Proposed elementary math books for Texas schools included 109,263 errors, reports the Dallas News.
In addition to computation errors, the goofs include printing the answers to math quizzes in the students’ books and mistranslations in Spanish-language editions.
Houghton Mifflin textbooks were the most error-prone by far with 79 percent of the total mistakes.
Publishers have till spring to fix the mistakes. Any error caught in a book shipped to schools costs $5,000. That could cost Houghton-Mifflin . . . Well, do the math.
Update: Professor Ginny has more on poorly written textbooks on Chicago Boyz.
Yes, I can’t tell you how many curriculum books my kids and I have encountered with errors. Here’s the thing though… It has taught my homeschooled kids the value of research!
Having worked with textbook authors and editors, I understand why there is the possibility for so many errors in a textbook: there are simply too many people involved between the author’s thought and the printer.
In the late 1980’s, I was hired to write answers in the back of math textbooks. I would submit my work, then wait for the hardcopy of the book to be published. Needless to say, many of my correct answers were not in the book. Furthermore, often I would report that the wording of a question would allow for an infinite number of answers, yet the only answer that would show up in print would be the assumed expected answer.
I do understand that one’s own errors are often the most difficult to catch. But when errors pass several pair of eyes, I can only guess that there is waaaaaaay too much assumption of author’s correctness on the part of copyeditors.
So why was I hired in the first place???