Raising Boys

Errors in schoolbooks August 7, 2005

I remember Helmut Haas raising this problem when I was starting out as a reporter for Sun.Star Cebu right after graduating from college some 10 years ago.

It did not seem so important then because 1) I had no children and 2) I had just escaped from school and did not want to be reminded of anything remotely connected to it.

But while Dylan and I were reviewing for this week’s first periodical exams, I saw grammar and spelling errors in his books that were just too many to dismiss as typographical mistakes.

In his Readiness Skills workbook, I read two instructions written this way: “Listen to the teacher says the name of each picture.” Another instruction, repeated five times or more, said: “Listen to your teacher names each picture.” And I have not gone through the other books.

I don’t know if this is a new book or one of those originally printed before Helmut Haas brought the matter to the public’s attention but a note in the workbook said it was revised in 2003, after the mistakes were discovered. You would think they’d have put more effort in the making or editing of those books already.