tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post1731413811985922523..comments2024-03-28T01:06:38.596-07:00Comments on Maya Reynolds: Let's Revisit the Textbook DilemmaMaya Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12791278987339976101noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-91329912130459174282007-08-06T20:22:00.000-07:002007-08-06T20:22:00.000-07:00Steve,I honestly hadn't considered that. Thanks f...Steve,<BR/><BR/>I honestly hadn't considered that. Thanks for the reminder. I DO remember that my taxes were higher when I lived in the Netherlands.<BR/><BR/>Davepoetica in silentiumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06881374793984239361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-82805660643205165192007-08-06T11:05:00.000-07:002007-08-06T11:05:00.000-07:00I live in one of those other nations, and the answ...I live in one of those other nations, and the answer is simple: we pay higher taxes and we have only a token military force.<BR/><BR/>But the reason I came back (other than I hang out here a lot) is to mention that gobs and gobs of textbooks are <I>destroyed</I> every year because editions must be updated. <I>HuckleBerry Finn</I> lasts forever, but <I>Advanced Techniques in Qualitative Analysis</I> is pretty much out of date by the time it's printed.<BR/><BR/>I'd love to hear from someone who works for Wiley, or Prentice-Hall, or Addison Wesley . . .Stephen Parrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16883165490847664389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-32047982270576641232007-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:002007-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00One can only hope. With the spiraling costs of ed...One can only hope. With the spiraling costs of education these days, kids need every break they can get.<BR/><BR/>I can't help but wonder how other nations on this planet seem to be able to provide their people with a basic level of health care and at least the chance for some university education at minimal cost to them, and we - supposedly the richest nation in the world - can't?<BR/><BR/>Perhaps it's because it's the very fact that we are willing to crush everyone beneath is that we are so rich!poetica in silentiumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06881374793984239361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-19091534101362813452007-08-06T07:32:00.000-07:002007-08-06T07:32:00.000-07:00David: The key is the school itself and the profe...David: The key is the school itself and the professors since they are the ones who select the texts to be used (and in my graduate program, often wrote the books).<BR/><BR/>Since the publisher is taking on average 64% of the revenue and the expenses of POD are so much less, it would be to both the school and professor's advantage to go the POD route. <BR/><BR/>The current breakdown is 32% in cost, 32% in publisher profit, 23% to the bookstore and 12% to the author. <BR/><BR/>Let's say costs are cut in half to 16%, 30% goes to the bookstore and/or university, and another 20% to the author. That would allow the student to receive a one-third cost break, meaning the $900 annual price tag for books would drop to $600. A four-year program's books would drop to $2,400 from $3,600. Everyone wins--except the traditional publisher.Maya Reynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12791278987339976101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-68226945633463502782007-08-06T06:41:00.000-07:002007-08-06T06:41:00.000-07:00I won't re-write my blog comments here other than ...I won't re-write my blog comments here other than to say I think you have the issue spot on. Now, what's the next step? How do we force publishers to lower th prices they charge students, or get our local stores to use the POD technology. Further, having ther machine doesn't mean much if the publisher doesn't make the text available to the machines. They could conceivably say "OK - we'll let you use your machine to pring our books, but you still have to charge the same price for them as we do."poetica in silentiumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06881374793984239361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-36176994635493436562007-08-06T04:20:00.000-07:002007-08-06T04:20:00.000-07:00Stephen: The ACFSA report essentially agrees with...Stephen: The ACFSA report essentially agrees with you when it says the system is supply-driven and producer-centric.<BR/><BR/>However, the report also states "Information that can be used to create satisfactory course materials is more available to stakeholders than ever before via the Internet. Publishers are much more often being displaced as the primary knowledge management system for students."Maya Reynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12791278987339976101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16743003.post-52358888928782272722007-08-05T23:06:00.000-07:002007-08-05T23:06:00.000-07:00As a college student in the 1980s I watched the pr...As a college student in the 1980s I watched the price of my textbooks rise so high that it became cheaper (in theory) to xerox them.<BR/><BR/>We all complained about the prices, but we felt powerless to do anything about it. The standard economic response---boycott---is tantamount to insurrection. You can forego your favorite herbal tea if you think the price is too high, but you can't show up in class without a book, especially if the professor wrote it.<BR/><BR/>The reason publishers price textbooks as high as they do is because they can.Stephen Parrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16883165490847664389noreply@blogger.com