Chapter 3

Reading the third chapter of this book is like reading something very familiar, but something you read so long ago the details are just now reemerging from memory. Whether it’s because I chose to block out memories of middle and high school textbooks or because I just forgot, I’m unsure. But the fact of the matter is that I forgot how much I hated textbooks. Lugging them around, never using them in class or in homework, constantly asking the teacher if we actually had to bring them to class the next day. I don’t wish to say that textbooks are useless, because, at the college level, I have found them profoundly helpful, particularly in my “hard” science courses. They are often hard to get through, but “clunking” through the arduous language eventually led to greater success in classes such as chemistry.

College students are very different than middle schoolers. While we recognize we’re paying for the struggles of our education, these students may not see the value in their education or may not even want to be in school. Textbooks that are thick, heavy, and potentially harmful to their health do not help in convincing a student to stay in school. Instead, tailoring text to fit the class’s individual needs may be the key to ensuring our students get what they need out of their readings. Though this is more work, if we are installing the love of learning in our students, isn’t that worth the extra effort? That is for the individual to decide.
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