Independent Report Suggests Free E-Book Readers For School Children
According to a report released by The New Democratic Leadership Council – a Washington think tank formed in 1985 – every one of America’s 56 million K-12 schoolchildren should be supplied with an electronic book reader of some type. In a paper entitled “A Kindle In Every Backpack”, written by Thomas Z Freedman, it is suggested that this would cut costs and allow for texts which are constantly updated.
Government spending on conventional paper textbooks currently runs at $109 per student. According to Mr. Freedman’s report the up front costs for the provision of electronic readers would be around $200 currently, dropping to $80 per student by 2012. Who would fund this initiative is not defined in the paper – but it seems reasonable to suppose that the government would pick up the tab.
According to the report, the benefits of the plan would include the ability to update academic textbooks quickly, the possibility to run interactive educational programs – including tests and quizzes and a reduced weight to be carried by students. Environmental aspects are not covered in the report, but there would almost certainly be a huge reduction in the volume of paper consumed by the academic textbook publishers each year.
The Amazon Kindle reader is mentioned several times throughout the report – but the possibility of using other brands is also noted. One possible problem with the existing design of Kindle may be the suitability of its display for rough handling. There is at present a class action suit raised against Amazon regarding cracking face plates and screens. This seems chiefly concerned with Kindles which have had covers fitted to them and may not represent any flaw in the device itself. However, it would probably be unreasonable to expect young students to show greater care when handling their Kindles than adults who have paid for the device themselves. Therefore, it might be necessary to develop a “ruggedized” edition of the reader, sturdy enough for the inevitable dings and scrapes which should be expected during the school year.
There does appear to be an ever increasing air of inevitability regarding the move to digital textbooks. Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently confirmed that California would commence furnishing free electronic textbooks in August of 2009. California’s scheme makes no specific reference to the Kindle but, even so, Amazon executives must have been delighted with both the announcement and the immediate introduction of the scheme. Amazon also have partnership agreements with a number of universities and academic publishers already established. It really is starting to seem more like “when” rather than “if” electronic textbooks will become part of the mainstream.
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