subject: The Benefits Of Owning A Textbook [print this page] Whether for elementary school, high school or college, textbooks are a necessity. They help students to understand subjects better and serve as a great study guide for tests. Students who own or rent and use their books tend to do better in school than those who do not. Renting texts is an option which has grown in popularity over the past few years. As long as the student has sole use of the book, it will not matter which method is used.
Teachers want their students to have textbooks. Some teachers follow them thoroughly and teach each lesson in them from beginning to end. In classes like this, it is very important to own a book. If a student misses a class, they can easily catch up by reading it. However, if a student does not own a book in a class like this, they will most likely fail due to not being able to follow the class properly. Borrowing one may be a temporary fix, but will likely be ineffective beyond the first test day.
There are other teachers, especially in college, who do not necessarily teach straight from the book, but require students to have one. These teachers tend to assign readings from the book that go along with what they are teaching in class. They also pull test questions from the books just to assure that students are doing their required readings and fully understanding what is being taught and discussed in class. There are some students who simply borrow books from other students, but this is not the best idea since that makes it more difficult to study and do readings which are assigned.
Sometimes teachers also give out assignments and mini-projects that come straight out of the textbooks. For example, a teacher may assign students to read a chapter then submit the answers to the review questions at the end of the chapter, or have the students write a short paper on a chapter or chapters in the book. There are many ways in which teachers get creative in giving homework assignments straight from the textbook.
Some students choose not to purchase textbooks due to the financial burden, but renting textbooks is a helpful solution to this problem. This works well for many students, because they end up paying a smaller price for textbooks and then get to return them at the end of the semester. Students not only save money, but they end up being able to avoid the clutter that occurs after years of school and accruing books. This method of acquiring books is becoming popular in the college community as more school bookstores make this option available to students.
No matter what the situation, textbooks are a vital and necessary part of one's education. It is proven that students who have textbooks, whether it be through buying them or renting them, do much better than students who avoid getting books altogether.
