Rethinking America 2
A High Intermediate Cultural Reader
by M. E. Sokolik

Teaching Immigrants to Dislike America?
June 3, 2000

The errors begin on page 1 when Thomas Jefferson, a rather important American hero, is wrongly identified as the second president. Jefferson beat John Adams to become our third president. Since many ESL students are also studying to become U.S. citizens and must pass a civics test, this glaring error was immediately noticed in my California community college class.

Unfortunately, this disappointing collection of sociological essays seems more intent on promoting a left ideological bias than teaching English or providing a wide range of perspectives. Sokolik, a professor at Berkeley, CA, or his editors have filled this textbook with silly factual errors, a strong multicultural slant, and a odd fascination with all things racial and negative about the United States. (How many people celebrate June as Black Musicians month?) The articles did inspire extensive class discussions - often focused on the editor's peculiar choices and the sad attempts at misinformation in the misleading charts in the index. It's fair to ask if the subtle message isn't "welcome to America - it's a racist country run by greedy White folks. Life is better elsewhere." Given the intense desire of new immigrants and foreign students to learn about America, it's sad that Sokolik has taken this approach.

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