Bring a 20-pound water cooler and walk around CHS for the day. You will likely feel exhaustion and muscle strain. Tomorrow, replace the cooler with a water bottle weighing about 10 ounces. It makes more sense to carry something light and convenient, rather than something bulky and unnecessary, so why not replace textbooks with an eBook?

Backpacks without textbooks are heavy to begin with, and adding another 20 pounds csn really affect students’ health.

According to CHS school nurse Deborah Stapleton, too much weight can cause muscle strain, bad posture, neck pain, back pain and hip pain. Students should not have to deal with the potential risk of these chronic aches and pains.

It is clear that this heavy and avoidable weight should be replaced with a light 10-ounce electronic device to give most students’ backs a break.

Many students use textbooks that are not up to date because the cost of CHS to purchase textbooks annually is impractical. Downloading a revised textbook can be as simple as pressing a few keys on the eBook keyboard–it is convenient, quick and significantly cheaper.

Due to the economic recession, there have been multiple budget cuts, making it harder to decide what to spend limited money on. Spending money on multiple sets of textbooks for each student is not cheap. An eBook only costs $109 (the cost of some textbooks), but due to the large amount of eBooks the school would be purchasing, discounts would certainly be available. Over time, CHS would save approximately $726,600 (every 5 years), if there were 2,100 students and each textbook for each student was $50 for all seven classes.

Moreover, the eBook is environmentally-friendly and powered by a rechargeable battery. Think of how many trees would be saved if they didn’t have to cut them down to provide paper for millions of textbooks.

Students would also have a much easier time being organized because all of the work would be on one tablet.

While parents who like to be involved in their child’s work may prefer textbooks because that is what they used in school, the eBook is designed to be easy to use and the majority of people will learn and eventually prefer it because the benefits outweigh the textbook.

Saving money for other important school necessities while improving the educational experience are key benefits of new technology. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, CHS students will have the option of using this available technology to enhance their learning.