Does California want accurate school books?
Then why all the rigmarole SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 166, 2000 — After finding 30 errors in 80 pages of a Prentice Hall astronomy textbook adopted in California, eighth-grade science teacher Leonard Tramiel began a new mission: To ensure that the books that kids pick up are accurate. Tramiel began researching the state’s textbook adoption process, reviewing the science books currently under review, and trying to understand how these textbooks, so riddled with errors, were finding their way into California schools. By the time he got involved, the adoption process for 2000 was well under way and there wasn’t much he could do to change anything at that point. Even so, he pleaded with the state not to adopt many of the revised science series submitted by publishers because they still contained major errors. The state adopted the flawed series anyway, including the Prentice Hall astronomy textbook that first caught Tramiel’s attention. In the course of his research about the sta
