Feminist bias in ESL textbooks

[Jackal]

I was just browsing through an English textbook at the school where I teach and noticed that one chapter was titled "How I trained my husband." The feminists might say that it's "just good fun" but I would only agree to that if they were another chapter titled "How I trained my wife." It's just a classic illustration of the double standards of the feminists who write ESL textbooks. What's next? A listening exercise called "Why my husband likes my new strap on"?

And certain topics, such as being in the military, are always excluded from ESL books because they aren't socially liberal enough to fit the authors' ideology--unless maybe they found some story about some lesbian fighter pilot with AIDS.

For this reason and others, I avoid using textbooks when I can.

It would be nice to find a high-quality ESL textbook which supports traditional gender roles instead of undermining them.

[swincor]

I was just browsing through an English textbook at the school where I teach and noticed that one chapter was titled "How I trained my husband." The feminists might say that it's "just good fun" but I would only agree to that if they were another chapter titled "How I trained my wife." It's just a classic illustration of the double standards of the feminists who write ESL textbooks. What's next? A listening exercise called "Why my husband likes my new strap on"?

And certain topics, such as being in the military, are always excluded from ESL books because they aren't socially liberal enough to fit the authors' ideology--unless maybe they found some story about some lesbian fighter pilot with AIDS.

For this reason and others, I avoid using textbooks when I can.

It would be nice to find a high-quality ESL textbook which supports traditional gender roles instead of undermining them.

The education industry is another racket (like the news/entertainment media) controlled by feminists and other creepy leftists. It's another avenue through which to insinuate their communist propaganda into the minds and souls of young kids who are too young to question, or even truly understand, what they're learning.

[Think Different]

I'm teaching ESL in Europe right now. Can you tell the name and publisher of that book with the feminist agenda, so I can see if my school has it, report it, and avoid it?

Thanks

[Jackal]

I'm teaching ESL in Europe right now. Can you tell the name and publisher of that book with the feminist agenda, so I can see if my school has it, report it, and avoid it?

It was a New English File book. I forget which level, but I think it was the Upper Intermediate textbook.

However, this series is one of the few textbooks I've been impressed with for the way it presents the language. I'm not sure if I'd say that the whole book pushes a feminist agenda, but there are feminist bits, which can be strategically avoided.

If there were more good textbook series out there, I could be more picky, but unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

[swincor]

Picking out the book and publisher and avoiding it is like trying to avoid a TV show on a particular network in the hopes of not being brainwashed. The problem isn't any one publisher or book title -- it's the entire industry which includes publishers, writers, educators, and unions, all of which are feminist/leftist-dominated.

The feminist messages in school textbooks are subtle and infrequent. They're not always in your face, but are still present nevertheless. Yes, the best thing one can do is strategically avoid them if you can, or perhaps explaining to the students the messages put out by these communist losers.

[Jackal]

Yes, the best thing one can do is strategically avoid them if you can, or perhaps explaining to the students the messages put out by these communist losers.

Hmm, I don't think that most feminists are communist. Feminists in academia are socially liberal, but when pushed and not just talking, they are quite conservative economically because they don't want to share their wealth with others.

I'm the opposite: socially conservative, but economically liberal. I strongly support things like nationalized health care like we have in Europe.

[swincor]

Yes, the best thing one can do is strategically avoid them if you can, or perhaps explaining to the students the messages put out by these communist losers.

Hmm, I don't think that most feminists are communist. Feminists in academia are socially liberal, but when pushed and not just talking, they are quite conservative economically because they don't want to share their wealth with others.

Yes, they don't want to share. They want to TAKE -- specifically, the productive wealth generated by mostly male labor and sweat. And then re-distribute what they take on terms favorable to them in the name of "equality," which is what communists do -- they are not ethical people, and they don't feel bound to principles that they impose on others.

I'm the opposite: socially conservative, but economically liberal. I strongly support things like nationalized health care like we have in Europe.

IMO nationalized health care does not necessarily conflict with a socially conservative outlook. Productive people and innovators should be allowed freedoms that create wealth and prosperity. But capitalism ultimately must have restraints, otherwise society degenerates and collapses.

In the US, we're made to believe that capitalism is sacrosanct, and that any attempt to curb its more rapacious behaviors is un-patriotic and communist. But in European or Asian societies where ties between people are stronger and more cohesive, socially conservative mores coexist quite easily with social welfare policies that in the US would be considered "communist" or "socialist."