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Permalink Reply by JulsnMatt1028 on August 27, 2011 at 12:43pm

ABSOLUTELY AGREE WITH YOU! I actually worked in the for profit education system for a good ten years, IT Guy, and saw first hand the complete waste of money that soooooo many text books are. Rarely actually used and yes updated with the most minor changes! It's a big hustle. Don't get me wrong, I believe in reading and in the publishing of information, but the old system is soooo outdated.

 

The thing is, it makes money still. This system will be one that dies very hard, and even when it does, who knows how much they'll charge for even just the electronic updates. It's just like everything else in business; "We'll get em on the come back"...

 

Great topic though! 

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Permalink Reply by The Man on August 27, 2011 at 3:58pm

Real good topic man. Tablets are the way to go indeed. I don't own a tablet, but I can see the use of having one. Sometimes I'm in meetings and countless times I'll think to myself, "Man, if I had a tablet, I wouldn't have to write all this down..."

 

I remember reading about an 8th grade algebra class in Long Beach received iPads to handle their homework and other classroom duties. You have a good point that it will be very beneficial in the long run, and it will be more convient. For example, if I have eight classes, instead of a book for each class (which vary in weight) I'll only need one tablet that can will the school books needed plus more.

 

That's pretty tight what South Korea is doing. Not sure if America will get on that ship anytime soon. Although, I'm sure there are some pilot programs floating around in our education system.

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Permalink Reply by U.L. Harper on August 27, 2011 at 4:36pm

My prediction is that our kids, barely the next generation, will be looking for work, not necessarily in other states, but in other countries. What we're teaching our kids is simply some shit from almost one hundred years ago. We need designers, in the U.S. not developing books, but developing apps for education and we need jobs in those areas. We need to force companies like Apple to produce in the states and develop in the states, and we need curriculum to reflect such a thing. We need local sports leagues that pay a worthwhile salary, and we need education to go there too. If you think the NFL is big, think about all the jobs by having a ten to twelve team baseball, football, soccer league. We need to get these things going both for revenue, and if you talk to most recreation majors they'll tell you, people have to have this type of stuff to be healthy. We need more youth business minded and with opportunities. 

 

But right now there are people who truly think that if our kids don't learn cursive writing that something is wrong. We don't need to create new revenue streams. We need to exploit the potential ones we already have. Recreation, entertainment, technology, education. This is where the money should be made.

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Permalink Reply by JulsnMatt1028 on August 27, 2011 at 4:44pm

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Permalink Reply by The Man on August 27, 2011 at 8:00pm

Man, droppin' science. Especially about the hundred year old shit we're teaching in school and in society today. It's getting to a point where those "old school" traditions are valued as much nowadays.

 

Compared to even 20 years ago, there's more opportunity to be more entrepreneurial or take a more unorthodox path in academics, and that's mainly because of technologies. I know when certain grocery stores open up in cities, labor agreements are signed that the developer and tenant will do X% of local hiring. Maybe that should be required from companies like Apple and other American technology corporations. 

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Permalink Reply by Molly Marina Haupt on August 29, 2011 at 2:43pm

The cost of college textbooks is insane. A friend taking an Economics course this semester was required to purchase a $230 book!! Really…and that's only one of her four classes. That just makes me sad..wasted money, wasted paper. etc. And even if your excellent suggestion of incorporating tablets into the classroom doesn't pick up anytime soon…why can't textbook companies just print additions to add to the used books, rather than a whole new 700 page book, just to add one chapter. Oh yeah... because our country is wasteful with nearly everything we create.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Alexander on August 29, 2011 at 5:21pm

I just wish our educators would teach more of the truth to our kids instead of misinforming them with infomation that hides the truth.  Period.  That will end alot of this BS that goes on within our school system.

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