Charles Cao

Mr. Crean

Beginning Composition 1

29 September 2015

Tablets vs. Textbooks: How to Educate Today’s Students

First-graders sitting in rows staring at a teacher and high school students texting sneakily

in a class. They all learn about a topic in different ways. Sometimes, textbooks are stacked neatly

in rows or hurriedly placed to go back to phones. But, some students can reminisce on textbooks

and view them as outdated, heavy, informational texts that will be in the past. Textbooks are

being replaced by tablets, computers, and other electronic devices.

Should there be textbooks or electronics in a student’s education? Schools would have to

decide on this issue. But in a world where technology is rapidly advancing, soom electronics will

become more common and applicable in education. Electronics should replace textbooks. Even

though electronics may break more easily when dropped or hacked and the cost of fixing them is

high, electronics should still be implemented. This problem can easily be solved by monitoring

how the students’ handle the devices. Many schools with slow desktops for students have

installed software that enables teachers and other supervisors to view what every student at the

same time. Also, the connection to the wi-fi might be from the district and the district can track

what the students’ are doing. But, the desktops are expensive and there are not enough for every

class; they are there only got occasional research or homework.Therefore, instead of big, bulky

desktops, there should be smaller and more interactive tablets and even the occasional

smartphones in every education. If this happens, tablets can improve education by making it fun,
provoking interest, and reducing chatter; help publishers easily change curriculum and texts

stored in them; and finally provide teacher, schools, districts, and even states to easily

communicate with students and analyze their progress.

Children are becoming bored in their classes even if teachers may be showing an

interesting topic. Other students are learning slower because they are attracted to their phones

and devices and are paying less attention to what they are learning. Familiar with having to listen

to teachers and taking notes from the board and filling in blanks or answering questions, students

are becoming deactivated robots in class. When a teacher asks them to answer a question or to

read aloud a passage, students sometimes react in a dull and unappealing manner with a “What

was the question again?” response or an elevated head and confused expression. Using tablets is

the best choice because they can be used in a fun and interesting way. Now, schools are

implementing Chromebooks to provide another educational tool for students. The students do

become more interested, but Chromebooks are not used everyday, only for occasional research

and testing. Laptops may not be the best choice. Smaller, hand-held devices are better. Students

may be more attracted to tablets because of similarity between tablets and their phones. In

addition, installed educational apps may also increase participation in classes because most

students prefer interactive activities than the ones where they have to use paper. ​According to a

Harris Poll in 2014 for Pearson Education, a British-owned publishing company for schools,

81% of 2,252 students in all grades (501 in elementary school, 750 in middle school, and 1,001

in high school) agree that the usage of tablets is the best way to learn and 79% of them believe

that tablets help students do better in class.​ Although tablets certainly are great and possibly

necessary educational tools, other people may disagree and argue that tablets will be expensive
for schools and the costs for installing software and WiFi routers would be too costly. While

these arguments are reasonable for not installing tablets, education of students should be more

important. Students’ families may help schools provide necessary devices. The average cost of a

tablet is decreasing. ​According to procon.org, ​the average cost of a tablet in 2015 is protected to

be $263, down from $386 in 2012.​ Tablets certainly may cost more than textbooks, but the

benefits and the other functions may soon cause textbooks do lose the gold medal in education. It

may be passed by tablets. Since many tablets have highlighting and note-taking tools already

installed, students can easily mark areas where they want to expand more on or study more on. ​In

addition, since the e-books are not in print, students can mark them without teachers worrying

about the marks for the next users. Tablets can provide an enjoyable, interesting, and new way to

learn. They have many apps that students may interact with and some may even have

touchscreens that further increase participation. Also, tablets may have more information than

tablets; they can store videos and other things not included in textbooks. Students certainly are

attracted to the usage of tablets and the possibility of using personal smartphones.

Another reason is that tablets and similar devices will easily allow easy revision of

curriculum, texts, and apps that are stored in them. Before the introduction of electronic devices,

textbooks were the source for student’s education. They usually had errors, and many teachers

might complain about how the textbooks functioned and explained ideas that schools usually

replace textbooks that might cost them more. Then, the textbooks would have to be shipped to

the school which could take time. This process would happen repeatedly until tablets replace

textbooks. With tablets and other devices, like smartphones, the resources can easily be updated.

There would be no need to wait days or weeks, but only minutes. Students can quickly continue
learning from them again. E-books and apps would dominate their education. However, despite

these benefits, people would argue that prolonged usage of tablets may strain eyes and cause

neck pain. That is true. ​An article from the American Academy of Ophthalmology supports their

argument, but the article also provides a solution to this problem. Certainly students will use the

devices every day, but there will also be breaks.​ Along with learning with tablets, students must

also be familiar with how to use the “old-fashioned” pen, pencil, and paper. There could be

recesses and lunches to reduce strain on students’ eyes. A compromise of implementing these

breaks will allow everyday usage of tablets and smartphones. Devices like tablets will change the

way curriculum is revised by causing updates to be easier and quicker, thus allowing students to

quickly return to their education.

Lastly, tablets may improve communication between students and their teachers and

analyzations of the students’ progress. Teachers can easily see how each student is learning and

this knowledge may enable teachers to create a better environment for each student. Also

teachers to create a better environment for each student. Also, teachers can see how each student

thinks on a problem. This all could be accomplished with a software that can store the data and

even process it. With the addition of tablets with classwork and homework, there would be a

significant decrease in use of loose paper. This decrease may positively benefit both teachers and

students. Students can turn in assignments via the tablets; therefore, teachers would receive less

illegible papers. Also, students wouldn’t have to whine or complain about how they left the

paper at home. They would only have to show what they completed on the tablet. Teachers

wouldn’t lose assignments in a huge stack of papers and then needing to sift through binders to

find someone's assignments; communication between teachers and students is improved because
there would be less complaining from students and less sifting through papers at a student’s

request. But on the other hand, opposers of the implementation of tablets would argue that

students can take advantage of tablets. They can play unrelated games, browse through

inappropriate websites, and provide a good excuse for not working by saying “I forgot my

tablet.” These are very logical events that could happen if tablets were to be implemented, but

tablets may play a big role in communication and analyzation of students’ work. Therefore, a

solution will be needed. Schools can easily make a rule about losing or forgetting tablets. For

example, for losing a tablets they would be suspended and need to buy another one themselves;

if they forget it, they would still have to use textbooks, pens, pencils, paper, and serve a

detention. After these rules are added, tablets would be beneficial to education. Communication

between teachers and students would improve and when students finish assignments, others can

discern from the data different aspects of each student.

All in all, tablets and smartphones will dominate education. A little child will soon be

able to move shapes or an iPad and high schoolers can watch a Shakespeare video for an English

class for an English class on his smartphone. If tablets are not installed as an everyday

educational tool for students, students will become less interested in class and America’s

education will lag behind other countries. If tablets do become installed in classes, students will

learn better and the U.S. would become a great place to get an education because students will

become attracted to interactive activities, and teachers can change their lesson plans based on

how each student performs. Teachers can also send information to students outside of class if

every student could have a tablet.​ In a ​Washington Post​ article, there is a sample video of a

teacher using a tablets to communicate with others. ​Tablets can increase student participation and
learning by making activities more enticing and fun, simplify and quicken updates of curriculum,

and provide a better way for schools and teachers to communicate to students and to view

students’ progress. To change how education works in schools, parents and even students should

demand for a change in education, a major change, a change from textbooks to tablets.