Student organisation denounces stereotypes in school books

Secondary school student organisation Vlaamse Scholieren Koepel (VSK) has launched a campaign to change images in school books to more realistically represent the diversity that makes up Belgian society. According to the VSK, most school books in Flanders present only traditional family structures, conservative gender roles and a homogeneous racial makeup.

“It’s often subtle, but, for example, the girls mentioned in school books mostly do ballet, while boys play football,” VSK president Lora Hasenbroekx told De Standaard. “Kissing couples are men and women, never two people of the same gender, and men are all labourers, while women stand in the kitchen. It’s super frustrating for gay students, for example, to be constantly confronted with traditional families in these books.”

Such stereotypes influence students, said VSK, giving them the impression that this is the way things should be. “It’s especially problematic that young children are constantly confronted with these stereotypes,” said professor Marysa Demoor, president of the Centre for Gender Studies at Ghent University. “At a young age, they are extra sensitive to this influence and absorb these ideas easily.”

Non-white ethnicities and people with disabilities are also rarely represented in school books, “while the books should reflect the society,” said Hasenbroekx. VSK students are gathering hundreds of examples of stereotypes in school books and plan to confront educational publishers over the coming weeks.

Photo: Ingimage