One textbook for highschool navy cadets says ladies ought to put on lipstick when in uniform. One other presents what a historical past professor described as a “scary” interpretation of how the Vietnam Warfare was misplaced. One other blames the dying of Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman who fatally shot himself in 1994, on heroin dependancy.

A majority of public college textbooks obtain in depth skilled and authorities vetting, present process revision, rejection and public debate. However the Junior Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps, in programs taught at 1000’s of excessive colleges across the nation, makes use of textbooks which have bypassed these normal public critiques.

The J.R.O.T.C. curriculum supplies cowl a variety of topics, with classes on monetary literacy and public talking, on wholesome consuming and first support, on getting ready for faculty and life within the navy. Most of them supply a presentation much like what could be present in any public highschool examine supplies.

However a New York Instances evaluation of 1000’s of pages of this system’s textbooks discovered that a few of the books additionally included outdated gender messages, a conservative shading of political points and accounts of historic occasions that falsify or downplay the failings of the U.S. authorities.

Here’s a nearer take a look at 10 points coated within the texts:

Gulf of Tonkin

A textbook produced by the U.S. Air Drive informs college students that america entered the Vietnam Warfare after the North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. destroyer within the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964.

However the authors by no means point out a key a part of the story: It was the report of a second, full-on assault two days later that led Congress to approve America’s escalated involvement in Vietnam — and that assault, historical past ultimately revealed, by no means occurred.

A evaluation of that historical past printed by the U.S. Naval Institute concluded that the second incident didn’t occur and that U.S. officers, together with the nation’s protection secretary, “distorted info and deceived the American public about occasions that led to full U.S. involvement within the Vietnam Warfare.”

A textbook that the Navy distributes to J.R.O.T.C. college students is extra forthcoming than the Air Drive guide however says solely that “proof gathered later appeared to point the alleged assault could by no means have occurred.”

Medicine

The textbooks give college students an outline of the risks of alcohol and medicines, warning particularly about marijuana. One textbook from the Navy falsely claims that marijuana is extra more likely to trigger lung most cancers than cigarettes.

An Air Drive textbook printed throughout a time when states had been approving each medicinal marijuana and broader legalization measures presents a important take of these traits, saying that voters who accepted such measures “don’t essentially perceive how dangerous a substance like marijuana is.”

“These new legal guidelines could make it appear as if it’s protected or ‘OK’ to make use of marijuana,” the textbook says. “Nevertheless, it’s not OK!”

Air Drive officers, in response to a question from The Instances, mentioned they’d be reviewing that part for potential revision.

One textbook implies that Kurt Cobain died due to a heroin dependancy, omitting the truth that it was a gun that ended his life.

Grooming and Etiquette

A Marine Corps textbook tells feminine cadets that, in uniform, they need to put on lipstick and form their hair in an “enticing female fashion.”

In an period when girls are absolutely built-in into fight jobs, an Military textbook particulars how males mustn’t sit “till all the women at his desk are seated.” It recommends that males assist girls sit down.

“If a woman leaves the desk at any time, the gentleman who seated her rises and assists with the woman’s chair,” the guide says.

Military officers mentioned in a press release that their pages had been designed to “educate cadets about customs, courtesies and etiquette referring to navy balls and different formal occasions.”

Range

An Military textbook begins by laying out the case for variety, saying it might probably enrich tradition and make individuals extra understanding of others. The textual content then notes that some individuals concern that variety may erode “social cohesion.”

“This might additionally injury our concepts in regards to the frequent good, as individuals turn out to be extra targeted on their very own self-interests,” the textual content says. The part ends by asking college students: “Is there such a factor as an excessive amount of variety?”

The Military mentioned in a press release that the lesson was meant not as a press release on multiculturalism however as a important pondering train.

Libya Bombing

A Navy textbook describes the U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986, carried out in response to an assault at a dance membership in Germany.

The U.S. carried out the bombing “with the settlement of most of its European allies,” it says. However Stephen Zunes, a professor on the College of San Francisco who makes a speciality of Center East politics and who reviewed excerpts from the J.R.O.T.C. textbooks, famous that Spain and France had been so against the bombing that U.S. flights needed to go round their airspace.

Iran Air Flight 655

A Navy textbook places a defensive spin on a disastrous 1988 incident within the Persian Gulf, when a U.S. Navy missile cruiser shot down an Iranian passenger jet inside Iranian airspace. All 290 individuals aboard Iran Air Flight 655 had been killed.

Mr. Zunes famous that the textbook known as it an “unlucky incident” and downplayed the culpability of the U.S. navy, saying the airliner had approached the Navy vessel “in what appeared to be a threatening method.” However a Navy investigation discovered that the plane had been “on a standard climb” out of Iran and “throughout the established air route” towards Dubai.

The U.S. Navy in Vietnam

Two of the Navy’s textbooks study why the U.S. navy didn’t reach Vietnam, a failure that continues to be scrutinized and debated to today. One part is titled “Restrictions Hinder Victory” and describes how political leaders restricted who and the place the navy may bomb.

“In accordance with many analysts, America misplaced the Vietnam Warfare largely due to these limitations,” the opposite textbook says. (That textual content goes on to query latest limitations positioned by political leaders on the navy in conducting an air marketing campaign in opposition to Islamic State militants within the Center East.)

That evaluation is way from common, particularly among the many many historians who’ve studied the Vietnam battle. They’ve largely concluded that many elements — together with, maybe most necessary, the messy political dynamics within the area — meant {that a} U.S. navy victory was not achievable inside any cheap value.

Lien-Hold T. Nguyen, a historical past professor at Columbia College who specializes within the Vietnam Warfare, mentioned the textual content gave a false interpretation of the struggle.

“It’s a type of hawkish, conservative navy historical past interpretations of the struggle that claims if the navy had not needed to combat with one arm behind its again, it will have received. That’s improper,” mentioned Ms. Nguyen. “It’s scary what’s being written.”

One typical civilian classroom textbook in California, coping with the Second Modification, informs college students that the courts have allowed the federal government to manage firearms. A Texas textbook in an analogous part on constitutional amendments doesn’t embrace details about how the courts have interpreted the modification.

However a textbook used within the Navy’s J.R.O.T.C. program presents a unique evaluation than both of them, saying: “This modification prevents the federal government from forbidding residents to personal weapons.”

Robert E. Lee

In introducing freshmen college students to the thought of management, a Marine Corps textbook presents the Accomplice common Robert E. Lee for instance to emulate. Lee, the textbook says, “confirmed, in his perspective and look at Appomattox, that he was an officer and a gentleman.”

Path of Tears

In discussing the historical past of how Native People had been compelled from their lands within the southeastern United States through the 1830s, a Marine Corps textbook describes what’s extensively often called the “Path of Tears” as a “march” and a “trek” to lands west of the Mississippi River that spanned a number of months and 1000’s of miles. However the textual content omits any point out of the brutal actuality of that mass elimination: Hundreds of Native People died alongside the way in which.

What the Navy Says

Navy officers mentioned they sought to commonly evaluation and replace textbooks utilized in J.R.O.T.C. coaching, relying partially on instructors and consultants to form the curriculum. A few of the textbooks highlighted had been printed years in the past, they mentioned, and are coming due for the periodic critiques which might be carried out “to make sure the data is up to date, related and correct.”

In response to inquiries from The Instances, a few of the service branches mentioned they deliberate to take a more in-depth take a look at a few of the highlighted passages. The Marine Corps mentioned it was “grateful for the eye highlighting these essential modifications.”

Dana Goldstein contributed reporting.