Reply to Why, oh why, do the schools still ask students to read so much fiction?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]00:45 There are already no text books in elementary and middle school. Why does everyone want to get rid of textbooks so much? Kids are having to share books, parents don't know what is going on at school anymore? I wish there were more textbooks.[/quote]

Textbooks become dated too easily and very expensive to replace. Good, progressive schools and school systems are realizing the benefits of using additional resources for kids to learn and the limitations of an only textbook environment - not to mention the cumbersome task of carrying these textbooks! Not to say that textbooks aren't useful in some contexts, but overall I believe a combination of different resources is the best approach for learning.

I'm not sure what you mean by parents not knowing what is going on in school anymore…are you saying that using a textbook somehow makes parents automatically connected to what is happening in the classroom? How would that be any different than other periodicals that your child is using? You simply need to talk to your kids about what they are learning in class. I bet they are so much more engaged when they are taught to find a reliable and quality source online or elsewhere that will be more than willing to talk about a subject with you - it happens with my kids. The resources that are available to kids now are so wonderful and though-provoking that I personally don't understand when people want to hold onto only textbooks. It's different than when we were going to school and change is often hard to accept, but the benefits are there.[/quote]

I wholeheartedly agree with you about textbooks. I think it's fine to use one as a "spine" for a course, with periodicals and "real books" fleshing out the subject, but I don't care for a course that relies totally on a textbook.

Some parents like textbooks because they like to buy their own copy and teach their kids from the book in advance of the class. They prefer for their children to be exposed to the work before it is studied in class. From talking to people who would rather their children be taught mostly from a textbook, there seem to be a variety of reasons. Sometimes having the text enables the parent to help a child who has trouble understanding in class, sometimes it is in hopes of giving a child an "edge" in class. Some parents just don't feel the teachers are knowledgeable enough to teach the parent's favorite subject. A lot of parents grew up with textbooks, so it is what they know and feel comfortable with.

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