Daily mistakes in math book

[amcal]

I'm so frustrated. Just about every night I check DDs math homework, I find a mistake in the book. It's super frustrating for DD. She ends up spending so much time trying to figure a problem out, finally coming to me in frustration only for us to discover that the question is worded or illustrated incorrectly making it Impossible to answer.

Or, I'll be correcting her homework and will tell her she has an answer wrong according to the answer key but, when I check it, DD did it right but, the question and answer key don't match.

I end up writing a note and attaching it to her homework most days pointing out the mistakes because, in the past, she'd get it marked wrong because whoever is checking is only going by the answer key which is often wrong.

So, what the heck? Is this the norm? She's only in 3rd grade and if it's this bad in 3rd grade, what's it going to be like in later grades when the work is so much more complicated?

[Alyantavid]

We run into the same problems.  My son's in 3rd as well and it's awfully sad to have him point out typos and mistakes in his homework. 

I just do what you do, though it is frustrating.  I have no idea what to do about it.

[CarrieMF]

If it is a text book there isn't much you can do other than continue to send the notes.  There are certain texts that the schools have to use based on their curriculum.  It is an editing problem with the publisher.

If it a worksheet the teacher is writing up they should be double checking their work & I'd be calling the principal if it continued.

[emilysmama]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

If it is a text book there isn't much you can do other than continue to send the notes.  There are certain texts that the schools have to use based on their curriculum.  It is an editing problem with the publisher.

I think the textbooks are decided each year for the entire school district by a committee.  Actually, I think if it were that bad, I would find a way to join the committee for next year's decision.

I would also not hesitate to a letter to the publisher and list the mistakes, and complain. I would figure out exactly who in the publisher is in charge of that kind of stuff so that I know where to direct my complaints. The least that the publisher can do is publish an errata sheet.  If I were very cheeky, I'd demand a rebate to the school on the basis of the mistakes.

[mama1803]

Originally Posted by emilysmama 

Originally Posted by CarrieMF 

If it is a text book there isn't much you can do other than continue to send the notes.  There are certain texts that the schools have to use based on their curriculum.  It is an editing problem with the publisher.

I think the textbooks are decided each year for the entire school district by a committee.  Actually, I think if it were that bad, I would find a way to join the committee for next year's decision.

I would also not hesitate to a letter to the publisher and list the mistakes, and complain. I would figure out exactly who in the publisher is in charge of that kind of stuff so that I know where to direct my complaints. The least that the publisher can do is publish an errata sheet.  If I were very cheeky, I'd demand a rebate to the school on the basis of the mistakes.

 I would second the idea of contacting the publisher and the committee that choses the books.  Here in Virginia there is a history text that is being pulled due to many mistakes.  Apparently, the author of the textbook is a writer and not a historian and she got her facts off the internet--no historian was consulted.  The result was a textbook filled with inaccuracies.  After several complaints, it is being pulled.  Not the same situation as a math text, but I would still complain.  Chances are other parents and students are just as frustrated as you.
 

[mnj77]

If I were the teacher and had that many mistakes pointed out to me, I would be trying the homework myself before I assigned it to make sure my students aren't unnecessarily frustrated!  It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes for the teacher to try the problems and let the kids know if there's an error.

[ecoteat]

This is why I hate textbooks. I've been teaching for 13 years and I rarely use one. I have one for math that I use more as a guideline for which topics the kids need to learn in order for the concent to flow from one grade level to the next, but textbooks are typically pretty terrible. I almost never use them for teaching science. Unfortunately, almost all the time teachers have little or no say in which books they use. I'm lucky to be in a school where we make most curriculum decisions ourselves (as long as we cover everything we need to).

It is possible to make a change in your school, though. You can look into being on the committees that select books. Or you can raise holy hell yourself. A old friend of mine did that when he noticed all the errors in his daughters' science books. He complained to the teacher, then the school, then the school board and superintendent, then the publisher, etc. He ended up making some waves in the news in the end, and the school system put out an addendum with corrections. Actually, I just googled him and found this: http://www.textbookleague.org/71erie1.htm. He didn't make many friends in the school system, but he did make some changes!

ETA: Here's another article that talks about general issues with textbooks, specifically science. But other subjects have the same problems. http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=66&threadID=191067&messageID=713878