Talking Story

Starting new conversations in the workplace!

  • Rosa’s Books
  • ManagingWithAloha.com
  • RosaSay.com

The price of schoolbooks and the cost to reading.

February 8, 2005 by Rosa Say

Why are schoolbooks and college texts so expensive?

Cyndi Allison explains it here, and I am trying not to be stubborn, but I’m sorry: I just don’t buy it. Can someone enlighten me?

She says that “The average cost of a college textbook is $61.66 according to the National Textbook Data Project 1999.” Well hello, this is six years later ”“ $61.66 is absolutely outrageous: what in the world is it now?

The just-get-used-to-it attitude of this author is jarring, and he even suggests, “Is it any wonder that textbook prices are so high? The wonder is that they aren’t higher.” Is he crazy?

He, Henry L. Roediger III, blames the fact that selling used books has gotten to be too lucrative, however that’s not the case here in Hawaii if my daughter’s last three years at the University are somewhat par for the course, for there are not enough used books here to go around. She’d buy the used ones if she could find them; instead, we’ve forked out a good $500-$600 for books each semester.

Even if he’s right, maybe the used book market wouldn’t have gotten such a stronghold if they weren’t perceived as such a deal ”“ why would you pay for an already marked up, sadly abused book if a new one wasn’t that much more expensive? I wouldn’t.

What’s going on? I’m concerned as a parent paying these prices (college kids in part-time entry level jobs can’t afford to). As a businesswoman, I suspect the system is broken somewhere, and no one is paying enough attention. As a coach, who loves to evangelize about the power of reading, I’m concerned that our kids struggle to pay for what they have to read, and then there’s no money left to spend on what they want to read.

Do teachers and college professors have to support this racket by assigning such ludicrously expensive texts? How does this all work?

If you have some knowledge about this, I’d appreciate hearing from you.

Tag: education. textbooks.

Filed Under: Book Reviews and Reading

Comments

  1. Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching says

    August 9, 2006 at 1:20 pm

    The Price of School Books- One Option

    I have bemoaned the high price of schoolbooks before: The price of schoolbooks and the cost to reading. As a parent of two college-aged kids, these Amazon.com ads were a welcome sight for me, and so I am sharing them

  2. Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching says

    October 15, 2008 at 9:00 am

    How to Use Me for Free. Really.

    Preface: This is my Blog Action Day post. I need some preamble to get where I want to get with what I want to say, and I hope you will bear with me! Mahalo. My Preambling about Free As of

  3. L. Smith says

    November 16, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    Our schools and their administrators and teachers are being held hostage by the massive publishing industry. Why are we still using paper-based learning materials such as books? The answer is because the school systems are locked into exclusive contracts with the publishers and they make good money from paper-based materials. The tragedy is that it is our children who suffer here. We must not neglect them! And we must try to better address their needs and strive diligently to stimulate their desire to learn and their inherent innovative nature. The recently released commission report, “Education in America — What’s to Be Done?” developed by Trigon-International provides a truly insightful analysis and puts forward a feasible and actionable solution to this growing national blight of not being able to properly educate our children.

Search Talking Story your way

RSS Current Articles at Managing with Aloha:

  • Lokomaika‘i, the value of generosity
  • In favor of Wage Equity as our Core Standard
  • The Thrill of Work
  • Evolve into a manager
  • Self-Coaching Exercises in the Self-Leadership of Alaka‘i
  • Do it—Experiment!
  • Hō‘imi to Curate Your Life’s Experience

Search Talking Story by Category

Talking Story Article Archives

  • July 2016 (1)
  • April 2012 (1)
  • March 2012 (6)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (10)
  • December 2011 (1)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • October 2011 (17)
  • September 2011 (8)
  • August 2011 (6)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (12)
  • March 2011 (16)
  • February 2011 (16)
  • January 2011 (23)
  • December 2010 (4)
  • November 2010 (1)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (4)
  • August 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (4)
  • June 2010 (13)
  • May 2010 (17)
  • April 2010 (18)
  • March 2010 (13)
  • February 2010 (18)
  • January 2010 (16)
  • December 2009 (12)
  • November 2009 (15)
  • October 2009 (20)
  • September 2009 (20)
  • August 2009 (17)
  • July 2009 (16)
  • June 2009 (13)
  • May 2009 (3)
  • April 2009 (19)
  • March 2009 (18)
  • February 2009 (21)
  • January 2009 (26)
  • December 2008 (31)
  • November 2008 (19)
  • October 2008 (8)
  • September 2008 (11)
  • August 2008 (11)
  • July 2008 (10)
  • June 2008 (16)
  • May 2008 (1)
  • March 2008 (17)
  • February 2008 (24)
  • January 2008 (13)
  • December 2007 (10)
  • November 2007 (6)
  • July 2007 (27)
  • June 2007 (23)
  • May 2007 (13)
  • April 2007 (19)
  • March 2007 (17)
  • February 2007 (14)
  • January 2007 (15)
  • December 2006 (14)
  • November 2006 (16)
  • October 2006 (13)
  • September 2006 (29)
  • August 2006 (14)
  • July 2006 (19)
  • June 2006 (19)
  • May 2006 (12)
  • April 2006 (11)
  • March 2006 (14)
  • February 2006 (14)
  • January 2006 (7)
  • December 2005 (15)
  • November 2005 (27)
  • October 2005 (22)
  • September 2005 (38)
  • August 2005 (31)
  • July 2005 (34)
  • June 2005 (32)
  • May 2005 (27)
  • April 2005 (28)
  • March 2005 (36)
  • February 2005 (33)
  • January 2005 (35)
  • December 2004 (13)
  • November 2004 (24)
  • October 2004 (22)
  • September 2004 (28)
  • August 2004 (8)

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in