It is commonly thought that schools ought to concentrate on educating students mainly via information from multimedia rather than textbooks. While I acknowledge this digital approach is suitable and manageable at the same time, I personally think that absorbing knowledge from books is equally crucial.
On the one hand, some reasons why schools should focus more on teaching by digital platforms are valid. Firstly, integrating digital technology, interactive games, and visualized images with the lessons facilitate students’ engagement and make it more convenient for teachers to assign them things. For instance, compared to merely abstract pictures from books, AI-generated short clips about history would draw more attention from students, therefore the curriculum can be delivered more effectively. Moreover, academic exposure to multimedia platforms nurtures solid digital literacy, which optimizes learners’ opportunity to access the modern, technological world. Consequently, skills such as online research and data analysis can be normalized and considerably benefitted to reduce manual effort and boost education productivity at the same time.
On the other hand, traditional textbooks remain indispensable companions for education owing to their immense significance in developing deep reading skills, critical thinking and concentration for students. In contrast to vividly AI-generated images, reading requires stable brainstorming and certain attention spans, which enables students to develop characteristics including persistence and creativity. These factors would be useful tools for them whenever encountering hardship or even on occasions that they need to restart an entire project. Besides, studying from books protects students’ vision better than using digital devices, as their exposure to blue light would be more modest. Therefore, teaching combining both use of conventional books and digital media would be a comprehensive and rational approach in order to boost education effectiveness.
To sum up, although teaching students using digital platforms can be more modern and manageable, I reaffirm my conviction that the traditional teaching of books plays an equally essential role thanks to its great benefits related to developing deep thinking and fostering cognitive foundations.