Removing Kindles eliminates alternate learning tool for students
Syracuse University will no longer be purchasing Amazon.com’s Kindle e-book readers. The National Federation of the Blind formally issued a complaint Wednesday that the Kindle is inaccessible to blind students. The University of Wisconsin-Madison will also take part in eliminating the Kindle from its campus.
The population of blind students on the SU campus is small in comparison to the number of students who could have used the Kindle for educational purposes. It’s good that SU is working towards making our campus as accessible to the blind as possible, but getting rid of the Kindle as its first step doesn’t serve a large purpose when the program was only in its trial stages.
The idea of the Kindle is not to replace textbooks, but rather to provide an alternate learning tool. The Kindle was not a required tool, nor was it being used exclusively for a specific class.
SU only owned two Kindles, and while it’s important that the blind have access to all educational tools offered at SU, two Kindles do not have a large effect on equal learning opportunities for students. It seems unreasonable to eliminate a resource for students, just because not everyone can use them.
