The purpose of this essay is to describe and analyze the cultural myths and ideologies that surround the knowledge that is being distributed to public schools by examining a history text. A cultural myth refers to “the dominant ideologies of our time” (Chandler). For example, a group of people could have a belief in a myth while another group might believe otherwise. I will analyze a seventh grade history by using the method of semiotics. An examination of the history book shows that children are being deprived from a lot of historical information. In this paper I will argue that the educational system only centers it’s purpose of education and learning on the human capital ideology. This subject is important because like Joel Spring states in “The Knowledge Industry: for many young children these textbook are the only source of knowledge and the information that’s is being distributed to our children is not necessarily true or complete. As a result students are being restricted from learning how to be thoughtful and productive because teachers are being forced to teach according to a strict curriculum. The method of semiotics refers to the study of the way people make meaning. According to Daniel Chandler in “Semiotics For Beginners, a sign is a fundamental unit in the method of semiotics. A sign has two components, a signifier (the carrier of meaning) and

a signified (the meaning that has been made). To describe the relationship between the signifier and the signified and the distinction between the two the semiotic method uses denotation and connotation. Denotation describes the surface meaning while the connotation describes the deeper, hidden meaning of a sign. According to Roland Barthes a myth is defined by its intention rather than by its literal sense (Barthes, 4). Barthes continue by stating that the purpose of a myth is not to hide things on the other hand its purpose is to talk about them by purifying them to make them seem innocent. By doing so, a myth makes them appear innocent and “gives them a natural and eternal justification (Barthes, 5). According to Arthur Berger in “Marxism and cultural Criticism”, Marxism refers to the political and economic idea of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in which the idea of class struggles play an important role in understanding society’s unavoidable development from bourgeois oppression under the capitalism to a socialist and ultimate classless society (Berger). According to Berge in Marxist theory, society consists of two parts the base and superstructure. The base is the way a society organizes the production of good and the superstructure refers to its culture, institutions, political power structures, roles, and norms. The base shapes the super structure however the superstructure doesn’t shape the base. This theory can be applied to the politics of the textbook industry; they produce books that society will gain knowledge from. This shapes society by teaching what the institution wants them to learn eventually becoming normality. Eventually, society has adapted to the ideology that

Knowledge is neutral as we are forced to believe that content inside the books are relevant to history because a professor belonging to an institution wrote it. I will be analyzing World History: Medieval and early Modern Times by Holt McDougal. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston publishers published this middle school world history textbook. This book has been used all over the United States and adopted by many school boards. In this essay the book itself is the signifier and the signified will be the meaning that has been made by popular culture. Holt states, “The idea that people should help the poor is one important teaching of a religion called Islam. When Islam was introduced to the people of Arabia, many of its teaching seemed new an different. “(59). A sign in the textbook is the subject of Islam, the author’s denotes the idea that wealthy should help the poor was a teaching of a new religion called Islam. Claims of the book are simply not true because both Judaism and Christianity have similar teachings; the idea that the rich should share with the poor was not born with Islam. This connotes the author is not focused on the historical aspect of Islam; instead the goal is to teach religion. The author continue by stating that Muhammad is a prophet, notice that Holt do not say, “Muslims believed Muhammad was a prophet” or something in that manner, instead the author state it as a fact. Muhammad is a sign; the author gives the reader the sense that Muhammad is an inspired teacher teaching good morals. However, I believe Muhammad is described as a godly figure implying the idea that this was an important person regardless of his actions. Holt says, “In Medina, Muhammad gained many new followers” (62). The authors left important information out like how he gained many of his new followers. Clearly the authors weren’t

