There was one of those at a college where I worked. Somebody appealed and he was forced to change his policy. The weird thing is the professor was a young guy- maybe in his mid-to-late 30s; you think of that being something a professor close to retirement would do.
Textbook companies are just fucking evil- greedy bloodsucking “bad news is we’ve got you over a barrel but good news is that for $20 extra we’ll throw in some lube” bastards. They were already out of control when I graduated almost 20 years ago and now with the digital age they’re just flat out warlords on the academic landscape.
Textbook prices have risen over 850% since the late 1970s, and at that they haven’t gone up as much as tuition.
One of the great things to the companies about the digital content is that they don’t have to compete with used book stores or online sales. Recent article on the topic.
I am a math professor, and I also hate the textbook industry. I use mostly free books (there are so many free online math books these days) or just my class notes. In the last 2 years, I have only asked one of my classes to purchase a book. The book’s list price is $140, but you can find it used for $70. It’s a really good book, though, and students actually read it. (This is rare for math books). If I teach the same class next year, I will do the same.
Once I was on a job interview, and I met a Nursing prof who had just finished writing an introductory textbook. I mentioned how the textbook industry seems so evil from the consumer end, and asked her her opinion of book prices as a textbook author. She said that that stuff like the color photos “that students need” are very expensive. Yeah right! Modern math textbooks are so full of extraneous crap (full color photos, online resources that no one uses) just to justify the jacked up costs.
I am currently writing a textbook, and if it turns out any good, it will be a free pdf that I will post on my website. Withcolor graphs.
If you are going to be a lawyer you need to know that the car brand is “Lexus.” And once you’re a partner you can forget about Lexis and Westlaw. They’re for associates.
With links that broke the moment the book went to press.
PM me when you write that book; I’m trying to become smart. This morning my wife said, “No wonder you’re so fat, with nothing to think about to burn calories.”
I wouldn’t bet on that. There’s certainly a place for such things in demonstration & skills-based instruction, but that usually doesn’t need textbooks, either.
Color photographs in math books help so much less than actual real-life applications. I had a wonderful algebra class when I took it last fall…and the book was chock-full of real life applications. What an amazing thing! No one could say “I will never use this in real life” because you could see how you would use it.
Currently I am taking Systems Analysis and Design (totally, totally dry). The book was $240. I bought the online version for $126. I am regretting it somewhat; it’s really hard to read online, but seriously, $240 for a book I will never use, ever again?
But $126 for a RENTAL - the book license is only valid until October - is fucking ridiculous too. Textbook sellers are horrible evil people.
It’ll still be better than some of the math texts I’ve had. In Geometry class we once had a substitute teacher who couldn’t make sense of the book–and he had written it!
I took an 18th Century Literature class that required the (new) 12th edition of the text, which was $80 for a paperback. There were scads of 11th editions available for sale online for a song. But I needed the 12th.
Because, ya know, so much has changed in 18th Century Literature since that previous edition was published last year.
mmm
Exactly. Why do we need a new Calculus book every two years? I understand every once in a while someone figures out the next nth decimal of pi, but it wouldn’t fit in the book anyway. If the last version was wrong I want my money back; otherwise please explain what happen in the field of calculus in the past two years that requires a whole new textbook.
Well, I agree that new editions of textbooks often come out way too frequently for any reason but making more money for the publishers, but to play Devil’s Advocate:
There may well be advances (or at least new ideas or new fashions) in the teaching of Calculus.
There could certainly be new or updated applications of Calculus. Some of the most obvious changes in new editions of calc books are the more recent data in the real-world-derived examples and exercises.
And, unless the older edition was already perfect, with no room for improvement, the new edition may have minor, or even major, changes in the writing, formatting, or organization, possibly in response to criticism or suggestions from people who used the older edition.
I could see that happening every 10 to 15 years or so, but Calculus books on their 12th or 13th edition?
And again, we are talking primarily about young people who are pinching pennies by eating Ramen noodles and drinking Natural Light beer. They would certainly do fine with the Calculus or American History that was taught two years ago.
I took an undergrad class from a guy that had co-written the book with another professor at the school. Students were told to read everything up to a certain point in preparation for a test. He tested on material that was nowhere in the book except the preface.
I’m so glad my college days were completed in 1953. Back then, at least in my school - Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy - there was no prejudice among the professorial staff about using used books. In fact, my textbook on Analytically Geometry was a 1929 addition (this was in 1949) and had absolutely everything one would ever need for this subject. In fact, I still have this text, and find that if I ever do need something on analyt, it is right at my fingertips. The price tag is still on the flyleaf. $2.50, with no sales tax.
There’s a chemistry professor at UVA who has a similar policy. I would like to be surprised they haven’t shitcanned him for it, but he brings in way too much grant money for that.
That said, I don’t think I ever used a textbook in any of my college classes. They were exclusively for homework.
There is an excellent reason for professors to ban use of laptops, smartphones etc. in class. It is far too easy, and far too tempting, for students with them to be goofing off on Facebook, or whatever, instead of paying attention to the class. The professors who are banning them are likely to be the more savvy and more conscientious ones.
As you imply, this is rarely going to be a problem for students with electronic versions of textbooks because it is rare for students to be expected to use a textbook actually in class.
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The issue with new editions of texts is not so much that they correct (usually very minor) mistakes, or add new (and sometimes newly discovered) bits of information. Usually those are all quite small changes, and do not make much difference. However, more often than not, authors (probably at the prompting of publishers) will rearrange the information that was already there, perhaps changing the order of the chapters, and putting stuff on different pages in different chapters. This forces professors to insist that their students buy the new edition so that they can be sure that all the students are reading about the same topic when they set a reading of “Chapter 7” or “pages 39 to 63”, or whatever. You can be reasonably sure that the new edition will be available for everyone, whereas everyone may not be able to get hold of a second-hand copy of the same older edition, which will now be out of print, so you are obliged to go with the new one.
Trust me, professors hate when this happens even more than students do. It means they have to get hold of a copy of the new edition too (and, although publishers will usually, in principle, give free “desk copies”, quite often, in practice, the only way to get a copy of the new edition in sufficient time is to buy it yourself at full price), and then go through it (once more having to tediously go over a bunch of material you are thoroughly familiar with) to find out where the bits you want your students to learn have been moved to. Then you have to rewrite your class reading list.
Your “excellent reason” for interfering with a student’s preferred method of learning is the dangers of Facebook? Please stay out of the classroom.
First, it’s college, not elementary school. It’s not the professor’s job to make sure a student is paying attention. If she is behaving in a way that interferes with the other students, then deal with the real problem, not a pretend one.
Second, typing is faster than writing. Policies like this cause students to spend more time taking notes and less time listening, thinking of questions, etc.
Third, again, this is college, not elementary school, so we’re definitely not talking about instructors who are well-versed in pedagogy. Rather than trying to be clever and dictating how students process classroom material, maybe let the students do what works for them.
