According to this article, Del. David Englin of Alexandria, Virginia , states that errors in history textbooks regarding Civil War and Revolutionary War facts should not be tolerated. Even a Chesapeake City Schools spokesman asserts that officials will support any state effort to guarantee accuracy. Will these officials still adhere to this principled approach when errors are exposed regarding the history of Islam, or will they cave to political correctness as do so many of today's politicians? --H.R.ACT!
Source: Virginian Pilot
04 Jan 2011
By Elisabeth Hulette
Del. David Englin, D-Alexandria, said Monday that he will sponsor legislation to that effect in the General Assembly session that begins next week. The proposal comes after a state review committee found a slew of errors in multiple history textbooks.
Under his proposal, the state Department of Education would "certify" publishers, who would agree to have their books reviewed by experts and to take responsibility for fixing any mistakes.
"If a book is being used in a classroom, it needs to be accurate," Englin said. "That's a bare-minimum standard."
The review was called in response to an error about black Confederate soldiers in "Our Virginia: Past and Present," published by Connecticut company Five Ponds Press.
A committee of five historians turned up errors in that book and others, ranging from the year John Rolfe married Pocahontas to quotes that do not appear in the historical record.
One book depicted Virginia soldiers in the Revolutionary War wearing red coats when they really wore blue; another said many colonial Americans were illiterate when in fact literacy rates were high.
"I also found some very significant omissions, some internal inconsistencies, and some erroneous or questionable descriptions and analyses of historical events. Some are so ludicrous and difficult to explain that I cannot understand where the misinformation came from," retired Library of Virginia historian Brent Tarter wrote in his review of "Our Virginia."
Under the current system, committees of teachers review textbooks, primarily checking to see whether they align with the state Standards of Learning. Then local divisions can pick those books or others.
Englin's Textbook Accountability Act wouldn't necessarily eliminate that process, he said. Instead, it would add the certification system and allow the state Board of Education to define what makes someone a "content expert."
Divisions could still pick books not certified by the state, Englin said.
"And the publisher has the liability for problems," Englin said. "It's in the interest of the district financially."
Historians who served on the review committee gave the proposal mixed reviews.
Christopher Einolf, a
DePaul University sociologist who wrote a biography of a Civil War general, said the proposal sounds like a good one. Of the books he reviewed, the most accurate had professional historians listed among their authors, he said.
But Ronald Heinemann, a retired American history professor from Hampden-Sydney College, said the state should check on its own for accuracy and not rely on publishers.
"I don't know if I would trust them," he said. "They're in the business of selling books."
Englin said he and state Board of Education member Rob Krupicka, who also worked on the bill, thought about having the state hire expert reviewers but found it would be too costly.
Chesapeake schools spokesman Tom Cupitt said officials would support any state efforts to guarantee accuracy. Virginia Beach assistant superintendent Joe Burnsworth said in an e-mail that the legislation has potential to reassure divisions about the quality of books.
In a statement last week, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia Wright said she plans to propose publishers provide documentation that their books have been reviewed by competent authorities.
Englin said he hasn't yet received feedback from the state on his proposal. State schools spokesman Charles Pyle said Monday that officials will work with Englin just as they work with any legislator who wants to submit an education bill.
Englin said he's hoping for broad bipartisan support.
"We all have a shared interest here," he said. "Clearly the system in place is broken and we have to find a way to fix it."
Elisabeth Hulette, (757) 222-5216, elisabeth.hulette@pilotonline.com
