ROSEMOUNT, Minn. – Local high school student Tarra Snyder went viral earlier this month after posting photos of a new, anti-Trump American history textbook.
The latest edition of “By the People: A History of the United States,” an Advanced Placement textbook, contains a section dedicated to the 2016 election, which sparked Snyder’s interest.
“The 2016 [section] surprised me due to the fact that often times it takes 20 years after a presidency to assess how that administration did,” Snyder told Alpha News.
The section on the 2016 election, titled “The Angry Election of 2016,” focused on the “overwhelming white group” that voted for President Donald Trump, claiming that Clinton supporters “feared that the election had been determined by people who were afraid of rapidly developing ethnic diversity.” The textbook also questioned the mental stability of the president, and the “anger that he and his supporters brought to the nation.”
Snyder was surprised to see such obvious bias in the textbook.
“When you have a book that would be going into schools next year, it is highly concerning when it questions the president’s mental health without any solid evidence for that fact,” she said. “It also insinuates pretty blatantly that the people who voted for Trump were all white racists who were afraid of change.”
Snyder’s school is not due for new textbooks for a few years, but many schools across the nation might be. To avoid unnecessary conflict, Snyder did not question her teacher about the textbook. Instead, she snapped the photos and uploaded them to a Turning Point USA Facebook page to see what other people thought about it. From there, her post quickly gained the attention of thousands across the nation.
“I didn’t expect it to happen,” Snyder said, referring to her post going viral.
Since Snyder’s post going viral, the author of the textbook, New York University Prof. James W. Fraser, as well as the publisher, Pearson Education, has defended the textbook. Pearson spokesman, Scott Overland, told Fox News the textbook “aims to promote debate and critical thinking by presenting multiple sides.”
Snyder believes the textbook failed to offer both sides of the 2016 election, emphasizing the responsibility of those in education to make sure what they are teaching is rooted in facts.
“I think people really do believe that [their textbooks] are fact,” she said. “We need to have teachers with integrity. They need to make sure that they know what they’re teaching is true,” Snyder said.
Rather than benefiting the Democratic Party agenda, Snyder believes the accusations like the ones in the textbook are actually harming their side.
“There are many diverse people of all backgrounds who are conservative and do support Trump,” she said. “They feel pushed out of the frame. This is what creates the silent majority.”
Olivia Anderson-Blythe
Olivia Anderson-Blythe is an enthusiastic young journalist who has never been afraid to stand up for the truth. She is a Political Science and History major.
