11TH GRADE UNITED STATES HISTORY CURRICULUM UNIT: VIETNAM WAR TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS AND MINORITY VOICES Blia Vue B., California State University, Sacramento, 2004 PROJECT Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in EDUCATION (Multicultural Education) at CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO SUMMER 2011 © 2011 Blia Vue ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii 11TH GRADE UNITED STATES HISTORY CURRICULUM UNIT: VIETNAM WAR TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS AND MINORITY VOICES A Project by Blia Vue Approved by: __________________________________________, Committee Chair Maggie Beddow, Ph. _______________________ Date iii Student: Blia Vue I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the Project. ___________________________________, Graduate Coordinator _________________ Albert Lozano, Ph. Date Department of Bilingual/Multicultural Education iv Abstract of 11TH GRADE UNITED STATES HISTORY CURRICULUM UNIT: VIETNAM WAR TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS AND MINORITY VOICES by Blia Vue Statement of Problem There is a lack of diverse perspectives in United State history textbooks. Since textbook learning activities comprised of 75% to 90% of the instructional time in classrooms, students often are not exposed to knowledge outside of the textbook. The purpose of this study is three fold: 1) to examine what Vietnam War topics are covered in the district-approved 11th grade United States History textbooks in five Northern California school districts that serve predominately minority students; 2) to identify related areas of study that the textbooks may not emphasize, and; 3) to create culturally relevant supplementary lessons that will support and enhance the Vietnam War Unit of study. This Vietnam War curriculum incorporates the experiences of Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and women. It is designed to show the academic benefits of using multicultural education to enhance the traditional United States history curriculum. v Sources of Data I used a wide variety of resources in my research, from the 11th grade United States history textbooks for my content analysis of the Vietnam War to books, journals, periodicals, magazines, and websites and databases from public and private institutions. This project is theoretically grounded in the scholarly works of James A. Sleeter and Carl A. Grant, Geneva Gay, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and James W. Loewen which are cited throughout my project. Conclusions Reached Students need multicultural, culturally relevant curriculum in their United States history classes where they learn about the past to make sense of the present. My textbook analysis indicates that although the texts do teach students about the politics of the Vietnam War, there is still a need to incorporate minority perspectives. The Vietnam War affected American lives but it also uprooted Southeast Asian ethnic groups who later settled in the United States. The study of cultural history will make the content more relevant, particularly to Southeast Asian minority students while, at the same time, stimulate interest of the majority of California students who are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. __________________________________________, Committee Chair Maggie Beddow, Ph. _______________________ Date vi DEDICATION In loving memory of my grandmothers Pog Qhua Ntxawg & Niam Hlob Txooj Mos Who passed away in 2011 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you, Dr. Maggie Beddow, for your willingness to come along with me on this journey and stay until the late days of summer. I could not have completed this project without your help and support. Thank you, Dr. You were the one who got me started on this thing. Also, thank you to my other BMED MA teachers: Dr. Lisa William-White, Dr. Margarita Berta-Ávila, Dr. José Cintrón, and Dr. You have all played a role in the formation of this project. And, thank you to my cohort members; glad you stayed until the end. To my parents: All the thank yous in the world would not be enough for what you have struggled and sacrificed to get me to this point in my life. For all the chores and cooking I did not do because you told me to do my homework first. For all the times you told me I had to go to college, even when we did not know how I would get there or how we are going to pay for it. For you love, encouragement, and the other million things you. Grandma would have been proud of all of us. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Dedication.viii List of Tables. 1 Statement of the Problem.3 Purpose of the Project. 5 Significance of the Project. 11 Definitions of Terms.16 Curriculum and Curriculum Analysis.16 Textbooks and the Core Curriculum.23 Textbooks and Official Knowledge.26 Minorities in United States History Textbooks. 37 Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.61 Analysis of the Data. DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Chapter 1 and Vietnam War Content Analysis Tables. Minority Voices Lessons.227 x LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Table 1 CA H-SS 11th Grade Released Test Questions Related to Minority Groups. Table 2 CA H-SS 11th Grade Vietnam War Standards and Before/After Activities. Table 3 CA Statewide Report, High School Enrollment by Ethnicity for 2010-11. Table 4 Selected Textbooks from Five Northern California School Districts. Table 5 Causes of the Vietnam War Topics in the 11th Grade US History Textbook. Table 6 Course of the Vietnam War Topics in the 11th Grade US History Textbook. Table 7 Consequences of the Vietnam War Topics in the 11th Grade US History Textbook. Table 8a “Minority Contributions” to the Vietnam War Topics in the 11th Grade US History Textbook: African Americans and Asian Americans. Table 8b “Minority Contributions” to the Vietnam War Topics in the 11th Grade US History Textbook: Latinos, Women, and Native Americans.99 xi 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION There are some students who leave lasting