Posted on 04/26/2008 8:36:08 AM PDT by iowamark
College students and their families are rightly outraged about the bankrupting costs of textbooks that have nearly tripled since the 1980s, mainly because of marginally useful CD-ROMs and other supplements. A bill pending in Congress would require publishers to sell “unbundled” versions of the books — minus the pricey add-ons. Even more important, it would require publishers to reveal book prices in marketing material so that professors could choose less-expensive titles.
The bill is a good first step. But colleges and universities will need to embrace new methods of textbook development and distribution if they want to rein in runaway costs. That means using digital textbooks, which can often be presented online free of charge or in hard copies for as little as one-fifth the cost of traditional books. The digital books can also be easily customized and updated.
Right now, textbook publishers are calling the tune....
But there is no reason for an introductory textbook to carry a price tag of, say, $140, in an area like economics where the information changes little from year to year.
... A new company called Flat World Knowledge, based in Nyack, N.Y., plans to offer online textbooks free and hopes to make its profit by selling supplemental materials like study guides and hard copies printed on demand. A study being carried out by the geographer Ronald Dorn at Arizona State University suggests that students who use free online textbooks perform as well academically as students who buy expensive copies from traditional publishers. Colleges and universities should take advantage of these new developments. Cash-strapped students and their families need all the relief they can get.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Two words: Designed obsolescence.
"Feedom of the press" is a tough concept for the New York Times editorial board?
I mean, I know they're dumber than a box of rocks, but still...
The consumer is being “gouged” by “big education”! I am waiting for this story to show up in the MSM - along with wind-fall profits tax proposals to solve the problem.
NY Times Textbook Publishing, Inc.
The New York Times thinks textbook prices are “outrageous” and calls for reform, including Congressional legislation to regulate various industry practices.
To me, this reaction seems strange. After all, the Times is a for-profit company in the business of providing information. If it really thought that some type of information (that is, textbooks) was vastly overpriced, wouldn't the Times view this as a great business opportunity? Instead of merely editorializing, why not enter the market and offer a better product at a lower price? The Times knows how to hire writers, editors, printers, etc. There are no barriers to entry in the textbook market, and the Times starts with a pretty good brand name.
My guess is that the Times business managers would not view starting a new textbook publisher as an exceptionally profitable business opportunity, which if true only goes to undermine the premise of its editorial writers.
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/04/ny-times-textbook-publishing-inc.html
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Our son is in grad school, and it seems that since he’s been in classes at that level, fewer profs require a “standard” textbook, and more either use various books with readings on the subject; post the material or links to articles they use on their “blackboard” online, or use no textbook at all.
I'm currently teaching and will confirm. I can't tell you how often I get questions from students that are plainly answered in the text.
Bingo! The only book used in college courses that is worth the price is “Machinery's Handbook”. Contrary to the name,it isn't about machines. They are used every day on the job by everyone from engineers to carpenters. Over 2,500 pages of nothing but facts, figures, and formulas that cover everything. Even homeowners should have a copy in their library.
Reading packets can be expensive too, depending on the copyright fees the original publishers charge (I use one, but make it optional), but any university will have some kind of electronic-reserves system (like Blackboard) that allows the articles to be accessed by students for free. But that of course requires a professor to think seriously about what knowledge is important rather than letting a textbook publisher do it for him, to be intimately familiar with the contents of the articles he assigns, and to otherwise take his job seriously. Some professors do that, some don’t.
I’m in college now, and I’ve been ‘lucky’ in that my textbook costs have been $300-400 per semester so far, because it’s not uncommon to see students spending $500-700 on textbooks each semester. Fortunately, the same book is the textbook for all three calculus classes (they cover about a third of the book each), and my humanities classes have been mostly working with paperbacks that are $10-20 on Amazon, and movies that are available through Netflix, so that massively cuts down on costs.
Good Idea. It should be a Universal Policy.
I noticed that 20 years ago, foreign students had purchased paperback versions of the hard cover textbooks we were required to buy. The paperback versions sold for 1/2 to 2/3 of the price of the hard cover books. Unfortunately, at that time, the textbook publishers would not permit the books to be sold in US college bookstores. The students bought their books before coming to the US.
I believe with the coming of Amazon.com US students have been able to purchase these paperback editions at substantial savings (much to the dismay of the college bookstores)
I had been known to assign reading, tell students a test would be taken directly from chapters and have them fail.
My personal favorite was the three semester calculus textbook, which came out in a different, updated, and revised edition about once a semester. It not only rendered your previous purchase out of date, but made it worthless as a used book.
Put the lectures on the DVD, too.
Damn straight. I'm a prof and luckily I teach in a grad program where most classes use readings from journals. Students download the articles from the school library databases. When I choose a book, I am careful about the price and will also refer students to Amazon's used book service. That may be harder to do with undergrads, who generally use a text book.
I once had a class where the course pack (photocopied articles bound by the copy center) was $100!! A course pack!
When I went thru school, I kept a mental note of what not to do when I became a prof - ordering expensive texts is #1 on the list.
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