New Editions Of Virginia's Error-Filled History Textbooks Up For Public Review

Revised editions of two history textbooks in Virginia that were found to be erroneous last fall will be taken to universities across Virginia for public review.

Previous state-approved editions of "Our Virginia: Past and Present" and "Our America to 1865," both Five Ponds Press textbooks, were removed from Virginia elementary schools early this year after errors were found in its texts. The most egregious statement was one that says thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War, which most historians reject, The Washington Post reported last fall.

Dozens more errors were found after historians took a closer look at the texts, including "inaccuracies, inconsistencies, omissions, questionable interpretations, and spelling and grammatical errors," The Post reported in January.

"The findings of these historians have certainly underscored and added urgency to the need to address the weaknesses in our system so we don't have glaring historical errors in our books," Charles Pyle, a spokesman for Virginia's Department of Education, told The Post.

The books were first approved by a panel of three fourth-grade teachers, not professional historians, NPR reports.

The revised editions of the two books were recently submitted to the Virginia Board of Education for approval, the Daily Press reports. Five Ponds Press had previously agreed to correct and distribute the new editions, once approved, to the district for free, according to Education Week.

The Board will continue to accept written comments from the public until the end of August and is scheduled to a final review and approval recommendation for the books September 22.

Do you know the correct answers to the errors in the textbooks?

1) In what year did the Independence War begin? *

1774

1775

1776

1777

2) True or False: In 1785, George Washington presided over the Continental Congress. *

True

False

3) How many states joined the Confederacy? *

10

11

12

13

4) True or False: The Battle of Richmond was fought just before the Battle of Gettysburg. *

True

False

5) When did the U.S. join World War I? *

1914

1915

1916

1917

6) True or False: The two Battles of Bull Run yielded about 23,000 dead, wounded or missing. *

True

False

7) Sir Walter Raleigh sailed back to England in 1587 after visiting the Roanoke Colony in North Carolina. *

True

False

Show your quiz results to your friends on Facebook

Comments

[McGyver1]

10:27 AM on 08/05/2011

Want a Black History lesson? Check this guy out...he's great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xryXpK042pQ&feature=feedwll&list=WL

[Norm]

09:27 AM on 08/05/2011

Much of American history taught in high school is wrong and it was wrong when I studied it forty years ago. Moreover, it is also excruciatingly boring. I became a history major in college and would not have known I was mis-taught had I not been one. That it was finally fascinating was a bonus.

[Angel R1240]

04:50 PM on 08/04/2011

God the errors in these history books are unbelievable I got all of these questions on top right, no wonder why our kids don't know anything about our history. I wonder if these books were written in the great right wing state of Texas?

[raechel]

10:17 AM on 08/03/2011

Do away with textbooks. No one reads them, they are out-of-date and prone to political distortion, and we have higher quality up-to-date information available on the Internet. They are a needless expense. Yes, there's a big textbook business that feeds at the public trough, but I think the public has a right to stop throwing money into the danged thing. The success of Kahn Academy demonstrates what it really takes to teach facts and concepts, and teachers can better spend their time coaching and guiding.

[Tekkdude]

12:30 PM on 08/04/2011

That would be great if there was a trusted location where you could get facts on the internet that everyone could use. However, way too often (and I saw this while working on my MBA) people thought that wikipedia was the best source of information on the internet or they would quote things that glenn beck or rachel maddow said as fact in their papers. No, sorry, I think we need to keep textbooks around a while longer. Although they don't have to be paper books. E-books would work just as well and save a lot of kids back problems.

[raechel]

01:50 PM on 08/04/2011

Of course anyone doing academic research would be foolish to read only (or cite, good grief) Wikipedia. However, my personal experience is that mistakes of fact and outright distortions don't last long on Wikipedia. It helps to have 100,000 (or is it 500,000?) editors who have no MONEY in the game. And I've yet to see a textbook that could stand up to Wikipedia.

Anecdote: my sister was hospitalized for several weeks in neuro intensive care in one of the top hospitals in the country. I asked a neurosurgeon a question about where an artery was located in the brain, and he pulled over the laptop and popped into Wikipedia to show me.

