Should Textbooks Be Taught In Schools

Many schools are facing the difficult decision of how to better their students’ education. They have to make the decision whether they should move to an all digital learning style or keep teaching as they are, with printed textbooks and paper. There are problems with keeping printed textbooks and continuing to have paper assignments. Problems include textbooks weighing too much, textbooks costing too much, and the problem of accidentally losing textbooks and assignments, or leaving them at school. The main solution to this problem is for schools to completely switch to an all digital learning system. There are positives and negatives when switching teaching methods. Schools changing their teaching methods is a solution in many ways. By using …show more content…
A backpack with all the textbooks a high school student needs in one year weighs about 40 pounds. This is a heavy amount to be carrying to class, home, and around the hallways. If a student were to have homework in many classes in one night, it could be a hard task to carry those books everywhere. Choosing printed textbooks over a digital teaching system is a problem also because the textbooks students use cost quite a bit. In past years, it has been known for the families of students to spend up to 700 dollars a year on textbooks (Stern). Along with these textbooks costing a lot, textbooks also have to be updated frequently. People are discovering new findings daily, these finding could be very helpful to students. If students are needing this new information, textbooks are going to need to be updated to provide the correct statistics and data. Updating textbooks and purchasing new ones is also high-priced. Printed textbooks are known to cost 50-60% more than digital textbooks purchased on a tablet or laptop (“Should”). The last reason schools staying with printed textbooks is a problem is that with printed textbooks and paper assignments, students find it hard to keep track of these materials. Textbooks are often lost throughout the school year, and to replace them cost money that some families would rather not spend. Also, many students try using …show more content…
Technology is a very important resource used almost everyday. It is known that the percentage of Americans who read online books, newspapers, or magazines is 44% (“Should”). It is also known that the textbooks that can be downloaded on tablets cost much less than it does to print textbooks (“Should”). The world today relies greatly on technology, it is only smart that the younger generations are aware of how to control it and live with it. The company Apple, has reported over 7 million iPads currently used in the United States schooling systems (Tynan-Wood). It is also reported that more than 10 million iPads are being used in the school systems all around the world