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Quote by James W. Loewen

“Teachers need to teach the subject rather than to teach the textbook.”

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James W. Loewen is a distinguished sociologist recognized for his research on social issues and education. Born on February 6, 1942, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of race, education, and social inequality. more

“I often suggest in workshops that if you have 30 students in your American History course in 11th grade, or whatever grade level, that you maybe triple them up. You put, and have them choose, let's say 11 different Native American cultures. Maybe you give them a list of 15 and they choose 11 of those 15 so that they have some choice in the matter.”

Ifs Giving Different Matter Choices Culture Courses Levels Students Lists Grades Native Native American American History American Culture Workshops Native American Culture

Author:James W. Loewen

“You go to towns in Massachusetts, Greenfield, first settled in 1686. Wouldn’t it be cool if it said, “Greenfield. First settled c. 13,000 B.P. or approximately 13,000 Before the Present. Resettled.” Maybe we could say even, “Resettled by whites,” Or, “Resettled anyway, 1686.” It would have a different impact. And of course it would help explain why the town is called Greenfield, because it was a green field and the fields were left by Native people who had already been farming them.”

People Ifs Firsts Said Different Helping Courses Left Fields Towns Green Impact Native Farming Being Cool Massachusetts Green Fields

Author:James W. Loewen

“Textbooks pretty much have no real drama. They have no real storyline. To the extent they have a storyline.”

Real Drama Textbooks Storyline

Author:James W. Loewen

“There is no excuse for these 1,152 page textbooks.”

Pages Excuse Textbooks No Excuses

Author:James W. Loewen

“I've been in towns where there is no library, or where the library for the high school and the library for the town is one room, and it's smaller than my modest living room here. So you don't have many resources in 1950 or even 1970. This is the year, 2013, every town in America is connected to the web. Every town in America is therefore connected to all kinds of resources at the Library of Congress, at 100,000 websites.”

Years Kind School America Rooms High School Resources Towns Library Congress Connected All Kinds Modest Website Living Room

Author:James W. Loewen

“There's no excuse therefore, for a 1,152 page book. I think we should all be using 300-page paperbacks. These exist.”

Thinking Should Book Pages Excuse No Excuses

Author:James W. Loewen

“Many Americans have never owned a book, and I'm not talking about because of the recent digital revolution. I'm talking about before there even was a digital revolution.”

Book Talking Revolution Digital Not Talking Digital Revolution

Author:James W. Loewen

“Many Americans have never owned a book. And others have never owned a non-fiction book. Providing them with a 300-page paperback would get them started, maybe. And even if it didn't, at least they'd own that one. So that's a serious problem.”

Ifs Book Problem Fiction Serious Pages Providing Non Fiction

Author:James W. Loewen

“The layout of textbooks, I think, has been done with an assumption that students don't read.”

Thinking Has Beens Done Students Assumption Textbooks Layout

Author:James W. Loewen

“What gets lost in the textbook is the overall narrative. It gets lost in all the boxes and all the photos and all the little stuff that's stuck in all the time.”

Littles Lost Stuff Boxes Stuck Narrative Textbooks

Author:James W. Loewen

Quote by James W. Loewen

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