How useful is that textbook?

Last year I had a professor walk in the first day of class and tell us that we would not have a textbook for the course. This seemed very strange to me as every other class I had ever taken we had to have a textbook and we used it all of the time. This professor went on to tell us that she after reading an article in a news paper article stating that textbooks are not completely effective. This professor then went on to tell use that she recommends a book for the class, but it is not required. She said that we could get the book if we wanted extra information, but it was not necessary. She stated that the article that she read stated that it is more beneficial for students to learn from the teacher and other more current material. It was also mentioned that the textbook should only be used for assistance in a course not as the center focus.

I agree with this because most of the time when you go into a school system the textbooks are out dated. This can lead to students gaining older information which may no long be accurate. There is also another problem with textbooks. This problem is many textbooks are written on a level higher then the students are ready to learn. I don't believe getting rid of text books all together is the best idea, but i do believe that they should not be the only resource used in the classroom. Using the textbook only as a resource rather than the main focus allows students to go and look at other resources and gain many different opinions and all types of information.