California to scrap textbooks in favor of online education

[UglyCasanova]

link

"California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a plan to save money by phasing out school textbooks in favour of internet aids."

Sounds brilliant. I'm of the opinion that all of the efforts to "modernize" our classrooms with the latest and greatest technology only serves as a distraction to real education. I realize this is to save money, but there has to be other things that could be cut before textbooks. Sheesh.

 

[Kirby]

If they're anything like college online courses, this decision is bound for fail.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
If they're anything like college online courses, this decision is bound for fail.

It depends, some online courses are actually done right.

I bet the Print Houses are hating this decision.

 

[glenn1]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
If they're anything like college online courses, this decision is bound for fail.

We're talking about California, so fail is pretty much a given.

 

[chucky2]

Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

They may just require/demand that those that are handicapped as such, use the local library and/or stay after school to use those facilities

 

[theeedude]

How about phasing teachers out too? I mean you can just pick the best ones and have them teach online, then just hire a bunch of graders for the homework.

 

[Tab3076]

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Really? 100%?

CA has some rough cities. I'd like to see your research on this issue.


I am against this if we will have to subsidize poor people's computers or bandwidth.

 

[miketheidiot]

stupid idea

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Check your stat. Only ~60% of Californian has internet access at home. (~55% broadband+7% dial up) And those who doesn't are usually the disadvantaged/lower income kids who need education the most.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

my sister is a teacher, and less than 50% of her kids have internet access. Just because everybody at ATOT has something does not mean everyone in the country has it. Especially in the underprivileged neighborhoods.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I think this is a great idea. Maybe a "for the children" propaganda campaign will help get our information infrastructure where it needs to be for this to be viable.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Check your stat. Only ~60% of Californian has internet access at home. (~55% broadband+7% dial up) And those who doesn't are usually the disadvantaged/lower income kids who need education the most.

Those are the same kids that probably don't actually get their own copy of their textbooks now to take home, so I see it as a wash in that regard.

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: OCguy

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Really? 100%?

CA has some rough cities. I'd like to see your research on this issue.


I am against this if we will have to subsidize poor people's computers or bandwidth.

Already subsidizing the text books...it would be cheaper to give them a 200 dollar computer and 20 dollar internet


you do realize that college text books generally run anywhere between 250-400 a quarter for full time enrollment?

 

[glenn1]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Check your stat. Only ~60% of Californian has internet access at home. (~55% broadband+7% dial up) And those who doesn't are usually the disadvantaged/lower income kids who need education the most.

IMHO, you're being naive to call them "the kids that need it the most." If anything, we're putting too many financial resources into trying to educate those kids who don't want to be educated. They're the ones who care the least about their education, are constantly truant, want to drop out of school as soon as they legally can, and cause most of the issues in our schools while disrupting those who do want to learn.

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: glenn1

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

Check your stat. Only ~60% of Californian has internet access at home. (~55% broadband+7% dial up) And those who doesn't are usually the disadvantaged/lower income kids who need education the most.

IMHO, you're being naive to call them "the kids that need it the most." If anything, we're putting too many financial resources into trying to educate those kids who don't want to be educated. They're the ones who care the least about their education, are constantly truant, want to drop out of school as soon as they legally can, and cause most of the issues in our schools while disrupting those who do want to learn.

Well, your statement has some truth to it, but it doesn't mean the entire low income/disadvantaged kids are what you described. Education is the way for those kids to get out of the vicious low income cycle and some of them do have the intention to get out of that cycle. If you don't provide an avenue for those kids, no matter how few to try and get out of the low income social braket, the society is the one that will have to continue and carry the burden.

 

[Ronstang]

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

They will just get to print them all out at school and take them home. HP is going to love all the ink they get to gouge CA on.

 

[Zstream]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity

Originally posted by: nkgreen
If they're anything like college online courses, this decision is bound for fail.

It depends, some online courses are actually done right.

I bet the Print Houses are hating this decision.

Can you please provide proof or some sort of data to back that up? The local news and if I remember CNN made quite a few reports stating the opposite. Schools with 100% access to laptops/desktops have grades far below those without.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I like this, although the choice of display media is going to be an issue. Not everyone wants to read from a backlit LCD screen.

 

[tk149]

The cost for textbooks is high because of the intellectual property, not because of printing costs and distribution. While I applaud the idea of increasing the technological savvy of the next generation, I question whether this is actually going to save money given the increased costs of getting every student a computer. Keep in mind that even if every student's home has one PC, many homes have multiple students.

Did anyone actually do a study that proved a significant cost savings?

OP, just out of curiousity, why a BBC link to an regional American story?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: tk149
OP, just out of curiousity, why a BBC link to an regional American story?

Because that is where I read it.

 

[Phokus]

I guess it depends on the quality of the material written for the online courses.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Tab3076

Originally posted by: chucky2
Who is going to fund the Internet access and PC's for the families who don't have either of those?

Chuck

This is 2009, everyone has a fucking pc and internet

This is a good move, just everyone something like a kindle and put the books on those. Hell of a let less to carry around.

I hope you're not even remotely serious. There are still a LOT of people without internet. There is no reason to cut textbooks when there are probably 1000's of bullshit programs that can be cut first.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I hate reading books from on a screen. Give me old fashion paper please.