Tablets Vs. Textbooks

Mikie Keovernkhone

Mrs.Bethea

English period 6

21 April 2015

Tablets over Textbooks

        Tablets and Textbooks have been rambling for the throne in the recent years yet not only students, but teachers agree that this kingdom needs a new king. As a new generation rises, technology follows as America is slowly but steadily adapting into the digital terrain. Some districts in America had already begun implementing laptops into education which had concluded successful results. Due to that, the government is recently debating on whether tablets should be replacing textbooks for the future of K-12 schools. “While eighty one percent of K-12 teachers believe tablets should be replaced” according to ProCon.org, there are still a handful of those who disagree. The cause of this denial are reasonable accusations such as how tablets are too expensive and easy to break, or how it can become an easy distraction for students especially of young age. These are just some of the considerable factors as to why tablets shouldn’t be given attention yet none of those claims prove the tablets capability of promoting education. K-12 Schools should replace textbooks for tablets because they help students step into the digital age, is healthier for students, is maneuverable, and cheaper than textbooks in terms of overall cost.

To start off, within every year, comes an advancement in technology and the young need help adapting to this new world. For many years, humans have been creating new inventions to further improve the lifestyles for themselves and the others surrounding them and portable electronic devices have been known to be one of humanities greatest achievements. Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project track survey showed that “one out of three adults eighteen and older own a tablet and the numbers are increasing (Nichols).” Tablets are like celebrities now with this popularity and by the next decade, more than half of adults will be owning tablets. Their descendants will be looking up to them as role models and would want to follow in their footsteps. High schools and Colleges already have laptops and computers all around their campus so there’s no harm in taking the next step. In fact, students who learn technology skills early will help ease them into many high paying job opportunities in the future. According to westwoodhorizon.com, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics explain how “employment in computer and information systems is believed to increase by eighteen percent between 2010 all the way to 2020.” 2015 is almost halfway done and yet children are still carrying textbooks the size of bricks. Think about it, many of the students in school today will most likely be using some sort of electronic device in their future not only in jobs but everyday life in general. Jobs that require technology efficiency will pay a high price while schools accepting tablets as replacements will be paying the opposite.

        Consider this, tablets in schools will give birth to a better environment thus allowing schools to keep their money in their pockets. Or take it this way, why waste spending money on bulky textbooks when a tablet can contain more than ten textbooks, plus applications, quizzes, homework, and much more? “Schools consisting of 1000 students spend about 3000 to 4000 dollars on average for paper, ink, and toner in just one month” (Devika). Not to mention, that price was subtracted from printer wear and tear plus other technical support costs. Now imagine an unlimited amount of paper filled with notes and assignments for all six classes, all inside a thin touchpad the size of printing paper. Quality over quantity is the memo here for tablets store hundreds of sources while giving the environment a chance to grow, conserving money but also making more money along the way. Cash that attracted Julius Genachowski’s attention, who, is a Commission Chairmen of the Federal Communications, in which he states that some schools “spend $7 billion a year on textbooks, and for many students around the country, they’re out of date” (Reiss).  Textbooks are quite expensive for some range from 100 to 300 dollars, while tablets are actually getting cheaper when each upgraded model is made with the shortest being around thirty to 100 dollars. Keeping this knowledge in mind, these Electronic Textbooks can save schools 250 to 1000 dollars per student each year, 1000 dollars times the hundreds of students in school. Like Genachowski said, schools are out of date, and in order to keep up, they have to focus on more than just education.

        Third, tablets not only provides infinite amounts of information, but they also help with physical and mental conditions as well. Parents should know that their child could have been “one out of the 13,700 backpack injuries that have occurred due to overcapacity from textbooks when doctors recommend that the average person should only carry a maximum of fifteen percent of their body weight” (Xia). These injuries include stress fractures in the back, inflammation of growth cartilage, and strains form the neck and shoulders all between the years 2011 to 2012. An average textbook weighs about five pounds possibly twenty considering the other four classes such as mathematics, language arts, science, and history. Twenty five pounds versus the one to two pounds from tablets that can lift more than fifty textbooks is a huge gap and further proves the innocence of a tablet. Another example, is from a “fifteen year-old girl named Katie Wallace who had unfortunately got scoliosis from her heavy backpack along with most of her middle school peers” (DeFrancesco). She had so many materials that she literally had to carry the rest of her textbooks on her hands. A Kindle could have held the majority of those materials for her with electronic devices ranging from calculators, to notebooks and textbooks. Thanks to the millions of applications the tablet can have, there is more than one way to approach a subject now.