Wesley Fryer on eliminating textbooks, the digital curriculum

Thought I'd share the ideas of Wesley Fryer, perhaps my favorite edublogger, in his latest post, as it ties in with our discussion of eliminating textbooks and the digital curriculum:

How I yearn for leadership in the state of Oklahoma which will help usher in the learning revolution. We don’t need to keep buying $75 textbooks for K-12 students in all the mandated content areas. That madness should stop now. We need Netbooks for EVERY student and teacher, in EVERY grade, starting in third grade. Yes, I love Macs dearly, but what leader of a 1:1 laptop learning initiative can financially justify a $1000 investment for hardware for each learner compared to a $250 Netbook? You can’t. The digital curriculum, networking infrastructure, and professional development which can be provided for learners with the money saved by purchasing Netbooks instead of full-blown $1000 laptops is staggering.

Oh by the way, Wes' post starts with looking at the difference between Canada's media's perception of education and the U.S's. Worth a read for us in Iowa.