Throughout the school day for every day of the school year, students have to carry their heavy backpacks in the hallways and bring them to every class. The worst days to carry around a backpack are at the beginning of the year or end of each semester when teachers hand out textbooks and students have to carry them around all day.
If multiple teachers hand out textbooks on the same day then the weight of multiple textbooks is added to the already heavy backpacks. These textbooks are unnecessary in most cases because most classes do not use textbooks or use them rarely. Also, textbooks can be found online, which makes hard copies of textbooks that much more unnecessary. However, students continue to get multiple textbooks every year, which can end up being an unnecessary liability and a waste of space.
The only department to continuously use textbooks is the math department. They use textbooks for daily homework and the textbook also has answers to problems, so students can check. Only the odd problems can be checked in the back of the textbook, so students can’t just copy the answers. Students like junior Chris Vondas like the way that the math department uses textbooks and thinks that math is the only department where textbooks are necessary. “I feel like we don’t need textbooks besides for math class. We use textbooks very often in math but in my other classes I will use the textbook maybe once or twice a semester,” Vondas said.
Advancements in technology bring about increased use of the internet in completing assignments for homework. The old fashioned way of hard-copy textbooks is outdated and textbooks are used far less than before the Internet was created. Students use chromebooks in class to complete assignments and research any information for projects.
MCPS is moving towards projects as a predominant way of learning and projects have no need for textbooks. Students like sophomore Haley Scheinberg like that MCPS is moving away from textbooks and toward online projects. “I like doing things online instead of textbooks because whenever I am unsure of how to do something I can Google it, while using textbooks often leave me stumped with no idea how to figure the problem out,” Scheinberg said.
Although students go through the process of bringing textbooks home and back to school every year, they have become tired of this unnecessary process.When students get their textbooks they have to carry the textbook around all day in their backpack until they get home. Students often have to carry multiple textbooks at once because they are being handed out on the same day.
If the teacher assigns any work in textbooks, students face the dilemma of bringing the textbook to school or not because of the extraneous weight the textbooks carry. Students such as senior Andrew Espejo have had enough of the hassle that textbooks cause and want teachers to stop handing out textbooks that aren’t even used in the class. “I hate having to carry textbooks around when we get them because we never even use them and they take up so much space in my backpack,” Espejo said.
Justin Fishman
Opinion Editor
