California Legislature Lightens Students’ Load

California has provided yet another Great Moment In Education with the Assembly mandating the length of textbooks for use in its public schools. According to the just-approved AB 756, no textbook used in California public schools can exceed 200 pages:

Lawmakers voted Thursday to ban school districts from purchasing textbooks longer than 200 pages.
The bill, believed to be the first of its kind nationwide, was hailed by supporters as a way to revolutionize education.
Critics lambasted Assembly Bill 756 as silly.
“This bill is really the epitome of micromanagement,” said Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Northridge. “(It’s) absolutely ridiculous.” …
But Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, said critics are thinking too narrowly.

The Democrats in charge of the Assembly have decided that the value of a textbook lies in its bookshelf width, and they claim that the critics are thinking too narrowly? My native state has tried many silly ideas in education before, but cutting off textbooks by page count has to be one of the dumbest yet. Since when does a book’s value come in the number of pages it contains? What’s next — comic books instead of textbooks?
The result will either be that textbook publishers start producing their work in volumes for the California market, or they abridge the material enough to slide under the 200-page limit. The first option will result in higher costs, as the consumer will have to buy each volume separately and the unit cost will go up due to the extra covers, typesetting, editing, etc. The second option shortchanges education rather than pocketbooks. Neither of these reactions, nor AB 756, truly addresses the real issues behind California’s appalling educational performance: lack of competition and accountability in the government-mandated, union-run state educational monopoly.
Educated people already know that one cannot judge a book by its cover. We thought that the obvious corrolary of notjudging it by its page count would be understood implicitly. I’m sure we’re correct, for most places. The intellect-challenged state capitol in Sacramento appears to be an exception to that rule.

12 thoughts on “California Legislature Lightens Students’ Load”

  1. Real Education Reform!

    Courtesy of the California Legislature: California has provided yet another Great Moment In Education with the Assembly mandating the length of textbooks for use in its public schools. According to the just-approved AB 756, no textbook used in Califor…

  2. California Adopts Cliff Texts

    Captain’s Quarters reports that California law now stipulates that text books cannot exceed 200 pages. So, let me see if I have this straight: California adolescent’s academic performance is lagging, so, the solution is to provide them with less edu…

  3. The State of Education

    The state of Education in the State of California is in a sad, sad, state.
    I first read about the textbook selection process in California when I read Physicist Richard Feynman’s autobiographical book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman …
    You can r…

  4. Boy, You’re Gonna Carry That Weight

    Nice to see California’s legislature is being silly again, in an effort to reduce all of those hernias that high school kids report every year. Ed Morrissey writes:California has provided yet another Great Moment In Education with the Assembly mandatin…

  5. Dumbing Down our Students

    California has provided yet another Great Moment In Education with the Assembly mandating the length of textbooks for use in its public schools. According to the just-approved AB 756, no textbook used in California public schools can exceed 200 pages:

  6. “Epitome of Micromanagement”

    From Cap’n Ed, we learn that California has just passed a law limiting the length of textbooks to 200 pages in California public schools.
    Umm . . . what?

  7. Size matters in California

    Via Captain’s Quarters Lawmakers voted Thursday to ban school districts from purchasing textbooks longer than 200 pages. The bill, believed…

  8. Judging the books by their covers

    Does California’s legislature think it can improve education by shortening textbooks? The California Assembly is betting that kids learn more with small books. Lawmakers voted Thursday to ban school districts from purchasing textbooks longer than 200 p…

  9. Insanity, definition of

    Anyone who wants proof that American politicians have lost their damn mind need only look towards Sacramento. No, I’m not talking about Ahnold, but rather about the California State Assembly.

  10. The dumbest thing I have heard this week

    This is virtually too stupid for words. Naturally, it’s happening in California.

  11. Silly doesn’t even begin to describe it.

    As the Center for Local Liberty notes: The bill would exclude The Federalist Papers, the Bible, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, innumerable classic novels, just for starters. Maybe therein lies the explanation?

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