Yeap.. I was just going to post the same thing.. we as/. users are definitely on the tech side.. but lets remember not everyone has or can afford Internet access and the things to go with it (like a computer).
So really one must weight the cost of those dead-trees verses limited access mitigation like enhancing computer labs at schools, offering after-hours lab time, or even like you said, buying inexpensive netbooks for school (which you -know- will end up getting lost/damaged often so will need to be replaced.. plus who is gonna run the tech support for them when they get full of virii (or if they are linux, doing something like "rm -rf/")).
I'm very much for progress and technological evolution.... but we just got to realize there are still issues with doing it.
As far as internet access goes, I cannot think of any schools that do not provide internet access for free on campus. And even if you had to replace an inepensive netbook every semester, netbooks are around what, $300-$400 maybe? It's not uncommon for students to pay $600-$900 a semester for books. It still ends up being remarkably cheaper. Most schools also already offer tech support to students for a very small cost.
You only have to enhance computer labs once to make them compatible, where as making new textbooks is a never ending process.
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iTunes is the single most bloated piece of canine feces that exists ... and they dare to call it software.
Clearly you've never used Adobe Reader.
Oh, sorry, I automatically thought of college level when discussing textbooks. If we're talking public school systems, then I retract what I said.
Yeap.. I was just going to post the same thing.. we as /. users are definitely on the tech side.. but lets remember not everyone has or can afford Internet access and the things to go with it (like a computer).
So really one must weight the cost of those dead-trees verses limited access mitigation like enhancing computer labs at schools, offering after-hours lab time, or even like you said, buying inexpensive netbooks for school (which you -know- will end up getting lost/damaged often so will need to be replaced.. plus who is gonna run the tech support for them when they get full of virii (or if they are linux, doing something like "rm -rf /")).
I'm very much for progress and technological evolution.... but we just got to realize there are still issues with doing it.
As far as internet access goes, I cannot think of any schools that do not provide internet access for free on campus. And even if you had to replace an inepensive netbook every semester, netbooks are around what, $300-$400 maybe? It's not uncommon for students to pay $600-$900 a semester for books. It still ends up being remarkably cheaper. Most schools also already offer tech support to students for a very small cost. You only have to enhance computer labs once to make them compatible, where as making new textbooks is a never ending process.