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From kindergarten through the highest level of college people will use dozens if not hundreds of text books and these books. In younger life these expenses are carried by the tax payer and later by the student who only then realizes just how expensive these books are and he considered the possibility of buying used books but as anyone who thinks back to their elementary and high school years remembers this is not the first time that the student will have used a used textbook.

I remember bringing grocery bags to school to create book covers because they wanted to keep the books careful and then spending time looking through the book finding any marks or tears in the book so that they could be recorded so that if i did other damage to the book they would charge my parents if I did more damage. This ritual isn't a bad memory but I understand now the cost in time and money for the school.

But what other choice is there? We would all love to have new textbooks for every child every year in elementary, high school and college but this is unreasonable is it not? Could we really expect for every student to have a new text book for every class every year? I think we can, and reduce clutter in classrooms, save the schools money and help to prepare students for a technological future.

The answer I believe is electronic paper. These devices when made well are as easy to read as paper, lighter than most text books, and quite durable. More important in many ways than this is that because textbooks would no longer have to be printed but only formatted for these books you could cut the costs considerably for schools and allow for a nearly free yearly updates as well as the ability to change a mistake or typo in every book in a few minutes.

This technological advancement may seem high for schools, but when you take in the savings, as well as the opportunity for many students to buy these electronic paper devices it is perfectly reasonable. Each year in college a student will pay 300 to 400 dollars for text books. Assuming this number is even half for high school students and electronic text books would save only half you would still pay for a electronic paper reader in two years at current retail prices. That cost should go down with the purchasing power of schools and businesses general desire to aid them and by allowing students to buy these devices when they leave high school we can help mitigate the price they will spend on text books in college as well.

Many of the solutions to our schools problems are based in simple ideas of the past. Hard work, dedicated teachers, and high expectations but many of the financial solutions to our schools lay in technological means to improve our schools.

Learn more about this author, Elton Gahr.
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