paper) 1.Curriculumchange—UnitedStates.2.Socialmovements—United States.3.Afrocentrism—Studyandteaching—UnitedStates.4.Crea- tionism—Studyandteaching—UnitedStates.I.Title.II.Series. LB1570.B522002 375′.001′0973—dc21 2001058001 ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon Printedonacid-freepaper.∞ www.pup.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii One IntroductiontoAfrocentrismandCreationism, ChallengerstoEducational“Injustice” 1 Two TheChallengers 29 Three HistoryoftheThreeAfrocentricCases: Atlanta,Washington,D.C.,andNewYorkState 53 Four Cultural,Political,andOrganizationalFactors InfluencingAfrocentricOutcomes 104 Five HistoryoftheFourCreationistCases: LouisianaState,CaliforniaState,Vista,California, andKansasState 136 Six Cultural,Political,andOrganizationalFactors InfluencingCreationistOutcomes 194 Seven MakingMoreInstitutionaltheStudyofChallenge 216 Appendix 245 Notes 249 References 285 Index 297 This page intentionally left blank Preface THISISAbookabouttwogroupsofcitizenswho,inthelasttwentyyears ofthetwentiethcentury,feltincreasinglyestrangedfromtheroutinecur- riculataughtinAmericanpublicschools,andwhotriedtodosomething about their sense of alienation. Members of these groups despaired that theirchildrenmarchedintoschool,dayafterday,onlytobefeda‘propa- gandistic’mealof‘half-truths’and‘outrightlies.’Theyagonizedoverthe thought that students were suffering diminished self-esteem and under- achievingacademicallyasaconsequenceofreceivingthesestate-approved falsehoods.Parentsandothersactiveinthesecausesfearedthattheirval- ues, and their children’s very personhood, were being stripped away by arrogant teachers and administrators in oppressive educational systems. Who were these challengers? On one side of the social spectrum were Afrocentrists—African Americans critical of what they called the Euro- centric emphasisin social studiesand history classes,in particular—and ontheothersideofthesocialuniversewerecreationists—Christiancon- servativestroubledbytheteachingofevolutioninscienceclasses.Finding themselvesonthemarginsofmainstreamAmericanthoughtandpolitics, thesetwogroupsofAmericansfoughtbackagainstwhattheyconsidered tobeanoppressiveinstitution.Thisisanaccountofthechallengesthey presentedtoAmericanpublicschoolsystems. IfthisisastudyoftwogroupsconfrontingAmericanschools,itisalso an examination of how the public education system responded to these twosetsofchallengers,andoftheoutcomesofthosechallenges.Schools, asweknowfrompersonalexperienceandfromdecadesofacademicre- searchinto theirmanydetailsas formalandinformal organizations,are places with complex and multiple responsibilities, with both the obliga- tiontorespondtotheiruniqueconstituentsandthemandatetodelivera credible,recognizable,and,foremost,legitimate,educationalproductto all of their diverse patrons. Because schools are so often contradictory and complex, and because they have limited funds and personnel, the multiple tasks and responsibilities of education systems land their deci- sionmakersinabreathtakingwebofconflictwhenitcomestodetermin- inghowtoeducatechildren,whomtoprioritizeaseducablestudents,and what to teach at any particular time, in any particular school system. Conflictiseverpresentinschoolsystemsaroundsuchissues,complicating educators’effortstoreachconsensusonpreferredactivitiesandgoals. One of the most trying issues educators confront is what to do when challenged by outsiders—like Afrocentric or creationist groups. Chal- viii PREFACE lengersoftencomefromfactionsofaschoolsystem’sconstituency,whose members believe that some activity occurring in classrooms is not fair, academically defensible, or otherwise beneficial to children. School offi- cials face colliding demands when challenges occur, and ask themselves whether they should allow outsiders into educational decision-making circlessince,afterall,publicschoolsarecommunityorganizations,largely paid for by the very “clients” who are demanding change? Or, should schools attempt to fortify their boundaries against intrusion, since these “outsiders” may be composed of only a minority of the school system whorepresentnon-mainstreamopinion,andsinceschoolsareresponsible for teaching a standard set of substantive facts and specific pedagogical processes? Do schools take route A at one time and route B at another, depending on the identity of the