Thursday, September 11, 2008
My rant against academia, Part 1
I remember having to buy this very organic chemistry textbook years ago for a price as nearly as absurd as this. I also recall that the professor required the newer addition the next semester because for some reason the field of organic chemistry had made such leaps and bounds over the 3-week winter break that my already feeble understanding would be surely torn asunder without another 20 lb behemoth full of what I still consider to be subjects consisting of a bunch of semi-controlled accidents and voodoo.
Congress doesn’t need to enact a law requiring publishing companies to divulge the price of textbooks to professors. That’s not going to change a thing. Flip open to the first few pages and there’s almost a guarantee that the professor requiring the textbook had a hand in writing it – they know exactly how much that book costs because they’re making money from it. And if they don’t know, I’ve never been on any campus where a university bookstore wasn’t a stone’s throw from the ivory towers. Try walking in the shoes of the masses you’re supposed to be serving instead of flying each other around the globe and giving each other awards.
Internet trading of text books is a free enterprise solution to this issue. Proclamation of copyright infringement may carry some validity in some cases, but unless these institutions are willing to end this systemic price gouging which has been occurring brazenly for years, they’re reaping exactly as they have sown.
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