Writer Rejects Duncan's Call For Electronic Textbooks

In an op-ed in the New York Times (10/10, Subscription Publication), author and Tufts University professor Justin B. Hollander writes about Education Secretary Arne Duncan's recent calls for universal adoption of electronic textbooks. Hollander concedes that there are some uses for classroom technology, but argues that Duncan "is threatening to light a bonfire to a tried-and-true technology - good old paper - that has been the foundation for one of the great educational systems on the planet. And while e-readers and multimedia may seem appealing, the idea of replacing an effective learning platform with a widely hyped but still unproven one is extremely dangerous." Hollander argues that more research is needed and that there may be unintended consequences to removing traditional textbooks from US classrooms.