Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Nerd News: Ahnuld Schwarzenegger Terminates California Schoolbooks?

Ninme links to this story from California. Oh, my.

Note too the witty headline that reuses the titles of one of Ahnuld's action flicks. Blurb from the story:

Californian schoolkids have been told to throw away their textbooks to help the state avoid bankruptcy.

But they won't need total recall: they're going digital instead.

The textbooks have been terminated by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bodybuilding state governor who says they are "outdated" and too expensive.

I'm of two minds on this one. The whole textbook publishing industry is a big racket -- especially on college campuses where students are regarded as cash cows -- but going full digital can be problematic. We need standards of accuracy. Goodness knows I already have enough goofy kids who think that if they read anything on the Internet, it must be true -- regardless of the source.

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