Students and teachers throughout the world are arguing over what should be used in a classroom, textbooks or tablets. Textbooks have been around ever since the systems of writing and formal school have existed. In the mid-fifteenth century, the invention of printing made it were textbooks are able to be hand-produced and be available to small and privileged underage people. “The ability to mass-produce books led to an ever-increasing demand for, and supply of, formal schooling, which in turn produced an ever-increasing demand for books specially designed for schools” (Encyclopedia of Education). Even though textbooks have been around forever, 81% of K-12 teachers prefer tablets in the classroom, tablets are not the best option (Graham). Yes, tablets are …show more content…
Furthermore, Apple iText cost a school $14.99 per student, per year, making the digital version of education 34% more expensive. (Apple’s iPad). Some schools cannot afford the additional expense of tablets, considering that the tablets can be easily broken or malfunctioned. Per year, it cost around $11,460.48 for digital textbooks and only $7,520 for textbooks (at an average school size of 752 students) that last five to seven years. Tablets also need wifi for students and teachers to access the Internet and assignments, causing schools to invest in big wifi infrastructures to have students and teachers to be on the Internet at the same time throughout the day. Wilson states that “schools will need industrial grade access point with load balancing and several other features to handle the spiky volume. These typically run in the $500 range. An [average size school] will need about 30 of these to support 800 users...All-in the network infrastructure will run about $21,750 a year per school” (Apple’s iPad). In one decade, that is more than $200,000 to rely on wifi to be