H. Rugg教科書爭議事件

The Controversy over H. Rugg's Textbooks

社會重建論是美國主要的課程傳統之一，Rugg則是此一課程意識型態的主要肇建者。Rugg於1920年代初期轉至林肯實驗學校任職之後，即開始展開社會科教科書實驗版本的編製工作。在初步獲得成功後，即進一步著手修正，並以商業版本的形式發行。商業版本在1929年開始發行之後，亦獲得許多學校的採用。但是Rugg教科書以美國社會生活中具爭議性議題為中心的課程編製方式，卻也引起右派人士的撻伐，在經過一番論辯之後，某些學區做成停用Rugg教科書的決議，甚至有學區進行焚書之舉。此外，「美國軍團」等愛國組織及商業團體亦加入聲討Rugg教科書的行列。在這些爭議事件發生後，Rugg教科書遂逐漸從學校中消失。本文之目的即在描述此一歷史事件發生之過程，最後並提出幾點省思。

Social reconstructionism was an important movement in the development of American social studies curricula， and Harold Rugg was its main founder. During the early 1920s Rugg began developing an experimental social studies textbook. After its first trial edition had become popular in some areas of America， Rugg decided to issue it in a commercial edition in 1929， and in the following decade the entire Rugg textbook series was adopted by many school districts. Because Rugg’s books were organized around key current issues or problems confronting American society， the extreme conservatives began to attack him and his “socialistic” books. Consequently， some school districts decided to move his books off the bookshelves， and some schools even burned them. Patriotic groups like the American Legion joined the attack against Rugg. After this controversy， Rugg’s textbooks rapidly disappeared. The aim of this paper is to describe the historical process of this controversy over Rugg’s textbooks series. Finally， some reflections on this controversy are proposed.