Some significant errors have been identified in Ontario’s Civics textbooks. These errors include, for example, the suggestion that Canada’s Senate is elected. You can read the story here.
These mistakes demonstrate something important – that having one common curriculum for a province does not prevent errors from happening. When errors do happen, it means that the result can be significant collective misunderstanding. Parents need to play an active role in looking at the things their children are being taught, and ensuring that they are accurate and do not reflect particular biases.
Parents for Choice in Education also believes that there can reasonably be, in the same province, different options for approved curricula, so that schools and parents have some degree of choice. Having choice and dialogue, instead of one mandatory provincial curriculum, would allow for rapid changes if and when inaccuracies are identified.