Textbook Provisions in the Several States

Abstract

The textbook has played a most significant role in the development of the American educational program. For generations it was the school pro gram; children attending the public schools did little more than study and memorize the contents of the available textbook. Even today, with emphasis shifting from subject matter information to the personal and social needs of children, the textbook remains a vital aspect of educational planning and instruction. Educators continue to rank the textbook as one of the three major factors in the more formal school curriculum, along with teachers, and buildings and supplies. Because of its importance to the evolving pattern of American education, the textbook has ever been a topic of keen concern to the parents, educators, and legislators directly responsible for the educational experiences in the public schools. Some consideration is given to textbooks in almost every session of the various state legislatures. The educational codes of the several states contain specific provisions relative to the legal procedures for selecting and providing textbooks. Parents are concerned about the quality and supply of books, and evidence more than passing interest about the funds used for the purchase of textbooks. Educators ar? possibly most sensitive to methods of supplying and using the textbook because they realize its powerful role in the typical school program. Any reader with classroom teaching experience will agree that the textbook was a central figure in that experience. Good teachers use the textbook with a variety of stimulating approaches and frequently rely heavily upon its presentations because of the lack of other teaching materials. Inept and inexperienced teachers use the text as a crutch, seldom wandering from its printed sequences. Little wonder, then, that legislatures, textbook companies, parents, and teachers consider as crucial the legal formulations necessary for the production and distribution of textbooks.