challenger movement and the type of changesbeingproposed?Howdoschoolsknowwhentouseonealterna- tiveortheother? Theseareimportantquestions—bothaboutschools,inparticular,and aboutlargesocialinstitutions,generally.Andbecausetheyareimportant questions, with significant consequences for understanding contentious challenges in the wider world, they are best answered using a varied set oftoolsfromanumberofsociologicalfields.Inthisbook,Iwillcombine insights from educational research, the study of social movements, and organizational theory in an effort to capture the cultural, political, and structural elements of these battles, and to provide an explanation for whythesestrugglesproceededastheydid. Studying Marginal Challenges But why these specific challenges, of all the school reform battles going oninthepasttwodecades?The1980sand1990swereastrangelyplacid time for large-scale politics and social activism in the United States, af- fectedbyaconservativepoliticalenvironmentbeginningwiththeReagan- BusheraandcontinuingthroughtheeconomicprosperityoftheClinton presidency.Buttheywereatimeoffoment,aswell,amongsmallergroups from both the Left and the Right who felt disaffected from politics as usual.Althoughthey,bynomeans,cameclosetorepresentingthemajor- ity of U.S. citizens, clusters of the disaffected expressed alienation from “thewayoftheworld”inthoseyears.Thiswasparticularlytrueforthose whofelt,ontheonehand,thattheirethnic/racial/gender/sexualgroup wassociallyunderappreciated,orpoliticallyandeconomicallyoppressed; andthose, ontheother hand,whofelt thatAmerica hadlostits wayby cateringtothoseverygroupswhohadbecome“tooradicalized,”ortoo PREFACE ix “politically correct,” in their claims of oppression.1 Many of these com- plaints on both the Right and Left took place at the local level, rather thanonanationalstage,andoftenthesewereinschools.Membersofthe alienateddemandedincreasedrepresentationintheday-to-dayactivities of school life, such as in the right to post the Ten Commandments in theirschoolrooms,ortherightto havetheirAfricanAmericanchildren schooledinEbonics.2 InchoosingtostudyAfrocentricandcreationistchallengestoAmerican schools,Imadeachoicetolookmorecloselyatthisdisaffection,tofocus onthestormbeneaththecalm,associologistsareoftenwonttodo.Call itanoccupationalhazard,callitadesiretoseewhattheunderdogisup to—whoeverthoseunderdogsare,andwhateveroursympathiesfortheir particularassertionsofdispossession.Idecidedtolookatthesetwoself- proclaimed disenfranchised groups because they presented such a fine comparison—theywereonoppositesidesofthesociopoliticalcontinuum, and both despised the center; they felt disenfranchised, but both found waystoexertsomepowerintheirschoolsystems.Theywere,aboveall, expressive challengers: impassioned, worried about their children, and concernedaboutthefutureoftheircountry. Among those whose work is a model for synthesizing vast theoretical literatures and massive amounts of archival data (not to mention work that concerns discourses about children), I have turned to Nicola Beisel againandagainforfreshintellectualinsights,emotionalsupport,andan invaluable friendship. Although our work departs from each other’s in significant ways, it would be good for my ego to think that there are similarities,too.Nicki’sresearchhaslongrepresentedformeanexample ofthehighestformtoaimfor.Shewasmyadvisorduringthedissertation phaseofthisproject(andbefore),andhasbeenatrustedfriend,confidant, andteachertothisday.Sheismuchlovedandrespected. I owe an enormous amount of gratitude to the two other fine human beings on my dissertation committee: Art Stinchcombe and Christopher (Sandy)Jencks. Imposingfigures onpaper,these twovery decentpeople weregenerouswiththeirtimeandtheirastoundinglysmartideas.Having a quantitative sociologist who expressed skepticism about the precision of cultural sociology and interpretive methods (as Sandy did) was the right kind of challenge for working out my ideas. It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding. Art, a prodigious critic, frequently amazed me with the depth of his knowledge and his feel for data and theory. I often left his officebothinagiddydazeandwithaslightlyupsetstomach—thesewere reactionstobeinginthepresenceofdeepsociologicalwisdom.Themem- oryofthedayArtwrotetheword“stunning”onmydissertationtheory
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