46. The
Ideology Of The Text: The Underground HIstory of American Education by John
Taylor Gatto from archive.org
The
Ideology Of The Text
Looking back on the original period of school
formation in her study of American history textbooks, America Revised, Frances Fitzgerald remarked on
the
profound changes that emerged
following suggestions issued by sociologists and social thinkers in the
late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. The original history of our institutions and
the documents which protect our
unique liberties gradually began to be effaced. Fitzgerald raises the puzzle of textbook
alteration: The ideology
that lies behind these texts is rather difficult to define.... it does not fit
usual political patterns.... the
texts never indicate any line of action.... authors avoid what they choose to and some of them avoid main
issues.... they fail to develop any original ideas. ...they confuse social sciences
with science.... clouds of jargon.... leave out ideas. ...historical names are given no character, they are
cipher people. ...there are no
conflicts, only "problems' '. [emphasis added] Indeed, the texts may be
unfathomable, and that may be the editorial intent. 
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