http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/229564/
Interesting. A professor at Utah Valley State College isn't going to require students to buy textbooks. He's doing it to protest the high cost of textbooks. I don't blame him.
I didn't have to buy textbooks as an undergrad--they were provided as part of our tuition. Sometimes there was a workbook or supplemental readings for a history class, but I don't think I ever spent more than $80 on textbooks. In library school I woudl spend anywhere from $75 to $350 on textbooks, depending on the semester and the classes.
But textbook publishers are really ripping off students--they have a captive audience and they know it. When I was in-between jobs in 1997 I did some temp work at McGraw Hill. I was calling professors looking for reviewers for the next edition of some textbook. Several times the professor said, "But the last edition just came out two months ago." Now, it takes time to publish a book--editing, printing, etc. It won't happen over night. But even if it takes a year, that is too soon for a new edition. But, publishers will do it because they can.
So, good for this guy. I'm not sure if a one-man protest will make much of a difference, but it's nice to see someone taking a stand.
No comments:
Post a Comment