Kids are already drowning in screen time, and school is one of the few places we could actually push back on that a little, so the answer to 'screens are convenient' probably shouldn't be 'great, let's add more screens.'
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Should physical books be phased out in schools now that e-readers are cheaper and lighter?
50% PRO
50% CON
Pro 5
Con 5
E-readers break, get stolen, need updates, and drain batteries — swapping books for devices doesn't eliminate costs, it just trades one set of problems for a way more complicated set of problems.
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I still have my dog-eared copy of The Giver from seventh grade with my own terrible margin notes in it, and honestly that object IS part of the memory of learning — you can't replicate that with a file on a shared school tablet.
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Not every family has reliable wifi or the ability to charge devices overnight, and phasing out physical books would just quietly punish the kids who are already struggling the most.
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My kid retains way more from a physical textbook than staring at a screen — there's actual research showing tactile reading improves comprehension and memory, so 'cheaper and lighter' is a pretty shallow reason to blow up something that works.
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E-readers have built-in dictionaries, adjustable fonts, and text-to-speech — that's not just convenience, that's a genuine accessibility revolution for kids with dyslexia or vision problems who got completely left behind by the old system.
Honestly the "kids learn better from physical books" argument feels more like nostalgia than science at this point, and nostalgia is a terrible reason to keep straining kids' backs and draining school budgets.
I work in a school district and we spend an embarrassing amount on reprinting outdated textbooks every few years — switching to e-readers means content updates cost basically nothing and that money goes back to actual teaching.
A single e-reader can hold every textbook a student needs K-12, and entry-level ones cost less than two hardcover biology textbooks. The math just isn't close anymore.
My daughter carries a 30-pound backpack every single day and has mild scoliosis at age 11 — if loading an entire curriculum onto a tablet can fix that, why are we even debating this?