> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Larry Smith" <larry.smith@SNOW.EDU>
>>Physics Teachers Unite! Let's all give daily reading quizzes as Bob
>>mentions. Maybe we can head of this cultural trend (book sharing) at the
>>pass by united action.
I must disagree. While $125 seems to be an insignificant amount compared
to the $1000+ in tuition a state college student may pay or to the
$40,000+ a private school student may pay, that $125 may be the amount
that breaks the camel's financial back.
That $125 your student is spending on 1 book may be 4 weeks worth of
food, or a significant portion of one month's rent, or their entire
clothing budget for the semester. For many students, every dollar they
spend is a dollar they have to earn. The $125 book may be 10+ hours
spent working instead of studying. It is also only 1 of many books they
may be asked to purchase.
Don't forget, there are students whose parents aren't helping them who
can't get FinAid because their parents earn too much (The Gov't asks how
much your parents make, not how much they're willing to share).
Scholarships exist for the needy who make good grades, but if you have
to work full time, how can you get good grades? Do we want to burden our
students with debt? Do we want them to have to work full time while
going to school?
The example of the student living in the college library in NYC should
be a constant reminder that some students are doing everything they can
to get an education, but everything they can just isn't enough to make
ends meet.
Instead of punishing our students for finding ways to not go as much
into debt, perhaps a better solution would be to distribute lecture
notes and urge publishers to lower book costs any way they can (do we
really need so many color images?). I've worked in publishing and
understand the problems turning a profit in such a narrow market. I
still feel that many ways to lower book prices exist.