Concerned to present accurate historical information, because if they were they would’ve included that many of his new followers were gained by making them rich. The textbook continues by stating that Muhammad’s teachings were spreading fast. Again important information if left out such as, what methods was being used to make it possible for Islam to
Spread quickly. The textbook Medieval to Early Modern Times is a sign that children are being misled with their history text. If teachers rely typically on the textbooks provided to them, why are books full of dull, dated, and misguided information? This question challenges the idea that knowledge is neutral. Joel Spring refers to neutral knowledge in “The Knowledge Industry”, as a “universally agreed upon standardized body of knowledge in a particular subject area” (Spring, 187). For example, textbooks companies will make their textbook seem as if they contain unbiased content in order to avoid loss of sales. Joel Spring argues the “ State testing now has a major impact on the content of instruction and textbooks. Standardized tests and textbooks convey the idea that what is taught un schools is neutral… most subject matter areas contain values and assumptions that conflict with the values and beliefs of some public group. Knowledge is not neutral, and the knowledge taught in schools is the result of political and economic decisions” (Spring, 186). Spring means that the content of what’s being taught through teachers and textbook is not unbiased because it leaves out public groups. Also spring is saying that the knowledge distributed to our children is a result of political and money driven decisions. Spring argues that a major issue of the “neutrality of knowledge” is teachers, publishing companies, and government official perpetuate the idea

That knowledge is neutral. Teachers and government officials help the problem continue by reporting the students’ learning outcome in test scores instead of the material the students have actually leaned. Public school officials aim for consistency in the classrooms requiring each grade to use the same textbook. Spring argues that consistency in the schools can give the students a feeling standard knowledge is in every subject. As a result, students will eventual adjust to the idea that knowledge in schools is neutral. The information provided in the textbooks is a result of marketing strategies. The textbook publishing companies ensure sales by producing material that is similar to popular texts because they do not want to risk loosing profit by breaking the norm. As a result Spring argues that the textbooks lack innovation and reflect a politically conservative perspective (Spring, 193). For instance, in the textbook Out of Many: A history of the American people John Faragher discusses issues such as prostitution, gay rights, and birth control. This book was in heated debates for its controversial contents. As Joel Spring mentions, the director of the Texas chapter of Citizen argues that children should not be exposed to the harsh reality instead they should be exposed to the “hope and the good things about America” (Spring, 189). This implies that the textbook industry uses the myth of neutral knowledge to cover up the real history and provide sugarcoated information to the children in order to protect them. I had the privilege to ask a teacher who works for the Los Angeles Unified School District a questions in regards to the content of history books. To my surprise she was very direct with her response. I began by asking for her opinion of the history text World History: Medieval and early Modern Times by Holt McDougal. She answered by saying “

This textbook has a lot of historical inaccuracies’ beginning with slavery and the treatment of women, it leaves out issues such as polygamy and the brutal treatment of prisoners and
Conquered people. It cleans up the Islamic Sharia law and violent war against the unbelievers. The books takes away the significance from a history that should be studied with honesty like all of history, in order for students to gain a better understanding of the issued of our time” (Cubero). I agree with Mrs. Cubero because from personal experience I can say that I feel I have been robbed from my education. If it wasn’t for being fortunate enough to attend college I would have not learned some of the history that I have learned. It’s a sad truth to know that our education is based of a industry that only cares about making money instead of focusing on actually teaching correct and complete information. In other words I am a victim of being “ handicapped by history”, I feel embarrassed when I don’t know accurate historical events and I blame the curriculum the teacher are forced to teach. In “Handicapped by History” by James Loewe, he states, “The cover-up denies all students the chance to learn something important about the interrelationship between the leader and the led”(Loewe, 28). Loewen argues that a white perspective writes books, lying about the fact that slaves considered Woodrow Wilson a hero. This doesn’t allow students to get a complete understanding about the real history of slavery and racism that was taken place in the past. I recall from a discussion we had in class, majority of my classmates were saying that children are too young to know about slavery because they wont know how to handle it. I refuse to believe that, so I continued my next question by asking Mrs. Cubero if she thinks children are too young to learn real historical events such as slavery and conquering other countries with relevant reasons that support the actions. I mentioned to her the discussion my

