Technology vital to modern education
While I agree that buying digital devices for the use of e-textbooks may become a burden for disadvantaged students, I do not think they bring more disadvantages than advantages. They help students learn most effectively and prepare them for future studies and careers.
As an English teacher, I appreciated the letter from the five students who wrote about e-textbooks ("E-textbooks will distract students", June 23).
While I agree that buying digital devices for the use of e-textbooks may become a burden for disadvantaged students, I do not think they bring more disadvantages than advantages. They help students learn most effectively and prepare them for future studies and careers.
Your correspondents claimed that as e-textbooks provide up-to-date information quickly, it is overwhelming to sift through. However, it is an important skill for students to select what to read and not to read to complete a task. If they are equipped with such a skill, they can get the information they need with a click or two in the e-textbook.
By contrast, if they are using traditional textbooks, they have to type the keywords of a topic when searching for information about it on the internet. Even if the addresses of the websites are provided in the book, students must type the addresses in the browser. It is more time-consuming.
Therefore, e-textbooks make learning, especially research, much more convenient than using traditional ones.
Another argument against the use of e-textbooks put forward by your correspondents is that it is difficult for secondary students to do their homework online due to its greater amount and increased complexity.