Gabler, Norma

▪ 2008

Norma Elizabeth Rhodes 

      American textbook reviewer

born June 16, 1923, Garrett, Texas

died July 22, 2007, Phoenix, Ariz.

together with her husband, Mel Gabler (died 2004), exerted enormous influence in the selection of school textbooks, especially in her home state of Texas, where a single committee chose books for the entire state system. When in 1961 her son noticed the omission of some text in a schoolbook, Gabler and her husband began poring over textbooks, looking not only for factual errors and omissions but also for content that they believed undermined patriotism, the free-enterprise system, religion, and parental authority. The Christian fundamentalist couple were high-school graduates who launched (1973) their business, Educational Research Analysts, from their kitchen table in Hawkins, Texas. Their influence extended throughout the country, and many of the textbooks they rejected were never published for nationwide distribution because publishers felt that producing multiple editions would be cost prohibitive.

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