Re: book sharing (was: Re: Pedagogy)

["Fernanda Foertter [Advanced Physics Forums]" <admin@ADVANCEDPHYSICS.ORG>]

Well, when you are a student in no-mans-land, i.e. parents make too much for
FinAid and you can't work enough to pay it all, what do you suggest they do?

Not go to college altogether?  Or go and try really hard to make do with
library texts, and friends copies of problems?

Because unlike all your other analogies, college is a real commitment,
unlike purchasing that cool car, expensive tree or a piano.

But by your examples I can already see that you are in a higher economic
echelon than I am...my latest car was a Ford Focus, I would never buy a $500
tree, a $10,000 piano is completely out of the question...maybe an electric
one, and a sailboat?  I hope you meant a toy sailboat with a little remote
control....

Fernie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Edmiston" <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 10:00 PM
Subject: Re: book sharing (was: Re: Pedagogy)


> I am dumbfounded by those who suggest a college education costs so much
> that the extra burden of buying textbooks might make it justifiable not
> to buy the book.
>
> This strikes me like saying...
>
> I just paid $20,000 for my new car, and I can't afford oil changes and
> 15,000-mile servicing, so I'm just going to skip those things.
>
> I just paid the landscaper $500 for this tree, but now I am so broke I
> can't afford to water it, so I'll cross my fingers and leave it up to
> nature.
>
> I paid $10,000 for this piano, but now I can't afford lessons, so I'll
> just see if I can learn to play it on my own.
>
> I couldn't afford the full price of the sailboat, so I had them leave
> out the sails.
>
> I could afford just five minutes to write this e-mail, and my conclusion
> is
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
> Professor of Physics and Chemistry
> Bluffton College
> Bluffton, OH 45817
> (419)-358-3270
> edmiston@bluffton.edu