I love the Usborne Encyclopedias for Children, volumes such as World History, World Geography, and Science. However, many of our internationally adopted children will not find their heritage represented.
I know full well that you can’t cram all of World History into a children’s volume. I also accept that Western Civilization and American History should play the greater role in books written for American children, which my children certainly are.
Still, I worry that they will begin to think that people like themselves had nothing to do with history. When there is mention of Asian history, that refers to China, Japan and India. Kids from Korea, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the Philippines, Thailand, Armenia, and many other places Americans have adopted from in large numbers are not represented.
The same is largely true, I believe, for the coverage given other common sending countries in such books. In the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History’s Latin American coverage, the Olmec, Mayan, Aztec and Inca peoples are recognized, and Simon de Bolivar and Jose de San Martin are mentioned, as is the fact that Brazil was colonized by Portugal and hosted the first Earth Summit in 1992. Neither Romania nor Bulgaria is mentioned except for a timeline entry showing that the Communists came to power there in 1948. There is a very nice paragraph about Ethiopia and some information on other African countries, but none about Liberia or Sierra Leone.
My daughters are Korean. The word “Korea” appears in the book four times, including the following sentences:
“The Tang dynasty in China ruled an empire stretching from Korea to Turkestan.”
“Buddhist monks from Japan and Korea brought their religion to Japan.”
Perhaps more surprisingly, in The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Geography, Korea is not mentioned at all. The section on “Peoples of Asia” talks about China, Japan, India and Pakistan, the Middle East, and collectively about “Southeast Asia”.
The scholastic work recommended by many teachers, “Everything You Need to Know About World History Homework”, has sections for India, China and Japan. It has a timeline in the back which shows dates of the Korean War.
We will have to find other ways of showing our adopted kids the strength of their ethnic cultures. My next blog will address some ways to start.
Please see these related blogs:
Homeschool Curriculum Glossary (U.S. History -Usborne)
Typical High School Course of Study: Social Studies part 1
The Number of Minority Students Increases