But the Textbook Says….

When we were in school, our teachers often referred us to the textbook. Over the span of 10-17 years in school, the textbook seems to gain a level afforded to only religious texts – infallible. This shows up in debates and discussions in the form of the lines "Well, you should read the textbooks" or "the textbook says." All this does is demonstrates to those who can think a bit out of the box that the person using those standard lines has fallen for it.

There is a key reason why this is the first article under Concerning Curriculum. It is because the misconceptions surrounding textbooks is at the heart of the problem. I'll lay it out here before I start getting into the individual subjects. Get ready as this is going to be tough to follow.

A textbook is a book. Just like all other books, it has an author, editor, and publisher. The purpose of any author of fiction, non-fiction or textbooks is to influence the mind and opinions of the reader. If the author is good at his / her job, then he or she makes more money.

An editor not only checks for the grammar, punctuation and more but they also check to make certain the author is operating within the parameters set for him / her by the publisher. If the editor is good at his / her job, then they make more money. The publishers are a company or group that markets and attempts to generate the greatest amount of sales of a book. Their concern is the same as any profit oriented business – making money.

Furthermore, all authors have a preset bias and opinion before writing their books. That will govern what is put into a book and how it is written so they can best influence their readers. So do you still think "it's in the textbooks" is a good argument? By the time I'm done, you'll discover why good teachers only use the textbook as a marginal resource. Excellent teachers go straight to the source and deal with the hard facts.

-MatureKid