TEXTEASE: Deconstructing Foreign Language Textbook Dialogs Let's open our textbooks and practice "The Perfect Dialog" : a conversation between attractive, middle-class, white Euro-Americans who constantly discuss "The Weather", "Travel", "Sports", "Shopping", "Eating" or even "Popular Films These Days" . . . anything simple generic and non-controversial Don't tell me about the world's problems. Don't mention how ecosystems are vanishing each day. Don't criticize the educational institution or government I work for. Don't challenge my opinions in any way. All I want to do is have a nice, pleasant conversation so we can move our mouths without having to use our brains because when we closely examine the world and confront death, debacles, decadence, and deception it becomes rather difficult to speak. Melissa: Lots of teachers feel the same way as this author: those who follow textbooks too closely often fail to really teach. Liao: Yeah, the real lesson is not in any book or examination material: it's in a living interaction among sentient beings. The most precious aspects of that interaction are spontaneous. Tim: Many educational planners find that discomforting. Educational systems in general are orientated towards control and manipulation, and anything that does not fit within a set agenda is dismissed. As a result, we often get "McDonaldized" education: material that is bland, but acceptable to the ruling hegemony. Satoru: Hmm. Do you think this is inevitable? Is so-called "humane" learning even possible in huge institutions with complex bureaucracies? ===================================================================================== from _Crassroom Voices - Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Education_ by T Newfields SUMMARY: Some thoughts about sanitized educational materials and the avoidance of critical discussion KEYWORDS: textbook whitewashing, McDonaldized education, controversy avoidance, sanitized texts Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955) Begun: 1996 in Shizuoka, Japan / Finished: 2020 in Yokohama, Japan Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted < LAST http://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/streams.htm TOC http://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/index.html NEXT > http://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/road.htm TRANSLATIONS Chinese: http://www.tnewfields.info/zh/wenben.htm Japanese: http://www.tnewfields.info/jp/tekisuto.htm Spanish: http://www.tnewfields.info/es/lies.htm