Textbook sparks concern over polygamy scenario for 7-y-os

An activity included in a widely used primary school textbook that requires seven- and eight-year-olds to discuss polygamy-type relationships is facing the heat from at least one parent, who charges that it goes against Jamaican laws and is “highly inappropriate” for a “vulnerable” age group.

However, Maureen McLean, author of People Places and Things in My Community Grade 2 Integrated Studies Workbook, has pushed back at the criticisms, explaining that the activity was designed to sensitise students about different cultures around the world.

The disputed activity on page 130 of the book starts by noting: “In some countries a man can marry more than one woman.”

It continues: “The man, his wives and children all live together as one family. Can you imagine what it would be like living in a home with all these stepmothers, stepbrothers and stepsisters? Talk about it with your teacher and classmates.”

The Ministry of Education said the disputed activity falls under the objectives of the National Standard Curriculum (NSC) “grade two integrated studies term 2 unit one focus question 1: What are the types of families?”

The objectives of the focus question are to “explore the family heritage of important religious leaders/figures” and to “compare families they meet in biblical texts to families they know”, the ministry said in emailed responses on April 11 to questions submitted by The Sunday Gleaner.

It indicated, too, that the disputed activity was linked to the biblical story about Jacob’s family.

“Jacob married Leah and Rachel and they lived at Laban’s home. Laban was the father of the two women. Leah had four sons. When Rachel saw that she was not having children, and she gave her helper to her husband [and] they had two sons together. Leah also gave her helper to Jacob and they had two sons together. At last, Rachel had a son. His name was Joseph. Joseph became a very important person in Bible days,” the response from the ministry said.

The source of this information was not disclosed.

But one parent, who came across the passage while doing homework with her seven-year-old child, was livid.

“You are promoting polygamy to seven- and eight-year-olds,” the parent charged.

“I don’t think that content should be anywhere near a book for this age group. It is highly inappropriate. Imagine, they learn this at [age] seven and it becomes normal for them,” the parent added, while questioning if the textbook was properly vetted by the education ministry.

Priscilla Duhaney, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Hear the Children’s Cry, went further.

Criminal offence

Duhaney, an attorney, acknowledged that polygamy is practised in some countries, but said it was important to note that it is considered bigamy – a criminal offence under Jamaica’s Offences Against the Person Act.

“The author’s failure to expand on the illegality of polygamy in Jamaica as well as other communities and the education sector’s lack of review and confirmation of the content and context of materials promoted in our schools are concerning,” Duhaney told The Sunday Gleaner.

“It is crucial to protect and ensure the well-being of our children and this message could potentially warp the minds of our grade two students, typically between the ages [of] seven and eight [years old],” she said.

Duhaney argued, too, that the activity not only fails to reflect Jamaican culture and beliefs, but also “contradicts our values”.

The education ministry confirmed that People Places and Things in My Community Grade 2 Integrated Studies Workbook is not on its approved educational resources list.

“This means that the ministry does not procure and distribute this workbook to the schools,” the ministry explained.

It disclosed, too, that following a review, the textbook has been removed from the ministry’s supplementary educational resources list for the upcoming school year.

The book was submitted for a review last year and was not recommended by the review committee “due to the instructional and assessment strategies employed when reviewed against the National Standards Curriculum”, the education ministry disclosed.

It acknowledged that the textbook was previously on the supplementary educational resources list, which allows schools to select any title for parents to purchase.

The first edition of the workbook was published in 2003 by Independent Integrated Publishers and was revised in 2006 and 2013, according to the education ministry.

Decision taken by the ministry

McLean, the author and director of the publishing company, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that she was not aware of the decision taken by the ministry or that her book was a concern for parents.

“I didn’t even think of it that way,” she said in response to concerns that polygamy-type relationships are outlawed in Jamaica. “I was just trying to portray that there are different types of families in the world.”

McLean disclosed, too, that her company is currently reviewing the textbook because of changes to the curriculum and said “that particular article [the disputed activity] will be removed”.

“This book is not in line with the newest curriculum. It was written from the old curriculum,” she explained.

McLean responded, “I’m not even sure”, when asked if she shared the concerns of parents that the activity was inappropriate for the intended age cohort.

“Things like these I think the children might be exposed to. They don’t know it’s polygamy, but they read books and they see it on other media that there are families like that. I would not think that it is not appropriate for that age group,” the author said.

The education ministry also pushed back at questions about the vetting of textbooks, explaining that the instruments used to evaluate educational resources are categorised under the headings content, design and production and “checkpoints for observation of laws, values and cultural norms”.

These instruments are reviewed annually by personnel from the evaluation and utilisation section of its media services unit in collaboration with personnel from the curriculum unit.

Nominations of textbook reviewers are not accepted from publishers, agents of publishers, authors or any person who holds any position with a publisher, agent or author, the ministry said.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com