Bernards Board of Education's culture wars claims another sociology textbook

BERNARDS - Another sociology textbook recommended by the school district's professional educators has been rejected by the school board in another battle in the simmering culture wars in the district.

Board members voted late last month 4-3 to veto the administration's proposal of “Sociology: A Brief Introduction, High School Edition." In April, the board voted 5-4 to nix another sociology textbook, "The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology."

With two board members − Nimish Amin and Ruchika Hira − absent on June 22, board members Csilla Csipak, Kirsten Light, Keith Molinari and Lawrence Rascio voted against the book. Robin McKeon, Timothy Salmon and Jennifer White were in favor of the proposed textbook.

Both textbooks were targeted to replace the nine-year-old textbook in the honors-level/college-prep one-semester elective. This book no longer meets current needs, said Laura Rieder, a social studies teacher for 17 years at Ridge High School.

"A lot of the facts and statistics in the current book are from 2005 or 2010," Assistant Superintendent Kristen Fox Fox said. "So they're having to update those statistics when studying the topics from the book. So there's a variety of reasons why they wanted to look for a book and one of the biggest ones was having one that was more accessible, easier to read and then able to get to the discussion or the activity."

But critics of "Sociology: A Brief Introduction, High School Edition" said it was unbalanced.

More: Watchung Hills becomes battleground for America's culture war

Csipak said she had an "excessive" amount of notes on her issues with the textbook complete with the page numbers. These included lifestyle sections in the text on topics such as marriage, single life, roles of men and women and a mention that young members of the LGBTQ community use online resources for information and "dating services."

The internet, she said, has a "dark side," and students should not be encouraged to use it.

Csipak found fault with information in the race and religion sections and whether the information was updated as it claimed, citing the European Union number of people in Hungary having college degrees was incorrect.

She also called the book's information "misleading" and did not like the narrative and tone of much of the material.

"A lot of things really show the unbalanced nature of the book," Csipak said. "The book is very one-sided, it doesn't provide differentiated points, different views, a wider perspective or balanced opinions. There are other problems with other things as well. I cannot support this book to be provided to our children."

"My main core problem still is the stories that they tell to go through sociological approach are very unbalanced and they're stated more as resolved fact than have the students discuss − rather than people might have different views on that and presenting both views." Light said. "So I still have a problem with the crux of it. I think that the construct of the entire book, I think it's very effective, but I'm concerned about the content of the stories."

Salmon questioned why those who voted against the book didn't spend as much time reviewing texts in other subjects and why they seemed focused on social science textbooks.

"To reject the book because you − a layperson, all of us laypeople − would teach sociology a different way, makes no sense to me because we've we've done this in zero other courses. For some reason, it's only sociology," Salmon said.

Salmon said the board should trust the teachers' recommendations.

"I don't have any problem with a textbook that the teachers select for any other course," Salmon said. "So I just find it, like, incredible and unbelievable that these are the concerns."

White said she believes "people are upset" about this issue because "it is just a symptom of the bigger issue" which is "huge mismanagement of our role."

"This is stepping and taking away the rights of the teachers to come forward and tell us what they think is appropriate and tell us what they are willing to do and are able to do for our kids in the curriculum," said White, who is an educator. "I don't have a problem with the book."

The book rejected in June was actually the administration's first choice for the course open only to junior and seniors at Ridge High School. That was tabled back in January when it was first brought to the board's attention in committee. Then, the board committee members voiced concerns and went to the administration's second choice. The original proposed textbook was never brought to the full board until in June.

The rejection of the "Real World" text back in April brought real world attention to the board as a national media spotlight came down on the district. Then, the board was highlighted as an example of the current "culture wars controversy" occurring across the nation.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bernards school board's culture wars claims another sociology textbook