Books are Bad for Your Back
one of my student’s bags
Student’s bags stuffed full of books seem to be a concern globally. Of course, it seems only to be books that are bad as often the heaviest and bulkiest bags are ones crammed full of sporting equipment. In the UK, I live near a sports college , a euphemism I’ll refrain from exploring, and kids carry bags stuffed with football, cricket and sporting equipment. And what about kids who deliver newspapers?
Of course, the solution is simple, more online resources (which are not just credible but free) and reading materials produced in CD form. Unfortunately, in the dumbed down world, we’ve had to wait for several generations of software toys to be produced for the worlds cretons while the e-book and palm readers and a myriad of other intellectual potentials dawdle in the backwater. I still can’t effectively read a musical score in anything but book form and haven’t been that impressed with palm readers (though I haven’t tried a Kindle). You can realistically bludgeon someone to death in Grand Theft Auto yet the technology for reading a book is in its infancy.
This year, in an effort to reduce the strain on Korean students backs, many reading resources are being produced in CD format.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Elwood 5566 
Koreans are quick to embrace new technologies when it comes to cell phones and “nabigation,” so I also can’t understand why so many trees have to die in the educational system here (at my college as well).
I suggested to my boss that I just make a website and upload all of my hand-outs for the semester, but oh no, we must use the aging Xerox machine and churn out hundreds of pages every week that students could easily read online or print out for themselves — and this would save the college money!
/end rant
A fellow ranter! My school seems loath to do anything with technology other than that performed by the Xerox.
I’ve always preferred stuff in black-and-white on a page, it’s always suited my studying style. It is a bit mental though when you see Korean kids wheeling suitcases around.
(Sports College, jeepers, I can well imagine. I’ve been at a Community College recently, or as I prefer to call it “Community Care”)
I love books. I love having murdered trees lining up my shelves. I just love my own library, but I gotta admit if space is a premium, even one single book will make you worried about weight and space. I got myself an ebook (the iriver one) and I have all my collection there, it’s great; I wish I could have digital copies of my school books. I can’t understand why they charge the same price for a digital copy of X novel though; aren’t prices supposed to be cheaper without paper, printing, and shipping involved?
We still have many ways to go here in the Western part of the world.