The Future of Education: Tablets Instead fo Healvy Textbooks

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The average sixth grader carries over eighteen pounds of textbooks. Some students carry up to thirty pounds of textbooks. This immense weight has led to over 14,000 students being treated annually, just for backpack related injuries. Every year the United States spends over 7 billion dollars on textbooks for students K-12. If all schools switched from textbooks to tablets the government would save over 3 billion dollars a year. Each year an average school uses 5,955,000 sheets of paper, that’s equal to 74 trees. There are 98,817 public schools in America. This means that US schools destroy 7,312,458 trees a year. The US Department of Education proved that students learn 30-80% faster when using tablets (Federal Communications Commission). A lot of trouble could be saved if schools no longer used textbooks. Tablets would have a larger benefit to schools than textbooks because tablets are cheaper, tablets are better for the environment, and tablets help students learn more material faster.

Each year the government spends 7 billion dollars because schools do not have tablets, but what is it costing schools? The average school spends 50,000 dollars a year on paper and ink (Paper and Pencil Curriculum). If all students used tablets schools would need virtually no paper. Homework can be assigned on computers, tests can be taken online, and students can study from their tablets. One of the main arguments for tablets is the fact that textbooks are so expensive. The average cost of a textbook in the 2011-2012 school year was 68 dollars. The average price of a digital textbook that same year was only 8 dollars (FAQ on Textbooks). Not only would this save the schools lots of money, it would also save the students money. Studen...

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...ext day. Another great thing about tablets is the unknown. New technology is constantly being made and improved; on the other hand textbooks were used by the Greeks. All in all, the choice is obvious.

It is easy to see that the positive side of tablets far out ways the positive side of textbooks. Textbooks are bulky and can injure students. As mentioned above, textbooks destroy 7,312,458 trees a year. Plus textbooks are outdated, inefficient and expensive. Tablets are cheaper, perform better, and increase students’ interest in what they are learning. Plus students will be prepared for a world in which they will be surrounded by technology.Tablets would have a larger benefit to schools than textbooks because tablets are cheaper than textbooks, tablets are better for the environment than textbooks, and tablets help students learn more material faster.

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