Why Toronto students don’t have uniform textbooks

 

A friend of mine asked me, “Why Toronto students don’t have uniform textbooks?”

The question gave me a lot of thoughts. It is true that teachers will send students home with duotangs, and sometimes ziplocked picture books for kindergarten students to read at home. But I have never seen textbooks.

I asked S, who is a teacher at TDSB and my colleague in Knowledge Building (KB) design group.

S told me that teachers often use big publishers such as Nelson or Pearson as teaching materials, but this is not obligatory. On one hand, uniform textbooks make teaching rigid, as it would require all teachers and students to not only move toward the same goal, but also follow the specified trajectory. It ignores the diversity in teaching and curbs children's creativity. With the existence of standardized tests, teachers are already dancing with heavy shackles. They don’t need any more restrictions.

From the point of view of KB, one of its 12 principles is "Constructive use of Authoritative Sources". Textbooks are a kind of authoritative source, which is very helpful for students to understand and master the basic knowledge. We should not deny the use and importance of textbooks. But if we over-emphasize the role of textbooks and the correctness of textbook content, students will become passive recipients of information. Consequently, the purpose of learning is simplified to mastering known facts and developing technical skills. Over time, students will lose their ability to think critically and create new knowledge.