No more dog-eared textbooks
The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is looking to replace traditional paper schoolbooks with ebooks. Not only is it intended to save money but it will also mean that information can always be kept up-to-date.
I must be honest that it’s many years ago that I was at school and maybe things have changed, but textbooks were passed down from one class to another each time the year group moved up. Books were old and worn with a series of crossed out names written inside the front cover. Then there were the marks and stains, the source of which were usually to horrible to imagine.
School kids nowadays ought not have any problem adjusting to this technology, indeed I expect most are more familiar, and maybe more comfortable, reading off a screen than reading paper.
If the economic calculations are correct and there are savings to be made then maybe we’re at the beginning of the end of the traditional educational textbook.
Next blog post after 22 June
I have a a netbook and I have just bought an iPod Touch. So I am not the one to be against high technology and gadgetry. I am a father of 2 and surely there are better things I could have done with 300 quid in the last year, but at least my kids are well dressed, well fed and properly educated. California is not just Hollywood and i am sure that there are poor kids there who would need a better life and a better education system. Maybe Mr Schwarzy would like to spend the millions of dollars (that he hasn’t got – Schwarzenegger runs California on loans) in a better education or social protection system, rather than on ebooks, which will probably not benefit the kids in a any significant way…