The “Authors” » What happens when a textbook has no author?
Because many contributors to textbook compilation are not scholars or even experts in the field, they rely on weak sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, and borrow from each other. As a result, the textbooks all look alike, and they all share inconsistencies and errors.
Harriet Tyson, a well-respected education writer and researcher, explains that “there is a circularity to the national textbook market. State curriculum writers, test publishers, and textbook publishers consult one another’s documents when developing new products.”1
Jeffrey Mirel, a reviewer of American history textbooks, “was struck by the textbooks’ remarkable similarities . . . in structure, organization, illustrations, length, even weight.”2 Tyson explains that the circular construction of the books tends “to promote the accretion of topics, rather than greater focus and depth.” The result is textbooks that are “a mile wide and an inch deep.”3 Not only are the books superficial, but they are also prone to error.
Check out examples of errors in secular textbooks.
1Harriet Tyson, “Overcoming Structural Barriers to Good Textbooks,”
2 Diane Ravitch, “A Consumer’s Guide to High School History Textbooks,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (February 26, 2004).
3 William H. Schmidt, Curtis C. McKnight, and Senta A. Raizen, “A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education,” Michigan State University: U.S. National Research Center for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (1997)