The terminater has declared that public schools should no longer use text books, instead and I quote "Text books are outdated, students should use the internet as its a great place to learn."
Although this is voluntary and more about the financial crisis facing California, surely this is a slippery slope.
Maybe Arnold will have good old fashioned book burning.
Any thoughts?

I go to school in southern California and the cycles for text books at my school are that they get new ones once every 8-9 years? I think that they are not only outdated but also in horrible condition as they are passed down from class to class.

In most Rochester city schools the kids only have one set of books that stay in the class for use by all the various classes the teacher has. They make copies of the homework pages, and the books are old! I can assure you that a great number of kids in Cali don't have internet access, so what about them? Are we now going to make an educational underclass?

Arnold is trying to save money any way possible.

What he is really saying is that there isn't anymore money to buy books with and since most schools have an Internet connection anyways, they should just use that.

Actually no longer we as a nation can compete with the rest of developing countries in many things including education, our books are no only out dated but manipulated.

So the truth is that education in America needs a very big improvement or the future of this nations is going to deteriorate and keep producing morons like the politicians we have right now.

He is just saying what the rest of the world will need a few more years to wake up to...books, CDs, DVDs, Television, paid telephoning...its mostly going to be replaced by the internet.

some people would indeed like a paperless world.

one good EMP and history can be deleted "again"

the pen is mightier than the keyboard.

After reading the 1st reply there's definitely an issue with the damaged books however a simple solution would be photocopies for the class instead of the students taking the books home.
The second poster raises a good question, what about the students who don't have the internet?
As I said its a slippery slope, personally I could find an answer faster in a text book than I could online plus the internet is full of skewed facts.

I think it depends very much on the subject. If you are studying WW2 for history class, you probably aren't going to be missing much with an 8/9 year old book, but if you are studying certain branches of physics, even a year old book might be missing some quite important stuff.

Having taken courses w/ online books I can definitely say I prefer the physical book over the computer. The computer hurts my eyes after extended periods of research.

I understand technology seems to point towards the internet as the main hub of books, CD's, movies and the like, but I jsut don't see how it will be sustainable in catastrophy.

I'd have to agree that for some subjects (not math) it is much easier to read the internet versus a book. I'm still in school but I've learned most of the things I know from the internet not books. It's not nearly as boring, you can't damage it or pay for it, so if all the school had enough computers it would be worth it in my opinion.

Great idea! But what of the students who have no access to even a computer at home?
Students in CA don't pay for textbooks, so will some students be given a computer or online device? And what about getting those computers/devices returned to the school? Will the same student who can't even return a book be trusted to return a computer?
Is this a ploy to get the state to buy a Kindle or a like device for each student in place of a textbook?

I emailed him with my concern over this initiative.

This is his reply:

governor@governor.ca.gov
to me

show details Jun 30 (2 days ago)


Reply

Follow up message
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me about California's Digital Textbook Initiative. I value the opinions of people like you who care about the future of education in California.

As you know, students today are innovative and they use technology now more than ever before. From downloading music on their iPods to receiving Twitter updates on their cell phones, young people are immersed in technology. And a digital textbook should simply be another element in a vast array of technologies and media sources that kids can use for anytime-anywhere learning.

Starting this fall in high school math and science classes, California will be the first state in the nation to provide schools with a state-approved list of digital textbooks. The digital textbooks will not only benefit students, but they'll also be good for the schools' bottom lines. The average textbook costs up to $100 - so if each of California's 2 million high school students used digital math and science books, we could save the schools $300 to $400 million, and that's money that could be used for hiring more teachers or making class sizes smaller.

Digital textbooks will also prevent our students from having to carry bags full of heavy books. They'll help the environment because we won't be cutting down as many trees, and education and learning will be more fun because these books are interactive. Any school can take advantage of the textbook initiative. Schools that are unable to provide computers for every student can still print out this information at a fraction of what textbooks cost.

Thanks again for your interest in digital textbooks. I truly appreciate your personal commitment to the future of education our great state.

Sincerely,


Arnold Schwarzenegger

I'm at work so I can't go into detail. When I get home.

Both controlled by the Illuminati so who cares.
What does he say about the Battle of LA that is what I'd like to know.
And the net and wiki lie.
So he is a liar.
ED: A big hit for the publishers but they can continue with alien stories.


[edit on 7/2/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

I think free online textbooks would be a great idea. It would allow for more flexibility and would be easier to update than ordering an entire new set of textbooks.