With today’s internet providing information at your fingertips, it is quite difficult to determine which information is valid, and which are not. Frankly, this is the main task of today’s teachers -- allowing students to surf the internet for research, but ensuring that students know how to evaluate it. It is not an easy task, but it is not impossible. For instance, Wikipedia entries should be critically examined before being used as a valid source.

The same goes for textbooks used in schools. Local publishers provide us with localized content so students will be able to relate to the topics on hand. However, teachers, students and parents should also be critical of what is written in our kids’ textbooks.

One IT book, “Fun with Computers”, was brought to my attention -- the content may be sound (did not read it), however, the fact that the authors’ credentials may have been fabricated should raise alarms to both the Department of Education and schools using it. One of the authors, a certain Dr. Georgina Mansanero, received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of the Philippines - Diliman. This, I can say, is false! We are still working on getting our PhD programme approved by the University Council and the UP Board of Regents - how could she have earned that degree? Unless she is a time traveller, then I’d say that she might have been misrepresented.

Her co-author, Fe Jardin, claimed to have received her PhD in Science Education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I did a quick search on MIT’s website to check if they award degrees in Science Education, and I didn’t find one. I’d say, this needs further verification.

Another co-author, Engr. Francisco A. Garcia, claims to be currently (as of 2009) a Masters Degree in Computer Science in UP Diliman. Frankly, I do not know him - we don’t have a student named Francisco Garcia. I’d say, you need to call the UP College of Engineering Graduate Office to verify if indeed Francisco Garcia is an MSCS student.

Apparently, these same persons authored other books, such as “Presentation Design” and “Digital Discovery”. I highly recommend that schools check out the credentials of these authors first before even using their textbooks.

Another set of books, “Guide to Movie Making and Flash Animations” and “Visual Basic: An Approach to Program Development”, are published by the same company that published the three books I mentioned above. The authors, Aida Madrigal (PhD Computer Science from UPLB, which may not be true), Yolanda Yap, Fermin Garcia, Cesar Leonardo, have their credentials written on the books -- I’d recommend that you verify it before you even consider using the textbook.

Remember, textbooks need to be true and accurate. If the credentials of authors cannot be verified, what does that say of the veracity of the textbook content? Will you let your children’s future depend on information that you are not sure is true? Again, I recommend that you do check the credentials of the authors of your children’s textbooks! Don’t take my word -- verify and let me know if I erred. I’d gladly post a follow-up article on this topic.