Censorship » Liberal and Special Interest Groups
On the Other Hand
Although the state adoption proceedings in Texas wield conservative influence over textbooks, the same proceedings in California encourage liberal control over the same publishers.
Special interest groups employ extraordinary influence on the development of American textbooks. These groups are incredibly diverse.
For example UNESCO—United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization—has a stated goal of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education.1
But another group that controls tremendous influence is the Council on Islamic Education, “a national, non-profit research institute and resource organization …formally comprised of Muslim academic scholars.” The organization states as its mission “to support and strengthen the American public education as the best foundation for a vibrant democracy, a healthy civil society, and a globally literate citizenry.”2
As publishers cater to these groups, their books become extensions of political and cultural agendas, rather than balanced, scholarly texts.
One critical arena of politically correct textbooks is the control of language and images.