Cool Textbooks?

In the article A Textbook Example of What's Wrong with Education, Tamim Ansary makes a case against the textbook industry.  The case was made that Ansary worked for a textbook publishing company, and problems came from the lack of originality in textbooks.  Textbooks have so many censors that it must pass before it can even be thought of for adoption that it effectively nullifies the messages being brought.  For example, a textbook won't pass censorship if it has an african american playing sports, an asian at a computer, or a woman taking care of a baby.  Another problem that Ansary brings up is money.  Textbook companies only have concern for three states, because that is where the money is.  Even of those three, Texas is the only one that they tailor needs too.  Many companies know the Texas curriculum, but the other states must follow what Texas does because the textbooks are made for them.

I agree that the problems listed by Ansary are the downfall of today's education.  Public education has become focused on money, more that the well-being and future of our nation.  One person commented on the page that he could remember his textbook from the 1950's because it was a grammar book that used the analogy of an alien evesdropping to learn our language.  None of today's textbooks will have that impact on students, unless we change our way of thinking.