I am currently a sophomore at Framingham State University and I must say I find textbooks to be the biggest waste of money on the entire campus. I can understand how they were important back before we had technology that we do in the present time. But why do we still have them? I have taken courses that have no textbook. I have also had classes where the professor does not use the textbook in class. I think I have only had three classes where the professor uses the textbook while he or she is lecturing. In all of these cases however, I think professors can find a way to tech their course without a textbook. On this university everyone is required to have a laptop. Professors can tell their students to bring in their laptops to use along with the lecture. Whether it is to take notes or to look something up. Now in a textbook if someone needs to find something they have to browse the book or if they are lucky it is in the index or glossary. But someone who needs to find the same thing can just google it on their computer and browse.
Now another bad thing about textbooks is how heavy they can be. I commute to school Monday through Friday. I have six textbooks that vary in height and weight. Some I do not need everyday, so I might not need all six. Regardless they can still be heavy which puts strains on my back. Children grow up with this but it is not fair if it could result in a bad back.I'm not sure about others but I do not want to grow up being hunched over.
The last bad things about textbooks is that they cannot be updated easily. Professors have to update there textbooks as often as that actual company updates their textbook. The Internet can be updated frequently and easily. If companies have to keep updating their textbooks they are making people pay more money for updated information that people can just google. I will say textbooks were at one time relevant and important. But times have changed and college students and professors can learn the material required through the course another way.
I completely agree. With college tuition rising, books is the last thing I want to spend my money on. I have noticed that although some of my professors use the textbooks, they only use certain key concepts. Other professors do not use them at all. With Framingham State University requiring that we all have laptops, using textbooks online would definitely be a good option.
ReplyDeleteI do agree in some part of your comments; for example when you said: “Professors have to update their textbooks as often as that actual company updates their textbooks”, that’s true. It makes sense that things change in our everyday lives and need to be updated. In the others hand in my opinion using books keep your attention on the subject matter, you can write notes on and having its picture in mind. The problem with computer is that, if the hard drive gets infected by viruses you can lose your entire book, and imagine you have more than one book in there… you freak out. Sometime the internet is worse on campus making the connection harder. I think if the school can provide lockers for students then students don’t have to carry all their books at the same time.
ReplyDelete