E-ducation

It has surprised me for a while now that schools, most specifically high schools and colleges, haven't led the way in the ebook revolution. Then yesterday my godson, Tommy, called to ask for good places to download classics, Hamlet and a few others, for his spring semester at a private high school. I was delighted to hear he and his classmates are welcome to use ebooks in lieu of a specific edition of these classic texts, and that he has a few teachers who have sought out text books available in the format.

It always seemed logical to me that high schools and colleges would want to jump in with both feet on this technology. Even disregarding the cost-- which would be substantial, the convenience and health benefits are huge. Rather than carting around a book bag that weighs more than most of the cheerleading squad, students could pack a light sack with a Sony E-Reader or an Amazon Kindle, some pens and pencils, and a notebook or-- better still, a netbook mini computer. Under five pounds and everything necessary for a full day of classes. Makes perfect sense to me.

Not only that, but students could purchase a reader for under $300 as incoming classmen, use it for high school, college, and grad school, and download many books for free. Certainly text book publishers would be smart to give bulk discounts. Imagine starting school in September or January, logging on to the high school home page, and downloading all your texts for the year. They don't tear, wear, get dropped in puddles, or have a place to ink "Bongo loves Daisy" with a big heart around it. How often, during debates and stump speeches, have we heard politicians bemoan the out-dated text books in struggling school systems?

Why hasn't this happened yet? Long ago many colleges required incoming students to own laptops and provided discounted models. Some even included the new computer in the tuition. And net-books, mini pc's, really evolved out of the "one laptop per child" movement that sought to provide small, scaled down, child-sized computers for kids.

I'd love to see this idea spread. It would be great for schools, great for ebook publishing, great for young people with straining spines and groaning pockets. And I'd love to hear from readers. What about you? Does your school district encourage the technology? Do you love or hate the idea?

The Changing Role of Adolescent-hood

As you may remember from last week, I've been on vacation in Hilton Head. And I should note that I'm tan. Very tan. Yay!

I'm home now, and just in time, as the island is currently under mandatory evacuation due to Hurricane Hanna. (I hope my cousin Natalie left last night after work rather than get stuck in potentially up to 8 hours of standstill traffic leaving the island...trust me, it sucks...been there, done that.)

Anyway, I got to spend some quality time with the relatives on my mom's side this past week (I've got some of them in the picture at the top of the post...from left to right: my grandmother; my cousin Lauren, who is studying for the MCATs at the moment because she takes them a week from tomorrow; me; my Aunt Bobbie). It's always a treat to see them, especially my grandmother.

My grandmother, who we call Gaga, will be 90 in May. She was born in NYC, and grew up in Spanish Harlem, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Gaga was the oldest of 5 children, so when she graduated from high school at age 15 at the height of the Great Depression in 1934, she couldn't afford to attend college, despite her fervent desire to go. So off to work she went, to help her mother and stepfather (her father had passed when she was younger) provide for her younger brothers and sister.

Yes, age 15. At an age when most teens today are going to Homecoming dances and football games, my grandmother was out in the working world and essentially raising a family (albeit her siblings) because her parents worked long, long hours and money was extremely tight. She sacrificed her own teen years so that her siblings teen years would be a little better.

She married my grandfather, her high school sweetheart (a neighborhood boy...son of Puerto Rican immigrants), at age 19. Had she followed her dreams and gone to college straight out of high school (remember, she graduated really young), she would have graduated by then, but that wasn't in the cards.

But she never gave up her dream of pursuing higher education. After raising five children, Gaga started commuting into the City to attend Hunter College when my Uncle Dick was in college, my mom was in high school, my Aunt Cookie and Uncle Peter were in junior high, and my Aunt Bobbie in elementary school. She majored in Spanish and French, and then got her teaching certificate.

So in the 1960s, more than 30 years after she graduated high school and started working, Gaga became a high school Spanish teacher. She retired in the early 80s (I remember going to the Spanish class Christmas party when I was 3 or 4 and getting to take a whack at the pinata), but to this day, continues to help tutor students in Spanish.

My grandma, whose teen years were not conventional by today's standards, taught me the importance of education and achieving your dreams, no matter what the odds. She's my hero.

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