Re: Course Pre Reading


PD wrote:
Eric Gisse wrote:
PD wrote:

[...]


I'll remind you that a young person can muster the same resources that
an older person can to teach himself, if that were an effective way of
doing things. In fact, they routinely do when they go to a university,
paying a premium for the latest edition of a book that hasn't changed
substantially for two decades, and for access to services that they may
never use.

[...]

My background and interest is primarily physics and mathematics, with a
focus on stuff that most people consider "hard". If I look at the books
for a moment and ignore the content, I notice something. My tough
courses use books that were originally written years, possibly a decade
or three, before I was even born. Why hasn't the magnum opus that is
MTW gone through even one rewrite/update in thirty years? God knows it
could use it if only to clean out the references to things like zero
neutrino mass - books these days get a new edition on shakier ground.

The things taught to undergraduate students regarding things like
chemistry, calculus, algebra, etc have not changed appreciably in my
lifetime. It does NOT stop the publishing companies from putting out
new editions every goddamn year though.

This spring when I was deciding what courses to take, I figured I would
be best off smacking down the last half of my chemistry general
education requirement. I still had the book from last year, so I
thought I was golden.

Oh, was I wrong!

The book I was using last year was scrapped in favor of the newest
edition. The pricetag was 150$. To assist class participation
[bullshit], a 50$ remote control was required. It was the size of about
three stacked credit cards. Finally, a subscription to an online
"course" or "assistant" was required. This wasn't organic chem or
something really obtuse, it was the second half of a general chemistry
course.

</rage>

In defense of publishers (keep in mind that they revise every three
years because they do not make a nickel -- and the authors earn no
royalty whatsoever -- for books traded in the used-book market), the
reason that the most recent edition is adopted is because that's the
only way that classes can make use of the related software, the online
course materials, online homework systems, the "clickers" you mention,
student CDs and teacher CDs. All of those are beginning to be more
valuable than the book and they are tremendously expensive to produce,
but consumers are historically used to getting them for free --- so the
publishers attach them to a book, which for some reason consumers don't
complain about paying for.

The publishers are the ones who are making books that are useless
without online content!

It is exactly as you said, they don't earn anything from the used book
market. So instead, books come with software that has a limited
subscription. If someone has your book after the subscription runs out,
and wants to use it in class, too bad! They have to buy a whole new
subscription.

It is just a method to keep the money flowing. It is neither necessary
nor actually good for the student. When I walk into the campus
bookstore [Yes, I know about the internet. Doesn't always help.] I hear
an additional ka-CHING over the one from the university selling books.



On the bright side, if I spend 100$ on a book these days I am actually
getting more education per dollar because most of my books lack the
pages of contentless pretty pictures.

.

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