Errors in textbooks reflect poor system

Did you know one of Newton's laws of motion states force equals weight times speed?\nOr how about that the equator passes through the southern United States?\nI know what you are thinking, "stupid journalism major," but this is not the case. The above examples are just some of the errors found in the textbooks being used by students in this country. \nI mean, come on, everyone knows the equator passes through the northern part of the United States.\nA study performed by John Hubisz, a North Carolina State University physics professor, revealed 500 pages of errors in the 12 most popular science books used in middle schools throughout the United States.\nI don't find science all that exciting, and I don't like taking science classes, either. I think Adam Sandler put it best when he said "chlorophyll, more like BORE-ophyll." But I think the books should at least be correct. What does it say about our country when the people in charge of writing our textbooks can't get it right? Next thing you know, I'll be finding out "computer" is a verb and that Great Britain won the Revolutionary War.\nPrentice Hall, publisher of one of the 12 books reviewed in the study, said they are aware the errors exist, but claim the last-minute changes to state standards result in these errors.\n"We may have to change a photograph because of a new content objection, and the caption isn't changed with the photograph," Wendy Spiegel, a spokeswoman for Prentice Hall's parent company, Pearson Education, told the Charlotte Observer. "But we believe we have the best practices to ensure accuracy."\nAren't the errors noticed before the book is used in class? One would think so. As a teacher, I know I would want to review the material I was going to have my students read before they read it. But Hubisz said he believes the errors are not caught because few of the teachers have enough physical science training to even recognize the errors when they teach them.\nComforting thought that the people teaching the youth of America aren't even trained well enough for the job, huh?\nHubisz said to correct the problem, publishers need to get "real authors" for the textbooks.\n"They get people to check for political correctness. They try to get in as much cultural diversity as possible," he told the Observer. "They just don't seem to understand what science is about."\nOur country has come to the point of caring more about a science book being politically correct than scientifically correct. \nPersonally, while I am all about cultural diversity, I think our country needs to lighten up a little and not worry about whose toes they might step on. But now is not the time for that discussion.\nHopefully, with President George W. Bush in office, he will put education spending at the top of his list. This would be an alternative to spending too much money on defense or destroying natural resources for big business. Perhaps then we will have teachers who realize errors in information that they are teaching students. Maybe then the authors of the textbooks will also know the right thing to say and not be more concerned about being politically correct instead of the number of protons in uranium. I know, I know, it's a novel idea, but a guy can hope, can't he?\nThat way, when I'm helping my child with his chemistry homework at night, I can open the book to prove that water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one carbon atom, just like I learned in middle school.\nWhat's that? Water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom? Hmm, where can I sign up for Chemistry 101?