Well, when I was in college nothing burned me up more than signing up for class, waiting to see if I got a spot or the class was filled - then if I did get in, I would later learn that the textbook cost $250, plus a another $50 for a workbook, with three other assigned books as additional reading material. No wonder it costs so much to go to school these days, and the kids have to take out a hundred thousand dollar loan just to get a two-year degree.
I've always complained, as did Steve Jobs, about the cost of textbooks. I always thought it was unfair that liberal socialist left-leaning professors would complain about monopolies in the free marketplace, and yet they would run a monopoly selling their textbooks to a closed and captured audience, and without any competition, thus those textbook prices ran up, and I can remember once spending $345 for a textbook. That's outrageous, and it's time to go digital. Okay so, let's talk about this for second shall we?
On or about May 30, 2012 there was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled; "Textbook Sales Likely to Rise on New Rules," written by Lisa Fleisher. The article noted that with the implementation of new standards in teaching that textbook publishers were in for a stellar year. Perhaps, that's good because that industry seems to be due for a close out sale. In fact, one of the most prominent textbook publishers filed bankruptcy a week ago with over, get this, $3 Billion in debt - wow.
Indeed, I hadn't realized the whole industry was that large myself, but now that I think about it, sure it is, it's huge and we keep feeding it don't we? How big with this latest boon be you ask? One publisher McGraw Hill estimates according to that article above $1 to 8 Billion just due to the new standards being brought forth. Should I coin the phrase; "Beware of the Industrial Textbook Complex" might be the question of the day?
Interestingly enough, the RAND Think Tank recently completed a research report with recommendations on renewal of NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) with modifications to keep it in play, and deal with the some 17 states and growing that have received waivers from the Act from the Obama Administration. Each time new changes are mandated with our standards, the textbooks also change. Unfortunately, the textbooks generally don't change that much, they may change a few paragraphs here and there, and the politically correct Board of Education will wish to slightly modify the history to make it less abrasive.
It is unfortunate that we modify our history in the first place, and that we change our teaching methods so frequently, but it is even more profoundly absurd that we reprint textbooks merely because four or five pages have been changed, and therefore the used textbook market prevents anyone from saving money. Further, with the way the copyright laws are a student would not be allowed to copy off the five pages which have changed from their friends and take those copies and pasting them to the pages which have changed.
If there's any industry which has grossly taken advantage of free-market capitalism, consumers, and our students, it would be the textbook industry, and it's no wonder that Steve Jobs wanted to end all that by using an iPad style digital textbook platform. We are not teaching our students fairness, or free-market capitalism by showing them the inherent dishonesty that goes along with crony capitalism, barriers to entry, and overbearing authoritarianism which is clearly ripping them off. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
I've always complained, as did Steve Jobs, about the cost of textbooks. I always thought it was unfair that liberal socialist left-leaning professors would complain about monopolies in the free marketplace, and yet they would run a monopoly selling their textbooks to a closed and captured audience, and without any competition, thus those textbook prices ran up, and I can remember once spending $345 for a textbook. That's outrageous, and it's time to go digital. Okay so, let's talk about this for second shall we?
On or about May 30, 2012 there was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled; "Textbook Sales Likely to Rise on New Rules," written by Lisa Fleisher. The article noted that with the implementation of new standards in teaching that textbook publishers were in for a stellar year. Perhaps, that's good because that industry seems to be due for a close out sale. In fact, one of the most prominent textbook publishers filed bankruptcy a week ago with over, get this, $3 Billion in debt - wow.
Indeed, I hadn't realized the whole industry was that large myself, but now that I think about it, sure it is, it's huge and we keep feeding it don't we? How big with this latest boon be you ask? One publisher McGraw Hill estimates according to that article above $1 to 8 Billion just due to the new standards being brought forth. Should I coin the phrase; "Beware of the Industrial Textbook Complex" might be the question of the day?
Interestingly enough, the RAND Think Tank recently completed a research report with recommendations on renewal of NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) with modifications to keep it in play, and deal with the some 17 states and growing that have received waivers from the Act from the Obama Administration. Each time new changes are mandated with our standards, the textbooks also change. Unfortunately, the textbooks generally don't change that much, they may change a few paragraphs here and there, and the politically correct Board of Education will wish to slightly modify the history to make it less abrasive.
It is unfortunate that we modify our history in the first place, and that we change our teaching methods so frequently, but it is even more profoundly absurd that we reprint textbooks merely because four or five pages have been changed, and therefore the used textbook market prevents anyone from saving money. Further, with the way the copyright laws are a student would not be allowed to copy off the five pages which have changed from their friends and take those copies and pasting them to the pages which have changed.
If there's any industry which has grossly taken advantage of free-market capitalism, consumers, and our students, it would be the textbook industry, and it's no wonder that Steve Jobs wanted to end all that by using an iPad style digital textbook platform. We are not teaching our students fairness, or free-market capitalism by showing them the inherent dishonesty that goes along with crony capitalism, barriers to entry, and overbearing authoritarianism which is clearly ripping them off. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
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