There have been plenty of studies
showing college students are not always running out to buy their assigned
textbooks. At the same time, every collegiate retailer knows that collecting textbook
adoption information in the first place can be like pulling teeth, so why not
just drop them altogether?
“Banning textbooks is not
capitulation to their misguided frugality. It’s recognition that students don’t
view their textbooks the way we expect them to—and they may have a point,” The
Good Enough Professor wrote in a recent blog post.
The problem with textbooks,
according to the blogger, is students know they probably can find the same information
online for free, making the assigned book redundant and expensive. Besides,
students come to understand during their K-12 days that learning is more about locating
the right information to pass a test than it is working through concepts and
ideas.
“Students
want to adroitly navigate the world of information—hence their zeal for finding
workarounds,” she wrote. “By abandoning textbooks, we can better work with that
grain rather than against it.”
