In the same way that our parents tell about the ‘good old days’ of using slide rules instead of calculators, chalkboards instead of whiteboards, wooden pencils instead of mechanical, and typewriters instead of laptops, one day we will complain to our children about how we lugged around 10 pound textbooks while they download all their schoolwork on the latest iPhone. Textbooks are of the past and classes should teach more relevant, more interesting information without these paper-hoarding, money-wasting books.
Instead of reading from a physical textbook each night for homework, a combination of articles, websites, audio podcasts, novels, videos, graphics, or even online textbooks can teach the material in a more interactive, hands-on way. Textbooks only provide minimal approaches to teaching students, such as reading, looking at pictures, and notetaking to teach students. Increasing the usage of online sources allows a greater variety so students can learn information in the best way for them, such as listening to audio or watching videos. Also, since textbooks do not belong to the individual student, they are unable to highlight, markup, tear out, make notes on, or connect with the material. According to the article “Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away” from npr, connecting with text by taking notes and annotating enhances the processing of the information. Using multiple sources to teach a class can also teach the most updated, relevant information to the current day. This issue is exacerbated when certain subjects rely on accurate, current information, especially with science. My AP Environmental Science textbook was published in 2008, so my teacher must tell the class to not pay attention to the statistics on population numbers, levels of pollution, and “latest” discoveries of 2008. With having a 10 year old textbook, not only are these numbers incorrect, but also we do not learn about the most current technologies.
According to director of curriculum and instruction Cheryl Wozniak, new textbooks are purchased when new content standards are adopted by the state, when the textbooks become outdated, or when the books undergo wear and tear. I think reprinting and repurchasing an entire book when only small changes are made is not the best use of resources.
Since these textbooks with hundreds of pages must be printed multiple times, paper and resources are wasted. According to greeninitiative.org, approximately 30 million trees are used to make books sold in the U.S. each year. Since textbooks must update their information with new additions, even more pages must be printed, wasting even more trees. Unprinted websites, videos, and articles, can better teach this information without wasting resources or money.
Each time an updated textbook is purchased, money out of the evertight budget is wasted when it could be used for other improvements PHS desperately needs. Instead, PHS spends anywhere from $74 for a math book to $140 for a language or science book. , according to Wozniak’s administrative assistant Mary Leon. Spending money on online subscriptions to databases and websites to get paperless, updated information is a smarter, more sustainable use of this money.
Although in general textbooks are no longer leading education tools, in some classes the books work better than others. For history and language classes, textbooks are more effective because the information taught does not greatly change over time. Additionally, textbooks keep curriculum consistent among teachers who teach the same class. However, some teachers rely too heavily on these sources to drive the class without supplementing with additional information. Classes become dull when the homework and classwork always consist of reading. Overall, textbooks alone no longer prove to be adequate teaching tools. Teachers should begin to introduce other methods of instruction such as videos, podcasts, online articles, or databases. I understand it will take awhile to change since textbooks have been used for a long time, but teachers should only be altering the sources of information, not the actual content and curriculum. Our school should spend their budget on more pressing matters, and if we ever want to heal our environment, we need to stop reprinting books with hundreds of pages every time they get outdated. One day we will take our children to natural history museums and antique stores and point out the old U.S. history and Calculus textbooks among the ancient dinosaur bones, record players, and other relics.
