Textbooks Matter: One Parent can make a difference - here's an example

9-23-09

Dear Commissioner Scott,

I am writing to you to file a complaint and express a concern regarding a textbook recently discovered in my child’s 5th grade history class in Ector County ISD. The information regarding the book is listed below in the format requested as per the TEA website for reporting factual errors. I believe the book that is in my son's 5th-grade classroom contains factual errors in violation of Texas Education Code, Sects. 31.023(c) and 31.151(a)(4). I am requesting that your office investigate the book, require the publisher to take steps to correct the error, and issue penalties as allowed under Texas Education Code, Sect. 31.151(b)

The essence of this concern stems from the fact that “art work” in the front pages of the book incorrectly quotes a sentence from the Declaration of Independence; “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people (instead of “men”) are created equal…”. The artwork is an exact quotation from the Declaration of Independence, not a paraphrase, except that one word was changed from the authentic document.

I contacted the school principal who was equally concerned with this error and at the same time secured the textbook in question for further evaluation and scrutiny. It was then that I discovered that in two places in the textbook the same sentence is reprinted correctly. However the teacher continued to teach the class the (incorrect) wording located in the art work section. When my son pressed the teacher the next day as to which wording they should use he responded by saying either one was acceptable. I believe this is the very reason that historically the TEA/SBOE have been agreeable to stiff fines and penalties for any factual errors contained between the covers of any textbook. This anecdote is proof that even “art work” can and has been used erroneously.

In addition the publisher misrepresents the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution in the appendix to the book. It notes “Citizens have the right to own and carry weapons for use in state militias.” This summary of the amendment misrepresents the current law on this topic. The U.S. Supreme Court held in DC v. Heller "... the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms and that the city’s total ban on handguns, as well as its requirement that firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional even when necessary for self-defense, violated that right." 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008). As the Court's decision states, the Second Amendment protects the right of every individual to keep and bear arms, and that its operation is not limited merely to the militia context.

Granted, the Supreme Court's decision does post-date production of this book. However, at the Nov. 2002 meeting where the State Board of Education voted to adopt the book, the law in Texas was governed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's Decision in United States v. Emerson 270 F. 3d. 203 (5th Cir. 2001). That decision also recognizes the Second Amendment creates an individual right to keep and bear arms that is not merely limited to the militia context.

These seemingly innocuous errors, when perpetuated, become a new generation's interpretation of their founding documents. This also, in my opinion, begins the rewriting of American History.

Thank you very much for your attention to these matters. I look forward to your reply.



Jason Moore

2716 Bainbridge

Odessa, TX 79762

432-559-3443 cell

Parent of four ECISD students







As per TEA page entitled “Inventory of Known Textbook Errors: Reporting Errors in Instructional Materials Currently in Classrooms”

• Title of the textbook or instructional materials

History Alive – America’s Past




• Publisher Name

Teacher’s Curriculum Institute




• Item type (e.g. Student Edition, Teacher Edition, Workbook)

Student Edition




• ISBN (10- or 13-digit number printed near the bottom of the copyright page and on the back cover above the UPC code) 1-58371-052-3


• Media Type (Print or Electronic)

Printed




• Number of the page on which the error is found

4th page in from front cover…Publisher identifies as “Art page”.




• Location on page (e.g. top right, 2nd paragraph, section review)

Top right


• Description of error

Incorrectly quotes a sentence from Declaration of Independence; “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people (instead of “men”) are created equal…”




• Name of person reporting the error

Jason Moore




• Teacher name (if applicable)

Mr. Wilson




• School Name and School District (if applicable)

School name: LBJ Elementary

School District: Ector County ISD