I Hate Textbooks.

[Kamehameha34]

I was doing my homework (because I'm a good little boy), and came across this question in my history textbook:

Review Germany's aggressive actions between 1938 and 1945. At what point do you think Hitler concluded that he could take any territory without being stopped? Why?

Ok, let's not look at the fact that the section ends with 1940.

Who says I thought that? Are these books designed to precondition our opinions?

It may seem arbitrary, but I find it patronizing and degrading. The book doesn't even give enough information to make an informed opinion.

Gah.. I hate history.

[PatrickHenry]

Be an iconoclast and argue the position against the fn text.

You can do it...

[Kamehameha34]

Nah, it's too late for any of that. I already restated the question with "I think" at the beginning of it. My teacher should gobble it up.

[Jack]

It's a rather presumptive statement, as it suggests you should know what Hitler was thinking. Can anyone say for sure other than him when, and whether, he ever concluded that he could take any territory without being stopped. Learning shouldn't consist of trying to guess what's in another person's mind. It appears to be pointless conjecture.

Yet, we should admit that question served one, perhaps unintended, purpose. It made you think. You failed to take it at face value. So while you didn't learn the intended lesson, you learned one nonetheless.

[bishop]

my favorite textbook of all time was the one that said ALL people who were opposed to affirmative action are racists - the difference being between overt and closeted racism... and, that was in a college class no less.

[Osborn F Enready]

This is one of the things I think all parents should do, which is read their kids textbooks, not entirely, but for content and "bias".

I sure wish I would have kept some more of mine, just so I could point to it now and show people the crap they taught.

[The Bacon Guy]

I remeber a psychology textbook I used a couple of years ago which basically called prince Philip a dangerous racist. Now, it's probably true, but there is no justification for it being printed as fact in a supposedly neutral school textbook.

[Fonceai]

I noticed that a lot when I was a kid.

Instead of asking, "Do you think Hitler... When do you think it happened..." it just jumps to presuming you think something.