Wikipedia: not perfect, but better than Encylopedia Brittanica ever was, and a whole lot better than any public school textbook I've ever seen.

[raechel]

01:55 PM on 08/04/2011

I do want to say I agree with you on e-books, but not for textbooks. For primary sources, yes indeed. Some secondary sources. But none of this tertiary, watered-down, junk. Journal articles, novels, books written by scientists, historians, engineers, etc. I never thought I'd go the e-book route because I love books so much, but then I bought a Nook on a whim, have downloaded hundreds of off-copyright books for free, and some others for $$, and am loving it. Why in the world are we printing books???

[Bear Left]

07:04 PM on 07/31/2011

Omg, the d-baggers have learned to write sentences. We're doomed.

[buckydumpster]

11:29 AM on 07/31/2011

Most of the textbooks are made, edited and cleansed in the state of Texas. Was this something that was born in Tex and approved or checked by some forth grade teachers? I think this is one reason why so many advocate for vouchers to private schools. In private school textbooks, you can put in or leave out whatever you want.

[Parkite]

11:03 AM on 07/31/2011

Are the teachers that approved the textbook being rewarded or fired?

[buckydumpster]

11:39 AM on 07/31/2011

Fire them! They were supposed to fact check a 1,000+ page history book (probably during their summer vacation...lol) and those overpaid public employees couldn't get it done. Now, if they were to submarine our entire economy we'd give them 850 billion dollars.

[Mr Anonymous]

09:28 PM on 08/01/2011

Teachers don't give the yes or no. They usually give their opinions about what they think about it, but ultimately its up to the schoolboards.

[bfre]

07:00 AM on 08/02/2011

Yes and well paid curriculum specialist that work in the "area head office" who are usually the teachers who worked hard to get out of classrooms....we have too many of these sucking money out of the classroom. And they are getting paid much more than any classroom teacher.

[Parkite]

07:46 AM on 08/02/2011

Reread the article. Three 4th grade teachers originally APPROVED the text books.

[kurtvb]

06:54 AM on 07/31/2011

OK, so now we know VA is just as screwed up as TX. How does the rest of the red states compare with their history books? What about the science (that RIPublicans hate so much) books. How do those states match up. And why would you not have the state university system hiostory departments review the texts before they are purchased? I know they, college professors, can be bought as well, but you have a better chance of getting the facts with them.

[dreamdeffered]

04:06 AM on 07/31/2011

As a parent, history class, like current events, is an opportunity to discuss with my children basic skills like critical thinking, recognizing bias, differentiating between fact and opinion, and the importance of seeking out sources with different viewpoints, based on primary and secondary resources. Most people don't seem to have those capacities themselves, though, let alone the ability to impart them to their children. It's a long term, slow moving, deadly coup from the very bowels of the republic.

[Gail Cerridwen]

03:20 AM on 07/31/2011

This is what happens when education is politicized. For decades now, religious and cultural conservatives (which I guess means adversarial toward facts?) have been populating local education boards. It hasn't been helping, as exampled here.

[wbearl]

11:26 PM on 07/30/2011

I think they better re check their history. Blacks did fight for the Confederacy. Toward the end of the war the South offered freedom for any black that would fight for them. In the Battle of Richmond, there was a Black Battalion manning the city defenses. I realize this challenges the mentality that the Civil war was fought to free the slaves, but the Civil War was far more complicated than that.

[Teacher Trish]

12:12 AM on 07/31/2011

Forty or fifty African American soldiers is a huge difference from thousands. See "What This Cruel War Was Over" by Chandra Manning or anything written by Eric Foner, James McPherson or Bruce Levine.

[2083]

11:18 PM on 08/04/2011

As much as I don't like to defend the other side of this argument, the source you cite can hardly be said to be impartial, or even an attempt at being impartial.

[buckydumpster]

11:25 AM on 07/31/2011

Really? How ironic. Freedom to those who will fight against their own freedom. That's kind of like me (middle class) voting for a Republican.

