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Thirty five years ago there were 20 major publishers producing history and social studies textbooks for American schools, including several Catholic publishers. Today there are five, and none is Catholic. In that time, content has steadily diminished in quality and quantity, becoming centered around images as the text and language have been “dumbed down”. At the same time, the national system of textbook review, dominated by a few big states like Texas and California, has politicized the books that are produced to the point that history is now written more for committees of professional reviewers and activist organizations than for children.

As a result of all this, contemporary social studies books have become blander and emptier with each revision. The influence of activist organizations and the secular education establishment has produced textbooks in which the facts of Christian history are also blurred and softened - when they not ignored or distorted completely. In addition, contemporary social studies and history textbooks are prone to numerous errors of fact. Here is just a sampling of errors found in some of today's most widely read textbooks:

On the Pope and Organization of the Church
“As Christianity grew, it became more organized. Each group chose a single leader called a bishop. Some people believe Peter served as an early bishop. Over time, the role of the bishop of Rome grew into the position of pope, the leader of all the bishops.”
— ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS (Harcourt Brace , 2000) p. 360

Wrong Impressions: The Church was hierachically organized from the beginning. In the New Testament, Christ trained leaders and assisting disciples. We also see Peter’s primacy and the evident organization of the early Church, confirmed by the earliest accounts of Christian activity.

On Human Origins
“In 1974, Donald Johanson found the oldest complete human skeleton in Ethiopia. He named his find ‘Lucy’...”
—WORLD HISTORY: Connections to Today (Prentice, 1999), p. 9

Wrong Description: Johanson’s “Lucy” was a partial – not a complete – skeleton; and it was an Australopithecine (“southern ape”), not a human. Its brain was chimpanzee-sized.

On Copernicus’ Theory
“Copernicus ... accepted the idea that the planets moved in perfect circles around the earth.”
—WORLD HISTORY: Continuity and Change (Holt, 1999), p. 404

Wrong theory: Copernicus, who was a Polish university professor and a Catholic priest, argued that planets move around the sun, not around the earth. The text itself admits this on page 404.

On the First University in North America
“... Harvard, the first North American university, was founded in 1636.”
—WORLD HISTORY: Connections to Today (Prentice, 1999), p. 399

Wrong century: The first North American university was the Roman Catholic University of Mexico in 1551, not the Presbyterian Harvard in 1636. The text itself includes Mexico in North America on page 158.

On the Russo-Japanese War of 1904
“In 1894, Japanese pressure on China led to war. It ended in disaster for China, with Japan gaining Korea ...”
—WORLD HISTORY: Connections to Today (Prentice, 1999), p. 651

Wrong war: Japan gained Korea as a result of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), not as a result of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). The text itself admits this on page 662.