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CA:Schwarzenegger terminates school books and tells pupils to go digital
DailyMail.uk ^ | 09th June 2009 | Daily Mail Reporter

Posted on 06/09/2009 10:15:41 AM PDT by yankeedame

Rise of the machines: Arnold Schwarzenegger terminates school books and tells pupils to go digital


Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: California is
facing a $24billion budget
deficit

...Arnold Schwarzenegger has a plan to save his state's failing economy - by terminating text books.

The governor is telling children to give up the schoolbooks and turn to digital lessons to help the state avoid bankruptcy...

... he said: 'Textbooks are outdated, in my opinion.' He continued: 'For so many years, we've been trying to teach the kids exactly the same way.

'Our kids get their information from the internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones ...

'So why are California's school students still forced to lug around antiquated...expensive textbooks?'...

...the average price of a textbook is $75 to $100, whereas digital media can be distributed cheaply...

[snip]

Mr Schwarzenegger has ruled out tax increases to make up the shortfall.

Announcing measures across the board to stop excess spending...Spending department have been ordered to submit plans to the Department of Finance to reduce their expenditure by 15per cent or more...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: apple; macintosh
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1 posted on 06/09/2009 10:15:41 AM PDT by yankeedame
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To: yankeedame

uh-oh. California drives the textbook industry. Say good-bye to tons of publishing jobs.


2 posted on 06/09/2009 10:17:50 AM PDT by ElayneJ
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To: yankeedame

“the average price of a textbook is $75 to $100”

There’s a big problem, right there. Ain’t no free market in textbooks. No, sir.


3 posted on 06/09/2009 10:18:05 AM PDT by Tublecane
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To: yankeedame
I got a wonderful idea, so that means no government bureaucrat will ever consider it...why not just do away with head start and kindergarden? How much would that save?
4 posted on 06/09/2009 10:19:07 AM PDT by joe fonebone (When you ask God for help, sometimes he sends the Marines.)
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To: yankeedame

What if they dont have electricity, how will they read the computer? do away with books, goodness. HMMMMM..


5 posted on 06/09/2009 10:19:39 AM PDT by GoCards
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To: yankeedame
It would actually make sense to issue students an e-book reader, such as the Kindle, and save them from lugging around heavy text books.
6 posted on 06/09/2009 10:19:52 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: ElayneJ

Textbooks nationwide are edited for content to please the textbook review people in Californika. By eliminating those textbooks, Arnold is eliminating the control of editorial slant of those textbooks.


7 posted on 06/09/2009 10:20:17 AM PDT by spintreebob
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To: yankeedame

Oh boy. This will soon to lead to — E-Readers and iPods are causing an eyestrain on our children — we need more money to prevent eyestrain!


8 posted on 06/09/2009 10:20:29 AM PDT by rom (Obama '12 slogan: Let's keep on hopin'!)
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To: yankeedame

People will obviously make fun of this, but it does have merit.

A PDF file is cheaper than a book, easier to highlight, and you can cut/paste parts of it.

This is the kind of “out of the box” thinking Dems are always saying they will do to save money (but never do.) Would it be cheaper to provide students physical books, or an electronic reading device with the books installed on it? I don’t know about now, but someone will come up with a system that is cheaper than physical books.

It’s the 21st century for crying out loud, and students are still using the same study tools they did 100 years ago.


9 posted on 06/09/2009 10:20:59 AM PDT by Brookhaven (Obama hasn't just open Pandora's box, he has thrown us inside and closed the lid.)
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To: yankeedame

>>...the average price of a textbook is $75 to $100, whereas digital media can be distributed cheaply... <<

Neither here nor there, since a textbook doesn’t need to be replaced each year for each student. The ones I used in elementary school - and I grew up in a suburb that is still considered affluent - were used before I got them.


10 posted on 06/09/2009 10:21:13 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Don't threaten me with a good time.)
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To: Tublecane

We just found out our local CA grade school will have laptops for all 3 and 4 grade students next year.
This may be replacing the test books, but they won’t be able to take them home.
I can’t imagine this is cheaper than books. Trying to keep 100’s of laptops operting with 8 year olds driving them..that will take manpower.


11 posted on 06/09/2009 10:21:44 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: spintreebob

Truth be told, Texas has just about as much juice in that process as does California. And our nutty right is as wacked-out as their loony left.


12 posted on 06/09/2009 10:21:48 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Don't threaten me with a good time.)
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To: ElayneJ

The text book industry has been a scam for decades. Coffee table edition sized books for over $100 and 4 years later they slap a new cover on it and rev the edition number so nobody will buy the used book back. Maybe if they charged normal prices and only revved the edition when there were actual substantial changes in the text and those changes were the result of actual substantial changes in the field textbooks wouldn’t be the target of every education budget cutter in the country.


13 posted on 06/09/2009 10:23:14 AM PDT by razorboy
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To: Xenalyte

most of those text books today get lost or tossed or ruid


14 posted on 06/09/2009 10:23:37 AM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: yankeedame

Haha. The textbook publishers will scream bloody murder. Never was there a more lucrative gig.


15 posted on 06/09/2009 10:24:02 AM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: yankeedame
The textbook lobbyists will put a stop to this.
16 posted on 06/09/2009 10:25:05 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: yankeedame

17 posted on 06/09/2009 10:27:21 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: yankeedame

Ahnold needs to see a display of another digital technology..


18 posted on 06/09/2009 10:28:12 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: yankeedame

Mcguffey reader + photocopier = PROBLEM SOLVED


19 posted on 06/09/2009 10:29:02 AM PDT by VanDeKoik (Enemy of the state since 1978!)
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To: razorboy

Yes, the books are overpriced. But that’s not necessarily the publisher’s fault. The books have to be written to standards determined by the state. If not, the publisher won’t be able to sell there. Since each adodption state has different standards, you can imagine how complex that is. Then, consider the fact that the schools buy programs, not just books. More often that not the ancillary products are given away, but they’re still expensive to produce. And without the ancillary products a publisher’s line can’t compete. And regarding revisions, imagine trying to sell a social studies program that’s not up to date.
I’m just saying, the publisher isn’t always to blame.


20 posted on 06/09/2009 10:29:33 AM PDT by ElayneJ
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