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Lisa B.'s picture

What about the textbook industry?

 

What about the textbook industry? This was my first thought after remembering that Pluto is no longer a planet. The NY Times did not address this concern in “Vote Makes It Official” when the article casually mentions, “Throw away the place mats. Redraw the classroom charts. Take a pair of scissors to the solar system mobile.” The $4 billion (forbes.com) elementary and secondary textbook industry probably celebrated the news of Pluto’s downgraded planetary status. Although I easily accepted the statements made by scientists, at the International Astronomical Union, that Pluto is only a mass of ice, would school boards share my ease? The California public school system alone has to budget for over $500 million (forbes.com) in textbooks, but new elementary and secondary science texts would dramatically increase their expenses. According to the Atlantic many teachers were not “waiting for textbooks to make the jump.” “When Is a Planet Not a Planet?” said that textbooks, together with teachers, have the power to influence the number of children who grow up thinking that Pluto is an icy mass. “If enough of them become astronomers, the IAU will follow.”  
 

 

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