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Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to replace traditional textbooks with digital ones in Californian schools.
The state governor hopes to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending each year, as California faces a budget shortfall of $24.3billion.
Schwarzenegger announced the policy in a classroom in Sacramento, saying the state's technology-savvy youth would easily adapt.
"Basically kids are feeling as comfortable with their electronic devices as I was with my pencils and crayons.
"Textbooks are outdated, in my opinion," he said. "For so many years, we've been trying to teach the kids exactly the same way."
He held up four large books and joked: "I can use these for the curls," in a nod to his bodybuilding days.
"From the beginning of the next school year in August, California's high school pupils will have access to online maths and science texts.
They could also use a digital textbook such as Sony reader, which can hold the same amount of information as up to 160 books.
The former film star, whose last major movie was Terminator3: Rise of the Machines in 2003, explained his idea further in an article for the San José Mercury News.
He wrote: "Our kids get their information from the internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones.
"So why are California's school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks?
Schwarzenegger's plan had a mixed response. High school teacher Kristina Fierro said: "It would be a huge cost to get the materials, but also to train the teachers and to train the students to make sure they know how to use it."
Reader views (2)
As a self-confessed e-book geek and LSE student, I agree whole heartedly with the message sent out by Schwarzenegger. It is clear that the days of wasting money upon expensive, rapidly out dated, hard-bound textbooks will soon become something consigned to the (digital) history books of the future - once educators, students and publishers alike began to recognize and harness the full power of 21st Century technology.
The guys at bookboon.com for example publish a huge range of textbooks available to download free of charge in a pdf e-book format with no registration. They are already offering a 100% free textbook solution for students, colleges and universities designed for the digital age.
Just like Arnie has said, his kids are as comfortable with a mouse as he was with his crayon so not only is every title available from bookboon.com but now it is also possible to obtain every book through facebook
- Estella Philipp Von Köln, London, UK, 12/06/2009 11:15
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Minor comment here, much as I like old Arnie, has he considered the detrimental effect this would have in simply being able to use books when computers aren't available? Already people, and most kids, are more comfortable with 'txt spk' than grammatic text - to the extent that it is often found in resumes, formal letters and the like (and not a few comments on this very site). They did the same with calculators - and now we have kids, and a not inconsiderable number of adults, who can't do simple arithmetic in their heads or on paper without the help of a machine.
There's a down side to technology. Use it, but don't abuse it.
- Rogan, Irving, 10/06/2009 06:30
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