It's common for college professors to require students to complete a reading from the textbook prior to coming to class. Most professors who maintain syllabi for their courses list the chapters or page numbers that class members should read ahead of time. But studies indicate that students rarely read the information ahead of time (Marbach-Ad and Sokolove 2000), and an informal poll of the author's colleagues confirmed this assertion. However, it's important to understand that it is not being suggested that students shouldn't read their textbook. Rather, the effort should be made "after" students hear the information from the instructor, not before. The role of a textbook is to support what is being taught, not to initiate it.