New York Times education reporter Dana Goldstein read 4,800 pages of American history books to find out what students are being taught in school.
She discovered numerous differences in the way students from Texas and California are being taught, due to different political ideologies. From White resistance to Black progress during Reconstruction to immigration and gender identity, Goldstein found the political party in control of a state helps shape what students learn about American history.
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"I think when you have partisan politics responsible for appointing those people in each state who get to review these textbooks and work with publishers to produce the text you're naturally going to be giving kids somewhat different stories of America and it's very important in shaping our citizenry," Goldstein said.
Goldstein joined Midday Edition on Thursday to talk about the evolution of textbooks.
