Comments on: California Open Textbooks Initiative Face Cultural Challenges http://openeducationnews.org/2009/05/14/california-open-textbooks-initiative-face-cultural-challenges/ Monitoring news related to open education around the globe Sat, 21 May 2011 01:05:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Steve Stults http://openeducationnews.org/2009/05/14/california-open-textbooks-initiative-face-cultural-challenges/#comment-1121 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:58:29 +0000 http://openeducationnews.org/?p=2260#comment-1121 When I was teaching middle school in the late 1980s and early 1990s I knew our history and literature texts were horrid, but I couldn’t really put my finger on exactly why.

Reading “The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption” was a revelation. On virtually every page I would find myself almost leaping out of my seat, thinking “YES!! That’s exactly what is wrong!!!”

Our textbooks are boring, banal, devoid of voice or life. Our history texts are scrubbed of any value judgements or controversy. Everything is just, well. . .nice. All cultures are nice, aren’t they? It’s like living in Pleasantville.

Let’s trash the entire procurement system.

]]> By: Karen http://openeducationnews.org/2009/05/14/california-open-textbooks-initiative-face-cultural-challenges/#comment-936 Fri, 15 May 2009 01:14:24 +0000 http://openeducationnews.org/?p=2260#comment-936 The textbook adoption process is nothing if not “complex…and arduous.” The whole textbook-industrial complex, complete with various lobbying groups and special interests, is ripe for reform.

I agree that an open textbook initiative faces an uphill battle. However, clearly open educational resources that can be modified for differentiation are one of the primary means we have to improve education, which MUST be done if we are to remain viable as a society.

Perhaps, the two of these facts together will motivate lawmakers and citizens to reform the whole textbook adoption process. Some states like Indiana are already starting to do this.

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