NY Daily News - front - Special Report: Schoolbooks flubbing facts

New York is finally noticing that school textbooks are filled with errors, political correctness and Texas red-neck science.

Often, the shoddy textbooks penetrate New York City schools by way of Texas.

California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas pick textbooks statewide, giving them enormous clout to shape the books that enter their schools.

In Texas, for example, conservatives can influence selection and sometimes force publishers to alter passages. Books that are shaped and debated in Texas then wind up in New York.

Take the 2003 editions of two social studies textbooks, Glencoe's "Our World Today: People, Places and Issues" and Harcourt's "World Regions." Glencoe wrote of ancient geological events that took place "millions of years ago," like the Ice Age, while Harcourt referred to fossil fuels "formed millions of years ago."

Lone Star State creationists complained that the references conflicted with biblical time lines. So the publishers dropped the phrase "millions of years ago" and substituted language like "in the distant past" and "over time."

The two books, altered in Austin, Tex., have been approved, but not yet bought, for New York City schools.

"To please rednecks in Texas, they're censoring science in New York — and all over America," said Bennetta.