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教科書論争
日本では教科書問題というと、戦争責任にからんだ論争が多いが、今、サンフランシスコでは別の種類の教科書論争が起こっている。サンフランシスコの学校ではアジア系やラテンアメリカ系など、マイノリティーの生徒が大部分を占めているので、授業でもマイノリティーの作家が書いた本を多用すべきだという提案が教育委員会から出ているのだ…。
Textbook Controversy
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
In Japan when there is a controversy about textbooks the issue is usually the history textbooks. What is constantly in question is the nature of the Fifteen Years' War and Japan's responsibility for it.
But in the textbook debate presently going on in San Francisco, the issue is not war but ethnicity, and the books being disputed are not the history textbooks, but the literature textbooks.
Recently two members of the San Francisco school board proposed that the city should enforce a quota system in its teaching of literature: For every 10 books required in its English (the equivalent of kokugo) classes, seven should be written by authors of color.
The argument for doing this is strong. Presently 87 percent of the students in the San Francisco school system are members of ethnic minorities, the largest groups being Asian and Latino. Traditionally, the vast majority of works of literature taught in U.S. schools were written by white males. Literature has an educational effect when it speaks to the experience of the reader. Teaching only from the canon of white authors may teach minorities only that the world is dominated by people unlike themselves. This can contribute to the terrible alienation that minority students feel in the U.S. educational system. This, in turn, can contribute to teenage illiteracy and crime. One critic spoke of "the express train between the public schools and the Department of Corrections."
On the other hand, teachers feel insulted by the quota proposal. "(It) puts me in a straitjacket and nullifies my profession as a teacher," said one. They point out that they are using many books by minority writers already. One white teacher said he is teaching Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" because the book is excellent literature. A quota system would teach the students that the book is being taught only because Ellison was black.
Other teachers argue that it is the students who must decide what literature is educationally effective. Most competent teachers select their reading lists by trial and error, continuing to use only those books that "work" in the classroom. And they find (unsurprisingly) that students are moved not only by books written by members of their own ethnic groups. If what matters is whether the literature speaks to the experience of the reader, this depends on what is written, not on the ethnicity of who wrote it. Teachers may have better results even with Shakespeare if they have the imagination to realize that "Romeo and Juliet" is the story of a knife fight between two teenage gangs.
The debate will not end soon. One letter to the local newspaper said, "It's great that people are getting excited over books the reign of the couch potato propped before the tube is being dealt a few blows. Yippee!"
In Japan when there is a controversy about textbooks the issue is usually the history textbooks. What is constantly in question is the nature of the Fifteen Years' War and Japan's responsibility for it.
But in the textbook debate presently going on in San Francisco, the issue is not war but ethnicity, and the books being disputed are not the history textbooks, but the literature textbooks.
Recently two members of the San Francisco school board proposed that the city should enforce a quota system in its teaching of literature: For every 10 books required in its English (the equivalent of kokugo) classes, seven should be written by authors of color.
The argument for doing this is strong. Presently 87 percent of the students in the San Francisco school system are members of ethnic minorities, the largest groups being Asian and Latino. Traditionally, the vast majority of works of literature taught in U.S. schools were written by white males. Literature has an educational effect when it speaks to the experience of the reader. Teaching only from the canon of white authors may teach minorities only that the world is dominated by people unlike themselves. This can contribute to the terrible alienation that minority students feel in the U.S. educational system. This, in turn, can contribute to teenage illiteracy and crime. One critic spoke of "the express train between the public schools and the Department of Corrections."
On the other hand, teachers feel insulted by the quota proposal. "(It) puts me in a straitjacket and nullifies my profession as a teacher," said one. They point out that they are using many books by minority writers already. One white teacher said he is teaching Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" because the book is excellent literature. A quota system would teach the students that the book is being taught only because Ellison was black.
Other teachers argue that it is the students who must decide what literature is educationally effective. Most competent teachers select their reading lists by trial and error, continuing to use only those books that "work" in the classroom. And they find (unsurprisingly) that students are moved not only by books written by members of their own ethnic groups. If what matters is whether the literature speaks to the experience of the reader, this depends on what is written, not on the ethnicity of who wrote it. Teachers may have better results even with Shakespeare if they have the imagination to realize that "Romeo and Juliet" is the story of a knife fight between two teenage gangs.
The debate will not end soon. One letter to the local newspaper said, "It's great that people are getting excited over books the reign of the couch potato propped before the tube is being dealt a few blows. Yippee!"
Shukan ST: April 3, 1998
(C) All rights reserved
- issue
- 論点
- nature of the Fifteen Years' War
- 15年戦争の本質。1931年 〜 1945年に発生した、満州事変、日中戦争、太平洋戦争を含む3段階の戦争の総称
- ethnicity
- 民族性
- 〜 disputed
- 論じられている 〜
- school board
- 教育委員会
- enforce a quota system in 〜
- 〜 に関して割当制度を実施する
- For every 10 books required in 〜 seven should be 〜
- 〜 で読むことになっている10冊のうち7冊は 〜 でなければいけない
- equivalent of 〜
- 〜 に相当するもの
- authors of color
- 有色人種の作家
- members of ethnic minorities
- 少数民族
- Latino
- ラテンアメリカ系民族
- vast majority of works of literature
- 文学作品の大半
- speaks to the experience of 〜
- 〜 の経験に訴えかける
- canon
- 作品リスト
- is dominated by 〜
- 〜 に支配されている
- contribute to 〜
- 〜 の一因となる
- alienation
- 疎外感
- in turn
- 今度は
- illiteracy
- 無学
- critic
- 評論家
- express train between the public schools and the Department of Corrections
- 公立学校から矯正院に向かって走る急行列車
- feel insulted by 〜
- 〜 を侮辱と感じる
- puts 〜 in a straitjacket
- 〜 を締めつける(straitjacket は狂暴な人や囚人などの乱暴を防ぐために両そでが胴についた服、拘束衣)
- nullifies
- 価値のないものにする
- point out
- 指摘する
- "Invisible Man"
- アメリカ社会の黒人問題を描いた長編小説『見えない人間』(1952年)。著者のラルフ・エリソン(1914 〜 1994)はこの本で全米図書賞を授与され、代表的黒人作家となった
- educationally effective
- 教育上、意義の深い
- competent
- 有能な
- reading lists
- 課題図書
- trial and error
- 試行錯誤
- "work"in the classroom
- 授業で「効果がある」
- are moved
- 感銘を受ける
- If what matters is whether 〜
- 〜 が問題ならば
- reign of 〜
- 〜 がはびこる時勢
- couch potato propped before the tube
- ソファにもたれかかってスナックを食べながらテレビやビデオばかり見ている人(tube は口語でテレビのこと)
- is being dealt a few blows
- 打撃を与えられる
- Yippee!
- やったー!