Apple Kills the Textbook with iBooks 2, iBooks Author
At the Guggenheim Museum in New York Thursday, Apple announced it would update its iBooks platform to include textbook capabilities, such as indexing and highlighting text. It also added a new platform called iBooks Author, which lets anyone easily create and publish their own e-books. Apple's late co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs had hoped to bring relief to the higher education masses in the late 80s and early 90s, but 20 years later, Jobs's legacy lives on in Apple, which hopes to make yet another dent in the education industry.
At the start of Thursday's presentation, Apple's senior VP of marketing Phil Schiller told the audience several pitiful statistics about U.S. education. For one, 70 percent of freshmen graduate in four years, but the country is ranked 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math. Assuming the human race isn't getting stupider, the statistics show that there is...
"but the country is ranked 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math. Assuming the human race isn't getting stupider, the statistics show that there is clearly a disconnect between students and their education."
And what? A piece of electronics is going to increase the intellect of your average student??
Anybody who thinks this to be true has an educational problem of his own.
Teachers & parents are deluding themselves, or have been duped. Our educational problems are philosophical, not technical. In spite of this, the computer industry has been hawking profitable snake oil to solve them, with the attendant logistical hassles. But the only hardware you really need besides books, pencils, & paper, is between the ears.
Primary education, in particular, isn't rocket science, except to ambitious, degreed professional obfuscators. Same goes for theology.
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