Are lack of textbooks affecting the minds of our students? Yes or No

I would like to explain my views on a situation in which a personal, academic, and workplace problem was identified as resulting from limited resources or a limited access to resources within a charter school. Due to the funding for many charter schools, there remains a textbook shortage. The textbook shortage can impact the students negatively on education. It is sad that classrooms organize work around the lack of textbooks. Teachers have now learned to use limited textbooks and other printed material.

Is there any way to purchase and place textbooks in all schools as a priority? Most feel as if a lower GPA’s could be due to the lack of textbooks for its students. Unfortunately, charter schools are paid for by the community and by state grants. From my observation and perspective, state money is split up by every entire school district in the state, deducing the idea that large amounts of money are given to a school. Here’s the kicker…charter schools are funded.  The funds for the school come from the community and the government. The funds are available because of keeping the grades and attendance to meet a higher level of standards in education. With the shortage of textbooks and the negative impact this has on the education of these students, the lack of textbooks may lower the grades of the students, therefore harming the standards by lowering them.  

Another perspective other than mine states that it is important to note again that the research on textbook availability has played a dominant role in some of the major donors' decisions on how to invest in education during recent years. The study suggests that textbook availability may not be causally linked to student achievement because availability does not necessarily mean use. (Moulton, 1994)

If we are to understand more about how textbooks do or do not affect learning, we need to observe when and how teachers and students use them, and how they fit into the teaching-learning process. The new age of technology has also taken a toll on feeling the need to textbooks. But the argument is that textbooks are accessible online. This makes it an amazing feat by providing digital textbooks to all students. Now the question arises concerning where the technology to view the textbooks is coming from, and from where are all these students going to afford the internet?

Many questions and answers can be provided about the shortage of textbooks. The fact of the matter is that teachers all over the world have figured out a way to provide the level of education by teaching with whatever is necessary for students to learn with whatever resources they have. No wonder teachers are loved like mothers. They are the closest motherly thing a child is exposed to for much of their school lives. God bless them.     

Resources

Moulton, J. (1994, September). How Do Teachers Use Textbooks and Other Print Materials? Retrieved from pitt.edu: retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~ginie/ieq/pdf/textbook.pdf