impressions on teachers. You will look back twenty years later and still think to yourself “I’m glad I was her teacher” not because you taught her something but because she was your catalyst for a realization. What she taught you by example was unplanned and unintended, but it left a lasting impression. Mai (not her real name) was a confident, well-spoken sophomore in my leadership class. She had excellent grades and was actively involved in extracurricular activities and the Hmong community. She came to me one day after school and, with a bewildered look in her eyes, said, “Ms. Thom said I was wrong. She said the Secret War didn’t happen!” There I was thinking, “There goes another culturally insensitive teacher putting down a student. It is teachers like her that… How am I going to fix it this time without doing further damage?” It turned out that Mr. Thom (not her real name) was teaching the Vietnam War in her United States history class. Mai, being the brave soul that she was, raised her hand and proceeded to add her family history to the curriculum, telling the class how the Hmong people helped the Americans fight the “Secret War” in Laos. The teacher told Mai that she was wrong, that there was no “secret war,” and in the process denied Mai her claim to a crucial part of her history. 2 Mai, like many Southeast Asian refugee students, settled in the United States because her parents or grandparent supported the United States in the Vietnam War. Once the United States lost the war and the communists took over the region, whole ethnic groups of people had to flee their homeland and seek asylum in other countries. Through socialization, this shared history and struggle was built into Mai’s cultural identity, and it helped define who she was and her worldview. By claiming that the “secret war” did not happen, Mrs. Thom delegitimized Mai’s claim to her history and identity. Mai knew her history; she knew the teacher was wrong. What she wanted to hear from me was confirmation, an affirmation that her family’s participation in the “Secret War” had meaning and was acknowledged by a certified United States history teacher. How could Mrs. Thom not know about the Hmong people’s contribution to the Vietnam War? As a woman in her sixties, she actually lived through the Vietnam War. Did she ever pick up a newspaper or magazine or watch the news over the past thirty years? Even if she had managed to miss all of this, she taught history in an urban city high school with a large Southeast Asian refugee student population. Did she ever wonder why there were so many of them sitting in her classroom? Did she ever talk to any of them about their families’ histories? Or did she simply not question the facts that were set forth in the state-adopted textbook which lacked an ethic perspective of the Hmong who participated in the war on behalf of the United States? 3 It is easier to criticize another person’s mistake than to live up to the same lofty standard yourself. I have made many mistakes in my six years of teaching and will inevitably continue to make more mistakes in the future. However, because Mrs. Thom and Mai taught me better, none of my mistakes were or will be my telling a student that her knowledge about her own culture or history is “wrong.” Mai was my token reminder that I have responsibilities well beyond just teaching “American” history or teaching only what is in the district-approved textbook. I may worry about my students’ performance on the California standardized test and I may attempt to cover as many of the standards as possible between September and April, but sometimes it is what I do not teach that leaves a lasting impression on my students. Statement of the Problem The California State Board of Education adopted the History-Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools in October 1998 (California State Board of Education, 2010). The academic Content Standards outlined a rigorous curriculum for the 11th grade United States History classroom that covers “significant events in the founding of the nation” (Standard 11.1) to “major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society” (Standard 11. The content standards and the curriculum framework guide instructional decisions for the typical history-social science classroom teacher and serve as the basis for statewide assessments. Therefore, although the method of instructional delivery may vary, the standards ultimately influence what content knowledge will be 4 taught in the classroom. Many teachers find it challenging to teach all the key facts and concepts contained in the standards within the school year, much less teach materials that are not specifically included in the standards-based state-adopted assessments. If one were to walk through the staff lounge at my high school in late April or early May, one would most likely find teachers sharing their concerns about the upcoming state test and discussing strategies on how to review or conduct test preparation sessions to ensure that they cover the materials in the standards. The state content standards and the district-wide adopted United States history textbook dictate what is to be taught in the public school classroom. Teachers often rely on the textbook for instruction because it is readily accessible (the textbooks are provided to individual students per the Williams court case) and the materials covered in the textbook are aligned with the state content standards. Although textbooks are still considered to be fundamental to instruction and they function as an authoritative source of information in the classroom, research has shown that there is a lack of representation of all historical perspectives in the United States history textbooks (Apple, 1992; Banks, 2008; Costo & Henry, 1970; Cruz, 1994; Dutch, 2005; Gordy, Hogan & Pritchard, 2004; Harada, 2000; Issist, 2004: Loewen, 2007; Sanchez, 2007). As noted by Apple (2000), “All too often, ‘legitimate’ knowledge does not include the historical experiences and cultural expressions of labor, women, people of color, and others who have been less powerful” (p.
