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  • We got a problem y'all. In the world the post secondary education

  • students are burdened with tuition fees that most can't afford upfront and therefore,

  • accept the evidence future of being in debt.

  • Ain't nobody got time for debt! But I'm here to discuss the other costs that students have to worry about.

  • the textbooks for their curriculum.

  • That's right!

  • I can already hear the groans of contempt from those watching this. Let me bring an

  • important matter to your attention. I'm sure you're well aware of the tactics

  • textbook companies implement in order to increase their revenue. Maybe not! So let me

  • bring up the matter of what's called the Custom Edition

  • and Homework Code Packaged Textbooks.

  • The former works something like this: Let's take a chemistry textbook that's

  • been out for a while.

  • It's being sold brand new for, let's say two hundred dollars, but enough used

  • copies of the bought and sold at sites like Amazon where you can now get it for

  • about, hmmm, a quarter of that price. The thing is, textbook publishers don't make money

  • when you buy used books (obviously). They only do when new copies are purchased.

  • They mitigate that by creating the custom edition books, a fancy name for

  • something not totally new. It's very similar to the original book but with a

  • few differences. One: the textbook will have the university's name on it, meaning it can't

  • be resold anywhere else. Yale kids don't want no Harvard books (and vice versa)

  • Two: the textbook is paperback (yuck).

  • And Three: the textbook only includes a subset of the abbreviated chapters from the

  • main book, meaning you're actually paying less in exchange for incomplete content.

  • Then, textbook publishers approach the professors and say:

  • "Hey big boy. Looks like your book costs $200.

  • That's pretty expensive. I got a deal, just for you.

  • We can give you a customized version of the book and sell it for only $100.

  • That's half the price.

  • What do you think?" Many professors, being totally clueless that the book is even cheaper

  • on Amazon think,

  • "Uh... Ok!

  • Yeah, that works! Save my students a hundred bucks!

  • They'll love me!

  • You got yourself a deal!" Then the semester starts. Students buy their custom

  • edition books but because of the economics of supply and demand they're

  • totally screwed, and here's why. Non-custom textbooks can be used all over the

  • country.

  • Custom editions can't.

  • Everytime students list a book for sale on an online marketplace, the supply

  • increases, while the price decreases. When custom editions are introduced,

  • publishers monopolize the market at each school

  • in an effort to eliminate amazon out of the equation, meaning the eight thousand

  • students at harvard are only able to sell those custom books within those eight

  • thousands students instead of being able to sell them to the other twenty million

  • across North America.

  • In that scenario, the used textbook supply almost never increases, leaving students

  • with no choice but to buy brand new custom books.

  • And that's why the full textbook is often cheaper than the custom edition.

  • Now mandatory homework codes bundled with textbooks are no different. Instead of

  • custom editions, publishers do the same thing with bundling a one-time use

  • online homework code that can only be bought with the brand new edition of the

  • book, which pretty much eliminates the resale value to zero, because all future

  • students need the brand new book with the homework code. The textbook alone is

  • useless.

  • Sites like Amazon have been there as a savior to many of you, but guess what?

  • Textbook publishers see them as an obstacle. You see, they want to make money off of

  • every new rising student and services like Amazon prevent that. So what do they

  • do to prevent the selling of used books? Scam Students (evil laughter)

  • So, how can we stop them?

  • Well, you can start by telling who you know.

  • Raise awareness. Inform your professors, administrators, your kids, your wife

  • and everyone you know about the fact that custom editions are useless to students and

  • only benefit the publishers creating them.

  • Don't be seduced by the publisher's sales rep. Give your students a break.

  • It's not entirely the professor's fault.

  • It's the shady publishers.

We got a problem y'all. In the world the post secondary education

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B1 中級 美國腔

教科書的問題 (The Problem with Textbooks)

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    Zenn 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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