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More High Schools Hand Out iPads, Cut Textbooks

More districts trim textbooks to save money, appeal to students

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 3, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – More US high school students will be encouraged not to hit the books this year—because a gleaming new iPad awaits them in the classroom. More than 600 school districts will give out iPads for each student in at least one class, Apple says, and one high school in Kentucky is going all-out, giving an iPad to every student. So much for textbooks? Not quite, but they are making less financial and educational sense for today's secondary schools, the AP reports.

Textbooks are "pretty much outdated the minute they're printed and certainly by the time they're delivered," says one principal. Among other benefits: iPads can be less expensive than a year's supply of textbooks; kids are already used to flicking through electronic pages; easy note-taking, educational videos, and click-of-a-button homework submission. (And yes, many school iPads will have filters to keep students off certain websites.) As for textbook publishers—which rack up $5.5 billion in annual sales to high schools—they're already producing downloadable iPad versions and trying to figure out which school subjects are likely to go all-digital in the future.

In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, a student looks at her new iPad at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass. Burlington is giving iPads this year to every one of its 1,000-plus high school students.
In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, a student looks at her new iPad at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass. Burlington is giving iPads this year to every one of its 1,000-plus high school students.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, a student looks at her new iPad at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass. Burlington is giving iPads this year to every one of its 1,000-plus high school students.
In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, a student looks at her new iPad at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass. Burlington is giving iPads this year to every one of its 1,000-plus high school students.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, senior Jean Harafin, 17, checks out her new iPad as her mother, Judy, holds the box at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass.
In this Aug. 23, 2011 photo, senior Jean Harafin, 17, checks out her new iPad as her mother, Judy, holds the box at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 29 comments
Boba-jef
Sep 4, 2011 12:33 PM CDT
...
Rachel122
Sep 4, 2011 7:51 AM CDT
Speaking as a high school student myself, kindles wound be a MUCH better investment. They're a lot cheaper, and are not even an 8th of the distraction that an Ipad would be. I would love to have a kindle instead of 7 overweight textbooks along with notebooks to hall around when I am just a petite little junior.
PropheticallyPoetic
Sep 3, 2011 11:13 PM CDT
How is a Math textbook outdated? or a History book (oh yeah, the government is rewriting history to make it more appealing and less painful for some people)? If you fall into that category and are offended...uhm, get over it! The truth is the truth, and should always be good enough. What a complete joke! At some schools locally, students get to KEEP the iPad if they do well in school...so now we are bribing our kids to do well in school. What ever happened to a student's personal desire to do well. One student I know actually said he wants to fail out of school, sho he can get state aid...he said his whole family had done it and it was expected of him. Wow, what kind of future does he really have? We've (parents and society in general) lowered our expectations so much that our nation's kids have no real future...the ONE THING we want to give them. Well, now they think they don't have to work for it and it will just be handed to them! Look what we've done! Oh yeah, back to the iPad...so, that's just one more thing the kids are going to break, vandalize, and another excuse to not have their homework! I submit that we make our kids work harder for the things they want in life, not just give them whatever they want. We've tried to GIVE THEM an education...problem is most of them are too lazy to actually use it and don't want it. Too much WORK.  Mommy and Daddy don't work...they're living off of the government. The kids must stll want to learn. Many kids just don't want to learn, and fancy gadgets will surely NOT help them. What ever happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Oh yeah, THE GOVERNMENT wants to take care of us, and many of us want them to. A country full of Welfare Slackers...and their kids, No wonder China will soon take over the world. They've certainly dominated the world economy...because we've handed it to them...no one wants to work. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay. iPads for every student instead of text books...waste of money!

 
education • high school • iPad • textbooks

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