Thread: The loss of basic skills in school

I can't think of any good reason why textbooks shouldn't disappear. That's the last kind of book that should be preserved. How many heavy textbooks get printed, hauled around, abused and destroyed while going virtually unused? I just finished an engineering degree and the fraction of a given textbook that's even assigned to be used in a course is tiny, let alone the fraction that students actually look at. On top of that, they go out of date almost yearly so that the publisher can waste another 1000 tons of paper printing (and selling) negligible revisions. The sooner the whole textbook system is virtualized the better, IMHO. Printed textbooks are an incredible waste and inconvenience.

We all know that basic math skills are vital, but you probably wouldn't defend a slide rule in place of a calculator.

Learning cursive ought to be like learning latin. I was taught cursive in school but that time would've been a lot better spent teaching me how to print better. That's the kind of writing I use, and maybe my girlfriend wouldn't make fun of it so much if it were better.