corners of the world.” Thus, the idea of American exceptionalism—the United
States as the best country in the world—which starts in our textbooks with the
Pilgrims, gets projected into the future.
In the 1950s a graphics firm redesigned the symbol for Explorer Scouting to be
more “up to date.” The new symbol’s onward and upward thrust perfectly
represents the archetype of progress.
Faith in progress has played various functions in society and in American
history textbooks. The faith has promoted the status quo in the most literal
sense, for it proclaims that to progress we must simply do more of the same.
This belief has been particularly useful to the upper class, because Americans
could be persuaded to ignore the injustice of social class if they thought the
economic pie kept getting bigger for all. The idea of progress also fits in with
social Darwinism, which implies that the lower class is lower owing to its
own fault. Progress as an ideology has been intrinsically antirevolutionary:
because things are getting better all the time, everyone should believe in the
system. Portraying America so optimistically also helps textbooks withstand
attacks by ultrapatriotic critics in Texas and other textbook adoption states.
Internationally, referring to have-not countries as “developing nations” has
helped the “developed nations” avoid facing the injustice of worldwide