COUNCIL CANDIDATE JAMES WU PROPOSES BRINGING DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS TO NYC SCHOOL

Electronic books, readers would reduce heavy textbooks and save taxpayer dollars

New York, NY – City Council Candidate James Wu on Monday proposed a bold new pilot program to bring digital textbooks to New York City Schools, an initiative that would reduce waste, unburden our children’s backpacks and save taxpayers millions of dollars. Wu pledged to hold hearings and introduce resolutions calling on the Department of Education to purchase digital book readers and electronic materials for several schools, saying, “Our children are our future, let’s bring the future to them.”

“We are weighing down are children with these heavy books, filling up our landfills with paper and throwing away taxpayer dollars,” said Wu. “Now that we have the technology, we need to use it. The New York Department of Ed prides itself on being cutting edge, and yet they are still using the same technology as Socrates when it comes to textbooks.”

Wu proposes giving each student a digital reader for the duration of the school year. The device will be used to download all textbooks and other coursework for the students’ classes. Wu plans to work with the Department of Education officials to design a pilot program that can be implemented in a handful of high schools. From the results of that experiment, Wu hopes the City can develop a citywide program that one day will put readers in the hands of all school children.

In addition to regular textbooks, digital readers will also give students access to a wide variety of learning tools that would help in their education. The digital readers also feature interactive programs and multimedia content that will take greatly enhance our students’ learning experience, such as video demonstrations of science, interactive modeling of molecules, physics, art and history videos. Digital readers can also be used for note taking, saving parents money on school supplies. Many U.S. universities have moved to using digital textbooks and online materials in various forms, as have secondary schools in other countries. South Korea has been running a pilot program with digital textbooks since 2007, with the goal of replacing all textbooks in public schools by 2013, with preliminary reports already showing significant improvement on student test scores.

“We are moving into the paperless age and we should make sure our schools are not left behind,” Wu said.

Currently, digital readers have market costs between $200-$300. The actual manufacturing costs are 100-200 percent below retail, however, leaving significant room for the Department of Education to negotiate a lower price for a large order. The New York City Board of Education already spends approximately $145 million each year on textbooks, or roughly $110 per student. Therefore, the initial startup cost of the program would be equal to the amount the City already spends on hardcopy books.

After the initial investment, digital textbooks would cost 50 percent less than paper versions, which may drop even lower as the market expands. Adding that these readers would not need to be replaced nearly as often as textbooks, including savings these the devices would pay for themselves almost immediately.

“We must look at these readers as an investment in our children’s future that will pay returns in both their education and actual dollars,” Wu said

Currently, our children are bogged down with backpacks overflowing with heavy textbooks. Many children even experience back problems because of the pressure from carrying such large loads. These books also need to be continually replaced, either through loss or damage. Thousand and thousands of books each year are simply thrown away, and even recycling does not salvage all the material. That means thousands of trees are being needlessly wasted to produce books with a short lifespan.

“My back still aches at the memory of carrying those books,” Wu said. “Our children should be able to walk tall, not only because they are proud of their accomplishments but because they have nothing weighing them down.”