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Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 07:34 GMT 08:34 UK

Poring over computers for every subject from a young age will affect sight of students. Looking through plain glass is not the same as no glass at all. No glass is better. This means computers, though they help us today also disadvantage our sight. Furthermore, this restricts study posture. Time will be wasted connecting to sites and students will become more playful by logging onto unnecessary sights, distraction. Archiving will be difficult, students may have difficulties revising old work.

Thoko Chikho, Lilongwe

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 06:30 GMT 07:30 UK

Bad idea.

Salim, Amesterdam

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 06:13 GMT 07:13 UK

I think its a good idea in a way as quite a few kids often forget their text books,scribble all over them and generally don't look after them.
Sure it'll save trees but don't forget that it'll increase the demand on electricity and thus increase Co2,so lets not get too excited about the ecological benefits,unless the schools have solar panels etc intstalled(unlikely).
On the other hand watching a P.C screen all day at school and going home to study on one can't be beneficial to your health!

Dan Lavender, Nagoya,Japan

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 05:50 GMT 06:50 UK

Dim overweight AND shortsighted? Bring it on.

James Taylor

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 05:21 GMT 06:21 UK

The man is doing it for budget purposes and not for the environment

Where does he stand on emission control and the Green House effects and his country contributions; the worst in the world

Next; they will be saying there is no need for teachers and replace them with on-line classes

Nizam Yagoub

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 04:52 GMT 05:52 UK

Is no-one even vaguely concerned by the possibility that all this pushing of constant use of computers is just going to ruin everyone's eyesight?

LunchBreak, Derby

Nah, it's all good.. The inevitable next step is brain implants which bypass the optic nerve altogether.
I'm all for this. All real hackers and programmers are original thinkers, hence, conservatives. Life finds a way.

Bob, Cubicle Sea, USA

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 04:06 GMT 05:06 UK

Have you ever used an Internet book to study? It's a pain: you can't easily take notes via highlighting, you can't really mark pages, and you can ONLY study with a computer.
There simply is, and always will be, something that the printed word can only offer: convenience without a battery.

Richard Hermerding

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:47 GMT 03:47 UK

Fast food generation now the e-learning generation...in a few years we will have talk shows on how to get your kids off the hock of pcs and internet...like we do now how to get ur kids of fast food! A book is an experience it gives you memories...do not take that away from our children..the net has no memory every thing changes so fast...

Nihad Mahmoud, Cairo, Egypt

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:40 GMT 03:40 UK

I think that the students might miss that something special that comes from holding a book in your hands and then there is always the need to review sums, etc. We also need to keep the 'art' of handwriting going - too many grads today have poor penmanship, poor grammar and think 'texting' is writing!

Then there is the security issue -- there is no guarantee that a site won't be hacked and the lessons destroyed.

Kathleen Carroll, New York, United States

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:15 GMT 03:15 UK

In 500 words one cannot do justice to the stupidity of this idea! Web pages are expensive to produce, ephemeral, unreliable, poor reproduction, unverifiable, and demand access to an expensive, energy-consuming, fragile, and cumbersome screen that can only be read in the shade. Books are cheap, robust, can be read anywhere with a light, easily transportable, excellent quality and, most important, have fixed, verifiable content. This idea will put California back in the Dark Ages!

Tom, Exeter

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:14 GMT 03:14 UK

Necessity if the mother of invention - so serves the Governor of California Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Paucity of State Funds has constrained the Governor to sing paens of the internet learning aids. Sadly, in the hurly burly of life, people read students have forgotton the value and impression of the printed matter. No doubt, internet helps but its use can only be complementary - not the be-all and by-all product.The intimate touch and invigorating aroma of text-books may be missing.

Aziz Merchant, Versova, Mumbai, India

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:04 GMT 03:04 UK

When computers become as flexible and handy as books, phasing out textbooks may make sense. In time I see computers that look like books, but where you have 1 book you would have 10,000. The data on the page would change. You could also upload A/V info as well as other books. You could have video presentations on a page for example.You could change the type size or language. Books should not go away, just get more interesting, and have more information.

R.B. Chadfield, Minneapolis,MN USA

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 02:02 GMT 03:02 UK

I don't know about everyone else but I find it very hard to read long documents on a screen. My eyes get tired much faster and it is harder to consentrate. If textbooks were digitized they would be useless for me. As a bit of context I should probably say that I am only 18 and have grown up with computers.

Kelsey H, Edmonton Alberta Canada

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 24:41 GMT 01:41 UK

Great.
Remove books from schools, including the bible.
Remove all students.
Finally close the schools.
Celebrate the internet.

Tibor TK, Neuss
The Bible has already been excluded. Did you know that they give you two sets of books one for the school and another for the home. It is a waste of money.

Sylvia Martinez, Los Angeles, United States

Added: Wednesday, 10 June, 2009, 24:31 GMT 01:31 UK

taking away the text book for math is a terrible idea. students (at least me) need a way to carry around math ideas in an easily accessible way. If i want to go to the library for example, its going to be very hard to study for math. Other subjects probably dont require no text books as well (especially english, who uses english textbooks?) but, it will still make studying for those subjects much harder

Chad Masarweh, Davis, United States