Sweden returns to using textbooks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please can we do the same?

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/sweden-says-back-to-basics-schooling-works-on-paper

The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether Sweden’s hyper-digitalised approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills.

Giving little children tablets is a travesty, in school and out of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Singapore still uses paper textbooks and lots of paper worksheets. Teaching style there is very traditional. Their PISA scores are far far higher than the US and have been for many years.

I'm a teacher in Singapore, and I can assure you that Singaporean schools are by no means low-tech. Sorry, but no.

That being said, I think the screens and other forms of tech need to be dramatically reduced in schools, and this is something I try to implement within my own classroom as much as I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Sweden care about the environment?

They can reuse the books. When I went to school, there was a space in the back of the books where previous users had written their names.

My kid has a math textbook this year with a few names in it from previous years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Sweden care about the environment?

They can reuse the books. When I went to school, there was a space in the back of the books where previous users had written their names.

My kid has a math textbook this year with a few names in it from previous years.

Did no one else anxiously await getting your textbooks to see who had it the year before you? (And get excited if it was someone you knew or *gasp* your crush?)

[Anonymous]

Many Christian and Catholic schools still use textbooks!

[Anonymous]

My kids are at a parochial school and use textbooks for every subject except math. They use iready for math and I hate it (and the teachers seem to as well) but the archdiocese apparently is forcing it. Textbooks are great, kids know what to study and I can easily help them by holding the book and quizzing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Singapore still uses paper textbooks and lots of paper worksheets. Teaching style there is very traditional. Their PISA scores are far far higher than the US and have been for many years.

That is not why their PISA scores are higher.

It has nothing to do with what they have but everything to do with what they don’t hand in their schools. I’ll give you one guess as to what that might be.

Text books, standard curriculum, good strong teachers, high expectations, strong involved parents....

Don’t feed the troll. I see what you are inferring here and it’s repugnant.

You think if these schools had less minorities and were only white/asian they would magically see the same outcomes as schools in Singapore or Scandinavia?

You can look at results by race to compare. This was historically true, but the policy changes in schools are now leading to declines in anyone who doesn't supplement.)

[Anonymous]

We moved our kid to tech-free classical school. Covering the textbooks with brown paper was the highlight. Textbooks, workbooks and notebooks.... parents: you do not know what you are missing. Your children's education and your family life will be better when you can help your kids with homework, peruse the chapter to see what they are learning and actually complete assignments even if the wifi goes down. Good old-fashioned reading, writing (in script too!) and arithmetic.

And I don't buy the trope of "kids need to learn how to use technology!" It's EVERYWHERE. They can't watch cartoons without getting to the kids homepage and their profile. Can't order a happy meal without going through the kiosk. Trust me, your cherubs are NOT missing some tech boat by being in tech free school. In fact - they will come out FAR SUPERIOR to your copy / paste, dictate to text, google, AI kid. I've seen 5th graders reciting Longfellow from memory. I've seen 7th graders reciting Patrick Henry's great speech. I've seen 4th grader's recite Rudyard Kipling. Do they understand every word? No. But they get quite a bit and are exposed to some of the great culture and literature from Western civilization and how we got here. Your edtech / app readings CANNOT even begin to touch on the richness books can provide.

[Anonymous]

We should bring back quizzes and tests (for math especially) on paper.

I remember teachers giving us partial credit for math where the work was right, and the final answer was wrong. (2 points off normally, maybe just took 1 point off in this case).

Now my dd gets dinged because she enters
F(x)=3x+7

Instead of y = 3x+7.

With the test switching back and forth between y and f(x).

And the rest are only 20 questions, so there’s a 95 baseline just for a .. correct answer.

So if she gets another two actually wrong, it looks like an 85, when in another world it would be a 90.

I don’t care about the grade, it’s middle school. But, she puts in so much effort on math, and gets screwed over almost every quiz or test by entering in the answers. Things like it wasn’t entered in the exact right formatting for ordered pairs. Or .. look.. there’s a lot of numbers flying around in a 40m period. She sometimes just types them wrong from her hand notes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please can we do the same?

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/sweden-says-back-to-basics-schooling-works-on-paper

The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether Sweden’s hyper-digitalised approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills.

That sounds really MAGA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Sweden care about the environment?

They can reuse the books. When I went to school, there was a space in the back of the books where previous users had written their names.

My kid has a math textbook this year with a few names in it from previous years.

Did no one else anxiously await getting your textbooks to see who had it the year before you? (And get excited if it was someone you knew or *gasp* your crush?)

My senior year of high school, I had a friend who was sleeping with a married guy a year older than us (he got married right after high school), and I got assigned a book that had been the wife's in which she had written her name with his last name over and over again. A wild experience I couldn't have had with a laptop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Sweden care about the environment?

They can reuse the books. When I went to school, there was a space in the back of the books where previous users had written their names.

My kid has a math textbook this year with a few names in it from previous years.

Did no one else anxiously await getting your textbooks to see who had it the year before you? (And get excited if it was someone you knew or *gasp* your crush?)

My senior year of high school, I had a friend who was sleeping with a married guy a year older than us (he got married right after high school), and I got assigned a book that had been the wife's in which she had written her name with his last name over and over again. A wild experience I couldn't have had with a laptop.

This would certainly be the MOST excitement I'd seen by senior year and make the doldrums of school just fly by! I wonder where these ppl are now? I'd be googling lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please can we do the same?

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/sweden-says-back-to-basics-schooling-works-on-paper

The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether Sweden’s hyper-digitalised approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills.

I'm so glad to hear this. My 4th grade/APS daughter brought home study sheets for VA history. These were very brief sections, mostly 1 sentence bullet points. Missing the paragraphs of explanation that a textbook would've had. I've no clue what they're supposed to be learning. Memorize bullet points and by process of elimination match memory to multiple choice answers?

If I was in Virginia or in any Southern state I’d worry more about what they are teaching not how they are teaching. The governor, Glenn Youngkin, established a hotline to allow parents or members of the community to report critical race theory in the classroom. Banned books and censorship are becoming more common. They whitewash slavery in America and what happened during the civil rights protests. It’s incredible that this is happening.