A follow up to a small post regarding minor forms of sexism in the workplace, RE: the referencing of demographics such as "Dumb Blondes" in early age English language text books.
Though not as scathing as said blonde bombshell, The Step Ahead Unit Five book is fairly unforgiving towards the waist-belt challenged baseball players featured above. The texts used at my school, many of which were written by Canadians, offer curious (and often outdated) outlooks of America, not to mention the country and people of Mexico, which my students are taught is a wild place that most recently introduced the world to H1N1. One of my other storybooks features a character study of a young American named Chris Jacobson who comes from Connecticut, has recently received a brand new SUV, goes home after school to play rather than study and lives in a house that rivals the presidential estate here in Taipei. Now I’m not saying that America doesn’t have its indulgences but that this particular book chooses to show America from the view of the tiny state of Connecticut, which many refer to as a large suburb of New York City, is a bit misleading to these gullible young souls who already think that American food revolves around three ingredients: meat, ketchup, and bun.
It could be the writers of our material are simply having fun with their power over these young minds. Still I am constantly encountering examples of America getting a bad name. There will be more to come I’m sure.
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