classmates were having and she disagreed with them as well. She doesn’t believe children are too young even at elementary level she believes children are capable of understanding. Adults under estimate the learning capabilities of children and try to shelter them. However, if parents are concerned that children will take out of context the “n” word why aren’t they concerned with what they are allowing children to learn from television. For example, children are allowed to watch violent cartoons, listen to promiscuous and vulgar songs however; they aren’t capable of learning about real historical events? That is a sign that the ideology that society has implements in parents brain, they are condition to doubt their own children but are able to follow the popular culture by allowing their children to absorb bad information and deny them the opportunity to be intellectuals. I work with children and everyday I am impressed at the pace that they learn new things. That’s why I believe children should be able to learn the real History and not a book full of lies and cover-ups. A sign that shows that neutral knowledge is a myth is that standardized testing is assessing both, schools and children. The No Child Left Behind Act has helped the testing industry become prosperous. However, the Act denotes that children are going to have an equal education regardless of their socio-economic status, race, or ethnicity.
However, the standardized testing connotes that minorities suffer from exclusion instead of being included. The standardized test results prove that children who attend school in poor areas receive poor test scores. The ideology that standardized test can determine someone’s knowledge is a sign of political manipulation. Joel Spring argues that the testing industry has evolved only in the sense of marketing and production not in its content. Not only do these standardized test affect the children but also teaching as a profession because there is a

Possibility that “colleges of education would teach the test, there was the possibility that fewer social foundations courses would be required of teacher candidates. Of course, fewer required courses would mean fewer jobs available” (Spring, 202). Mrs. Cubero actually mentioned to that she also believe that measuring children knowledge with a test is unfair. Not everyone excels in a test, as children with low scores are forced to feel inferior. I also believe is unfair because from experience I know that on the day of test I feel nervosa and I cant concentrate. I don’t consider myself inferior academically because of a tat score and children shouldn’t be treated like that. For example, Michael Casserly and associate from the council of great city schools objected:” It seems to me you don’t fatten cattle by weighing them, you’ve got to feed them. And there’s a whole of weighing going on here”. He is absolutely true, because the schools are measuring children knowledge by test scores but they are not feeding them the knowledge to excel. By describing and analyzing the cultural myth and ideologies that revolve in the knowledge that is distributed to schools we can see that the public has been conditioned to believe the dominant ideologies in our time. History books that are being read by children grades third through twelve show the unbalanced information being distribute. By analyzing a history textbook through the semiotic theory I was able to find signs that cannot and denote certain meaning in the “knowledge industry”. It shows that children are deprived from accurate historical information. The education system only centers its goal of education on making a profit. Its’ unfortunate because the textbook is the main source of knowledge for many of the children. As a result of a money hungry political system student suffer because they are being restricted from learning how to be thoughtful, intellectual, and productive. Parents have lost control over their children’s education now its up to the political system. The ideology that texts are truthful is a myth that shows the appearance of a thoughtful well-developed book. However, its real purpose is to keep children repressed in a society that doesn’t care about anything but money. It’s a harsh reality, but like children adults are being structured to believe institutions that are looking out for their own interest even if it means leaving out the rest. Knowledge is not neutral because like I mentioned before, the knowledge being distributed is only for one political group and it leaves out a lot of children in poor areas.

Works Cited
Barthes, Roland. MYTH TODAY (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

Berger, Arthur Asa. “Marxism and Cultural Criticism.” Cultural Criticism: A primer of key concepts. Thousands oaks, CA: Sage, 1995. 41-70. Print
Billman, Carol. Rewriting History. Children's Literature, Volume 9, 1981, pp. 197-199 Project muse. Web. 04. Dec. 2015
Chandler, Daniel. “Denotation, Connotation, and Myth.” Semiotics for Beginners, 28 March 2002. Web. 03 Dec. 2015
Cubero, Kim. "Which Side of History Do You Think Children Should Learn.” Personal interview. 01 Dec. 2015.
Faragher, John M. Out of Many: A History of the American People. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.
Hill, Paul T., and Ashley E. Jochim. A Democratic Constitution for Public Education. Print.
Loewen, James W. “Handicapped by History: The Process of hero-making.” Lies my Teacher told Me: Everything you American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 18-36. Print.
Spring, Joel. “The Knowledge Industry.” Conflict of Interests: The politics of American Education. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2005. 186-205. Print
Quotes in Janet Bass, “Educators, PTA, NAACP Oppose National Student test,” Compuserve Executive News Service, United Press, no. 1343.