Bricks of paper vs. Cyber books
Books, or textbooks to be a bit more precise are big information-filled bricks of paper that we carry around in our bags practically the whole day (or most of it). Now for a while, or at least ever since new technological advances have been made, the need of textbooks has been reduced. This poses the question to schools, “Could we use technology (like tablets or kindles) instead of textbooks?”
Think about it from the physical point of view. Students carry these large textbooks almost all day, which doesn’t do any benefit to their backs. And it’s not just 1 textbook they need to carry; it can go from 1 to even 3 depending on the classes. According to popular opinion, texts also seem to be a waste of paper. Consider that, many (or most) students don’t really take care of their textbooks. They might throw them; stuff them mindlessly into their backpacks without really regarding their condition or the amount of money that it’ll cost to get a new one.
Let’s go a bit further down the road to college students. They need to pay for their own texts for their classes and that is usually a large sum of money for them. What will they do? Most likely they will try to avoid the need to pay for them by borrowing the books or finding them in the library and using those instead.
Many teachers from around the world have given their opinion about the matter, and most of them think about the same thing. Many of them also think that it is way cheaper to purchase books online that the actual hard copy. They can be more up to date (and the information in the internet as well) than the hard copies, too. Also having to buy a whole new set of books because they have been updated might be quite troublesome for some schools that just don’t have the budget for that.
Of course, there are still people who prefer the actual text than the technology and there is no way to replace such a valuable thing. But in some ways, technology such as tablets, e-books, kindles, etc. facilitate the school life of students in a positive way. When trying to look for information, it’s much quicker and the information can be corroborated by a variety of sources making it financially, physically and efficiently beneficial. Buying electronic devices is expensive but take into consideration that once you get them you don’t need to get another one the next year, making many schools and colleges think twice about the advantages.
By: Andrea R.
Books, or textbooks to be a bit more precise are big information-filled bricks of paper that we carry around in our bags practically the whole day (or most of it). Now for a while, or at least ever since new technological advances have been made, the need of textbooks has been reduced. This poses the question to schools, “Could we use technology (like tablets or kindles) instead of textbooks?”
Think about it from the physical point of view. Students carry these large textbooks almost all day, which doesn’t do any benefit to their backs. And it’s not just 1 textbook they need to carry; it can go from 1 to even 3 depending on the classes. According to popular opinion, texts also seem to be a waste of paper. Consider that, many (or most) students don’t really take care of their textbooks. They might throw them; stuff them mindlessly into their backpacks without really regarding their condition or the amount of money that it’ll cost to get a new one.
Let’s go a bit further down the road to college students. They need to pay for their own texts for their classes and that is usually a large sum of money for them. What will they do? Most likely they will try to avoid the need to pay for them by borrowing the books or finding them in the library and using those instead.
Many teachers from around the world have given their opinion about the matter, and most of them think about the same thing. Many of them also think that it is way cheaper to purchase books online that the actual hard copy. They can be more up to date (and the information in the internet as well) than the hard copies, too. Also having to buy a whole new set of books because they have been updated might be quite troublesome for some schools that just don’t have the budget for that.
Of course, there are still people who prefer the actual text than the technology and there is no way to replace such a valuable thing. But in some ways, technology such as tablets, e-books, kindles, etc. facilitate the school life of students in a positive way. When trying to look for information, it’s much quicker and the information can be corroborated by a variety of sources making it financially, physically and efficiently beneficial. Buying electronic devices is expensive but take into consideration that once you get them you don’t need to get another one the next year, making many schools and colleges think twice about the advantages.
By: Andrea R.