Arnie Axes Educational Books to Save Money Not Trees.
By Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk
California is in a spot of bother. The golden state has run out of cash and needs to find billions of dollars to stay afloat. One of the savings to be enforced is the dramatic reduction in school educational textbooks and teaching time. Playing games with education is fraught with risks, has Arnie Schwarzenegger, the state governor, made the right choice.
The school budget for California is set in billions of dollars so the possibility of a budget raid was bound to be high. If you have your back to the wall there’s little option. But there is one heck of a risk if this is the wrong decision as a whole generation of children subsequently passing through the system will have little to thank him for.
Textbooks are the staple diet teaching resources for schools. The alternative planned is the greater use of computers. This opens a new and exciting dimension of technology. Many educational games, ICT games, learning programs and worksheets can be accessed and integrated in the classroom lessons. Teaching, lesson planning and achievement assessment can be effectively measured and controlled via Netbook and Laptop computers.
On the surface the reduction in textbooks and the greater use of computers looks great. The budget can be reduced and a great chunk of traditional teaching resources become more cost effective. Children will substitute the sometimes enormous weight of books lugged on their back for the lighter load of a laptop or even a flash memory. The five pounds weight textbook, costing $10 swapped for a $200, two lbs. weight net-book. OK perhaps the maths of the savings is hidden deeper in the budget. But can books be replaced that easily by a computer? The Sony Reader electronic book is a mute point. Although able to store 160 books in its memory the market take-up has not been that phenomenal. It could easily pass through a FAD stage and disappear. Is this due to the negative comparisons between the easy read and rapid accessibility of a book to the electronic version of a reader? Maybe it’s because if you leave a book on a bus or train you have only lost $10 compared to the cost of a lost laptop.
The other educational budget cutbacks in California will see teaching time reduced and class sizes increased. Both hold huge potential for concern. To control a class in our modern society requires exceptional skill; not all teachers have it. The current element of disruption in a classroom, assuming it continues during a shorter lesson, will have the disproportionate effect of increasing percentage of time lost by the rest of the class.
California has a massive problem. Playing with education as a means to reduce the budget holds risks that will take a generation to expose. Laptops could certainly pave the way ahead, but need to be handled cautiously and the benefits regularly tested. There is the possibility that educational standards could fall in this highly reactionary situation.
The salvation could be down to parents. Their support at home is highly beneficial in the academic achievement of children back in school. Using the same maths games used in classroom, matched to the curriculum, increase the effective learning time dramatically and help offset any reduction in teaching time in school. And they are great fun.
