Education publication makes whale of a mistake

MUSKEGON, Michigan (AP) --Teacher Deb Harris could hardly believe what she was reading to her fourth-grade class. Whales in Lake Michigan?

But that's what it said in her "Michigan Studies Weekly," a newspaper distributed to 462 teachers statewide.

Harris called Utah-based Studies Weekly Inc., which puts out the teaching aid, but she said an editor stood behind the story.

"I've lived here all my life -- there are no whales in Lake Michigan," Harris recalled telling the editor.

A retraction was later posted on the company's Web site with an explanation that the false information came from a different Internet site intended as a joke.

"We at Studies Weekly want this to be a lesson to you," the apology said. "Not all Web sites are true, and you cannot always believe them. When researching, you should always look for a reliable site that has credentials (proof of truthfulness)."

Studies Weekly publications have a circulation of 1.2 million readers in third through sixth grades nationwide.

The article read: "Every spring, the freshwater whales and freshwater dolphins begin their 1,300-mile migration from Hudson Bay to the warmer waters of Lake Michigan."

In reality, the closest whales get to Michigan is the salty estuary at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, which is home to beluga whales.

Whales (and dolphins) in MI, now that's funny.
But not funny, because guess what? Many 'school approved' publications contain false information, and or misspellings. This came out in a readers digest mag (I love those). Teachers were noticing errors, and reporting them, but the errors were not being corrected. Then a group of people gathered a whole bunch of text books to proof read, and many instances of incorrect information were noted. Basically cost is the determining factor when it comes down to what textbooks get used, and what doesn't.

Maybe they mistook the Iraqi submarine that was supposed to be in Lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago for a whale. :D

I've often quoted this as words to live by and this thread is a prime example:

Believe nothing you read, and only half of what you see.

Greg Moore

Was it mentioned in the National Inquirer? :D

I think if there were whales and dolphins in Lake Michigan, our local news papers would have reported it, before some outfit in Utah.
I especially like their "We meant to do that, to teach you a lesson" attitude (with no extra charge for the wrong lesson). This solidifys the new anti-responsability messages that people seem to be raising their children by. Yeah, they taught our kids a lesson alright: "don't admit responsability, and blame somebody else for your mistakes" That's really good. If that mag was being distributed to my kids school, I would march right down there and tell them "Do not bring that crap in my kids classroom. I make my kids responable for their actions - always have, and I won't be a part of anything that tells them it is OK to make a mistake as long as you can find some one else to blame."

haha, after all my years here in michigan I still haven't seen a whale. I guess I better pay more attention the next time I'm at the beach :D

Yeah lake Michigan is large but the whales don't live in sweet water.

And in other news a giant squid was spotted off of Manhatten swimming up the Hudson, making its way towards hte Jersey shore.

Heh, whales in Michigan.

That squid would die a horrible death in Jersey :D
The waters are not that clean.

Wonderful. No wonder I pulled my kids out of the Muskegon Public School District. :eek:

They are now in a charter school and the difference is night and day.

--Tina

Originally posted by timechange
That squid would die a horrible death in Jersey :D
The waters are not that clean.

Yeah, the hudson is the last place I would go swimming :puke:

Originally posted by timechange
..."We at Studies Weekly want this to be a lesson to you," the apology said...

Nice of them to make their readers understand that not all web sites tell the truth. Maybe they should take some of their own advice.