Making New Maps for the Labyrinth of Learning : Social studies: L.A. district examines new textbooks amid charges that the state-approved series is flawed by cultural biases.

Some Muslims protest that proposed textbooks depict Islam as a camel while other cultures are personified as kings and warriors. A number of Jews worry that authors swallow the Resurrection as fact while questioning the historical basis for the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Some Korean-Americans note that there is no mention of the large Korean-American community--250,000 in Los Angeles County alone.

These are some of the concerns that will be raised today as the mammoth Los Angeles Unified School District hunkers down to review new social studies textbooks for kindergarten through eighth grade and recommend whether the school board should adopt them. The books have already been approved by the state Department of Education, which lauded the Houghton Mifflin series as compelling reading that blends multicultural diversity with colorful maps, graphs, first-person narratives, excerpts from literature and examples of moral dilemmas for students to grapple with.

Even the protesters admit that the series is a vast improvement over the bland texts of the past and say that the publisher has made significant changes to alleviate their complaints. But they add that more revisions are needed.

Some critics want the district to supply social studies teachers with supplemental materials to rectify what they feel are mistakes or racial stereotyping. Others say that they will urge the school board not to adopt the texts. One of the most vocal opponents to the Houghton Mifflin series is school board member Rita Walters, who says that she will vote against adopting the books unless they are drastically revamped.

“The texts are visually stimulating, the material is challenging, but it is essentially a sugar coating of American history,” Walters said this week. “The question to ask is what are we asking students to think about, and does it further stereotype groups and add to misinformation?”

Several other board members said they are still weighing the options.

“I want to hear the objections before reaching a decision,” said board President Jackie Goldberg. However, “What I’ve seen of the books I just love. They are head and shoulders above anything we’ve ever had before.”

The Houghton Mifflin textbooks are the only ones approved by the state, which doles out the majority of the monies to purchase schoolbooks. If the school dsitrict does not approve the new texts, it could request a waiver to use the state money for alternative books, although such requests are rarely granted, educators say. Otherwise, the district would have to continue using the old texts--which do not include a multicultural approach. The district could also use its money to buy alternative textbooks, but this is unlikely because Los Angeles schools are already facing severe financial constraints.

Representatives for Houghton Mifflin, which has spent years developing the texts, say that they have bent over backwards to be sensitive to different ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

“We take everybody’s concerns very seriously but there will always be complaints; it’s human nature,” said John Perata, the western regional manager for Houghton Mifflin, who will attend the meeting.

Houghton Mifflin and the authors of the book suggest that teachers use lessons as jumping off points to make classroom discussions relevant to students of different ethnicities.

“Obviously, one textbook series cannot address all of the specific history, heritage and contributions of each of the (more than 100) ethnic groups that make up today’s American history,” wrote UCLA history professor Gary B. Nash, one of the textbook authors.

Some teachers who are alarmed at the possibility that the books may not be approved plan to visit the school district today to voice support for the books.

“It’s desperately needed,” said Dolores Beltran, who teaches third and fourth grades at Woodlawn Avenue Elementary School in Bell. Beltran praised the publisher for including a Spanish-language edition and said she disagrees with critics who say that the textbooks are racist.

“If I’m working with black students, and I’m teaching about the Civil War, then I’m going to bring in a perspective that helps them see themselves within the historical and social context,” Beltran said.

But many groups say that the textbooks could be harmful to students.

“The books are biased; they misrepresent the black experience by incorporating it in a European model of American history,” said Joyce King, director of teacher education at University of Santa Clara and a longtime opponent of the texts.

“I very much empathize with the need for new materials,” added Annette Lawrence, who heads community relations in Los Angeles for the Jewish Federation Council. However, “I’m very concerned, almost frightened, when I think of those texts in the hands of people not prepared to present the material in a fair and even-handed manner.”