Computerize!

Fellow classmate Dave writes about school textbooks and Governor Perry's proposal to abandon traditional textbooks in favor of computer technology. The post seems to wander a bit across multiple related topics, but he makes some good points and logical conclusions.

He starts by talking about Perry's proposal and the implications of it. With a transition to computer technology and eBooks, materials would be saved on the distribution of the textbooks themselves, but every student would require convenient access to their own laptops. He argues that it's a transition that we should eventually strive to make, but that at the current level of funding in place for schools, it would not be affordable. I tend to agree. I'd like to emphasize, however, the importance in implementing it in a way that's convenient for the students. If eBook access is in any way less convenient than a traditional textbook, then it's going to hinder education.

He then goes on to look at the unusually large prices of school textbooks. Clearly the books themselves aren't expensive to manufacture, so even with eBooks being more easily distributed, prices likely wouldn't drop. He argues that the high prices come as a necessity to the publishers in maintaining profits in an outdated business model.

While his post seems to wander a bit, it's clear that he took a very comprehensive look at the topic in order to come up with logical, reasoned conclusions, and it's well worth reading.