A New Classroom

"In A Digital Future, Textbooks Are History" by Tamar Lewin

There are certainly clear signs of technology taking over the classroom in all grades, but the most cost effective yet frightening is the thought of losing our textbooks in the classroom. Nowadays we all see students bringing their own laptops to class, recording lectures onto their own personal computers rather than receiving worksheets, or dittos. The digital age is making its way past the computer lab and into every classroom but at who's expense?

With the alteration of paper leaving and computer screens replacing what we once held in our hands, I worry if we may be placing too much trust in technology. As Tamar Levin explains, our children live in a different world today. The idea of removing textbooks and replacing them with Internet class links seems helpful to schools in regard to cost, millions of dollars as a matter of fact, but at what cost will it be for our next generations? Lewin explains "our states Governor has set up a slow transition that would supersede high school science and math textbooks with free, “open source” digital versions. The idea sounds fantastic unless a student does not have access to a computer at home. Lower income families may suffer, and a classroom may suffer if computer troubles arise while class is in session.
I promote education of technology in the classroom and believe it is vital to our students futures, but will all students benefit? What will come of our libraries and all our texts intended for research and historical significance? Will all these books be discarded by students?

The most damaging comment in this article was intented to be the most positive motivating drive for this change to take place. Neeru Khosla, a founder of CK-12 Foundation creating "flexbooks" fpr the classroom explains that these sites can be used anywhere and can be anything an educator wants them to be and that educators can even print out the "textbooks". My question for her would be then who would be paying for that? The teacher or the parents? If a lower income family couldnt afford a laptop for their 5th grage child, could they afford to print out a textbook for each subject every year? If no, who would pay to save the students education?