Yet even as the publishing industry grows ever more profitable and the glossy pictures grow ever glossier, the actual philosophical format of the textbooks remains rooted in a continual cycle of repetitious failure. Standardized test scores have dropped steadily with the decades of use of traditional texts and straight lecture. But unfortunately, in today's era of Legislated Excellence, the publishers have developed more political power than ever before. In many states they have more power to dictate curriculum and pedagogy than professional science and science education organizations. That said, it should be noted that I have an elementary teacher friend who borrowed my copy of Paul Hewitt's Conceptual Physics, and I finally had to buy her a copy of her own to read for enjoyment or risk losing mine forever.
Textbooks can be extremely valuable resources.
The written page has been a primary resource since the invention of the printing press, and it will continue to be so even with the growth of the electronic information era. The reading resource, the textbook, should be something that the student wants to read, and it should be appropriate reading in style, in objectives, in content. The education community, from the classroom teachers to the practicing scientists need to push for what is best for the students, and that includes more properly developed reading resources. Emphasis on Reading One major issue in elementary science today is the emphasis on reading scores. The emphasis itself is not bad, particularly when and where students are not meeting minimum requirements.