[wbearl]

11:49 PM on 08/01/2011

I'm middle class and I'm retired. The last time I voted for a Democrat for President was when I voted for Jimmy Carter. My reward for that was to be laid off and to then sit in gas lines every other day for $5 worth of gas. Ever tried to job hunt on $5 worth of gas? No, true freedom is to be able to vote for a person, not a party. True freedom is to vote for an idea that appeals to you, not to blindly follow some political party idea. I was forced into the Military when we had a Democrat President (LBJ). I was laid off only once in my life and it was when we had a Democrat President (Carter). I almost lost my house when we had a Democrat President (Carter). We almost lost the family farm when we had a Democrat President (Carter). Both Johnson and Carter had a Democrat majority in both houses. So please tell me again how the Democrats are for the middle class.

[2083]

11:20 PM on 08/04/2011

A. Stockholm Syndrome
B. The Union troops were not fighting for their freedom, nor were they noted for friendly attitudes towards slaves in the South.
C. A chance to win their freedom

I agree that it seems ironic, but from their perspective it does make some sense.

[TabaskoKat]

08:57 PM on 07/30/2011

go figure

[Chris Wundrow]

07:26 PM on 07/30/2011

I have never forgotten what one of my college instructors told me one time about public school history classes. He told me that he purpose of history instruction at that level, (grade school, middle, and high school) is indoctrination. So I am not at all surprised at what Virginia is doing, and that its textbooks are full of errors. Basically, what kids learn in history class is essentially what "the powers that be" (state, local, whatever) want them to know, no more and no less.

[garystartswithg]

10:22 PM on 07/30/2011

don't be too quick with just blaming high schools, i had a college book written by a prof at Chico that was considered a definitive until the last chapter which was a glaringly false account of the Reagan years. Creating a St Reagan has always been imperative for the movement.

[2083]

11:21 PM on 08/04/2011

Tell me about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bellesiles

[lawFROMNEWYORK]

12:20 AM on 08/05/2011

Horace Mann, in truth his wife, brought the German system of education here in order to secure kindling for the furnaces of the industrial revolution.

Thorstein Veblen did more than write about the leisure class; he termed the Ivy men who carried out Mann's plan the Captains of Erudition. Every young person who learns about this is liberated once again. Love America but do it critically; with plenty of observation, understanding and critical thought. We are the most free but Scandinavia has much to teach us, and Mandela, and Buffet and Gates . . and now George Soros who gave $200 to every New York State Welfare family with children -- more hedge fund managers should reform themselves as he has.

[Gwenhevare]

12:12 PM on 08/02/2011

History is written by the winners. When I teach Social Studies (4th grade) it's teaching the students to be a good citizen. 4th grade is basic geography anyways, states and capitals. But I talk a bit about past presidents (the ones on money) and very basic facts about what they did. I'm not going to go into detail about the Civil War and its causes, but they should know that Lincoln was President at that time, approximately when it was, and that the end result was that the union stayed together and the slaves were freed.

It's not my responsibility as a teacher to tell them who they should vote for, it's my responsibility as a teacher to make sure they understand the process of and the importance of voting. It's my responsibility as a teacher to make them into good American citizens. E Pluribus Unum is my classroom motto.

[dirtydog1776]

07:10 PM on 07/30/2011

While there are errors in most textbooks in school, the problem is that no time allotted in schools for learning the facts that teach students "the big picture." Most of them do not know who we fought in the Revolutionary War and why, why Lincoln was an important leader or who attacked Pearl Harbor. In the goal of teaching to standardized tests, students learn nothing important, except political correctness, not to think and how to use a condom.

[captainindustry]

05:41 PM on 07/30/2011

Learning history in a high school classroom is an exercise in futility.

The kids would be better off studying Ken Burn's series on the Civil War. Studying it, reinacting some of the scenes, firing a long rifle.

[Chris Wundrow]

07:32 PM on 07/30/2011

I loved Ken Burns' series so much I bought a set--best 94 bucks I ever spent!

[cam1002]

10:49 PM on 07/30/2011

Excellent idea and I am sure it would bring History to life for the kids and they would remember a whole lot more than just trying to memorize dates. My daughter had an excellent history teacher who told stories about what they were studying and they thoroughly enjoyed his classes and learned a lot they won't soon forget.