Gradually we must wean ourselves from PRINT text books.. By (me!) sandra, tvgp
I just learned from my sister the cost to RENT a USED text book for one of her classes = $140.
may I repeat: $140. one book. Rent not own... Used not new.
no matter how wild my imagination; I know, and you know too.. There is no justifying this price.
but where my brain bounces on this one, is to remember when it was explained to me.. In elementary school I think it was.. How many people were employeed by the tabacco Industry, how many families were dependent on the salaries thereof; how many families paid rent, fed children, etc. -whether it was from working fields, factories, packaging, distribution.. on and on. Very massive. And so we can skip the argument of when the knowledge surfaced: the direct link between cigarettes, addictions, cancer, death...
and just skip to the dilemma: now that we know.. what can be done? obviously we cannot stop this overnight.. And how do we find new jobs for this massive amount of people...
it help me appreciate how complicated..
and it seems exactly the same, or close.. when it comes to text books.. maybe they don't cause cancer.. But! -there is no justifying the high prices -that seems to me based only on dependency, industry and greed.
now that we can offer e-books, digitally.. save paper; edit and make corrections/addendums etc. quickly, easily, and at very low cost.. Save on distribution.. the plusses go on and on and on..
but the bigger problem is weaning people/families from their dependence on the print material industry. its very complicated.
but one day.. printed text books will be extinct; as they should be.
and as we determine pricing for e-books to educate... my prayer is for reasonable and fair..
i feel a paradigm shift in process regarding how we educate and how much it cost to be educated; a paradigm shift both necessary and overdue.
posted by SHE @ 7:29 AM
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