Spunky Homeschool

Thoughts on Textbooks

Saturday, August 06, 2005

The comments have been excellent under the post Is this statement true? There, Kate and I had a little discussion about textbooks. I made this comment
Textbooks to me are like appetizers. They provide some nourishment but if you
eat too much they eventually kill the appetite.
It seems that some educators are starting to figure this out as well. Number 2 pencil quotes an English teacher lamenting how schools are destroying the love of reading.
Faced with declining literacy and the ever-growing distractions of the electronic media, faced with the fact that - Harry Potter fans aside - so few kids curl up with a book and read for pleasure anymore, what do we teachers do? We saddle students with textbooks that would turn off even the most passionate reader.
But will the educational establishment pay any attention?

Hat tip: Joanne Jacobs

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