I literally had one university professor that had us purchase some random up to date little book for $17.00 that he told us we would only use once- and it was only because the university made him require one up to date text. He choose the cheapest one, and bought the actual expensive textbook and just photocopied it for everyone in the class. What a guy!
Bruh when I was in High School we had a shelf of textbooks and we never used them and i'm not joking in each class there were textbooks that were related to the subject History was the only exception (obviously)
What - you have a text book for English? I'm British and have never heard of anyone using a textbook for English at any point in the academic process, from elementary school to university level.
@@greenstorm5568 - in my bag I had a folder and notepads. I can remember textbooks for French, history, science, geography etc. But never one for English. The teacher taught and we made notes in our books. For English what do you need a textbook for? I've studied a number of Shakespeare plays, a couple of Dickens, contemporary fiction and much more, but never had a textbook.
@@capitalb5889 Here are a few things you may find in textbooks for native speakers regardless of the language: advanced grammar and syntax rules, descriptions and rules surrounding of various types of texts/writing styles and important concepts in text analysis (such as figures of speech, punctuation, etc.). The textbook may also serve as study material for concepts seen in class, or be used mainly for assignements as they often contain premade exercises. Admittedly, I don't think they're necessary most of the time, but I definitely think they're helpful for students who prefer to review material on their own. They also serve a purpose in ensuring that the curriculum is standardized all across the board and that no students are set behind because of class material that is lacking in one way or another.
No shit. We students are the buyers, we feel forced to be victims of this con all the time. I am from a non English speaking country and my economics professor once forced us to buy an English economics book that we never used in class. It was useless.
I always loved that feeling of getting through a class without buying the book. When I was in college, sometimes I would get the book from someone for free, or find enough information online similar to the subjects of the book, or just find text in the school library. Seriously though, words cannot describe how much I hate the current world education-system for being so archaic with their methods of teaching, philosophies on what is intelligence, status-quo work evaluation, and inefficient investments that just slow the progress in a school. We are wasting potential for both teachers and students with the education-system that exist today.
This is literally the worst thing about college. I also had a science class that made buying the book stupid. In the syllabus on the first day the professor provides a link to get the book for free. Would of been nice to know before the class started.
We had assignments that were designed to specifically make us use the book and cite not the author but the page number exactly to prove we used the book. The questions were still relevant to the course however I looked up the answers later online and there was no difference.
Wouldn't that be better? If the professor wrote the book you could read it and not go to any class or if you were to read it and go to class you could even ask the professor which is the author of the book enquiries about it.
Oh my gosh! I had a Psychology of Religon class. The professor wrote his own book on Zen or something, and we were required to purchase it from him, in class, with cash. Hated that class so much! The book had absolutely NOTHING to do with the course.
@@xyannail4678 If you like spending $400 on a book that only the professor can get you and then you literally use 0 times during the course but if you don't buy it they know you didn't and fail you before the semester is over so they can remove you from the class before you figure out that they scammed you out of $400.. Then yes by all means make sure you look for classes where the professor writes the books lol
That's why my college professor printed his own textbook and sold them for like 10 bucks. And if you hadn't bought it by the first couple weeks he'd just give it to you.
One of my favorite professors would frequently "accidentally trip and fall on the copy machine" while holding a textbook relevant to the course and somehow the machine printed out a bunch of copies of the chapter that would be relevant to our discussion... at that point, it'd be wasteful of school resources to NOT give the material to the students for free haha
German universities have agreements with all relevant publishers that let all associates (and yes, students are a part of that) copy any textbook they want.
I had a teacher who wrote a textbook once, and put it online for free for the student who took the class. Then we just had to print it out, which doesn't cost all that much.
Depends on the school, and the teacher. I teach an Anatomy & Physiology class and I utilize the internet in my classes, share related videos and articles with my students, and encourage them to explore on their own (so long as they don’t get ahead of where we are in class).
In my high school we didn't use any textbooks, all the information either came from the teacher or the internet. And now in college we use the online library for free if we need textbooks. I'm glad to finally not have to carry those overpriced bricks.
Mine told me to use only school sources. The teacher wasn’t happy when I had supporting info against their premise. School is about being a good student that stays inside the box and jumps through hoops. The compensation is about the persistency not the education.
It's really a concentration camp glorified for societal acceptance. Think about how strict it is with no justifications when students are condemned for just about anything, at the end of every semester, nothing substantial were really provided.
College isn't about education, it's about getting a degree that says "see? I have credibility...and you know I'll work hard for you cuz I have to pay off student loans."
Maybe if you do an unmarketable degree like arts or lit. Most people shouldn't be at college or uni unless they can pay off their student loan ie medics, engineers, CS etc.
@@jamesquinn6662 James, engineering degrees are useless too. There are too many engineers, and not enough jobs for them. Just like with actors, lawyers, and pro athletes. College is only worth it for healthcare jobs.
@@brettshair3151 yeah, I was just thinking what the use of a library is, if you're not allowed to borrow the books.. I mean, isn't that the original use of a library?! 😅
I remember my health class. My teacher told us there was literally a single sentence added to the new edition of our textbook. That added 1 page to the bibliography. He wrote the sentence on the board, told us to put it on a sticky note, and stick it on the page it was added to in the old book.
@@stoiclefty just cause they dont show sources doesnt mean its not true or made up. a quick google search can easily show you that its real and alot of this show be already known too unless if keep yourself oblivious.......
@@stoiclefty Seriously, we don't need several revisions to Algebra 1 books. My junior high school had books that had to be updated THAT YEAR to a subject that literally hasn't changed since the 1930's when they were translated into modern American English. Worse yet, we have updated revisions on literature, literally books that are famous for being old, yet "modern" revisions are sold in college bookstores for $50.
Andrew Johnstone My favorite part of the University I attend is how often professors don't require the text if they know it's pointless. So far the only useless text I had to buy was written by the professor....
"Exploitative business practices will exist as long as they make a small group of people an obscene amount of money." -Literally the most accurate lesson in economics I've ever heard.
However that lesson is false it isn't the amount of money any group has is the amount of power. Money isn't always power. I suggest you read the book Atlas Shrugged or at least watch the movies
Grant Armbruster ah, yes, read that book by the notoriously pretentious author that a video game called bioshock was able to make fun of for being full of shit
School system : You are required to buy these $500 textbooks for your classes Students : all this information is free and accessible thanks to google so we don’t have to waste money School system : *Its the textbooks or your kneecaps*
@Night shade Indeed, multiple choice for crying out loud! What lazy bastard invented that? Showing possible answers makes an exercise way too easy... I'm sure it's just laziness, makes it easier to grade. But holy fuck, it is horrible for actually learning anything!
I think that very well could be the case. That didn't stop me though. When I was studying for my B.S. Degree I frequently used Wikipedia. Wikipedia and a thirty-two volume Encyclopaedia Britannica set I own, were the supporting columns of my high grades on examinations.
Actually Wikipedia can be a very good source, especially if the article is a "featured article" (Means Wikipedia's editors have verified the information and the article is up to date). Also if you notice, most Wikipedia pages include sources to where they got their info, so you can just use those sources instead.
The paper found that Wikipedia's entries had an overall accuracy rate of 80 percent, whereas the other encyclopedias had an accuracy rate of 95 to 96 percent. In July 2008, a 17-year-old student added an invented nickname to the Wikipedia article coati as a private joke, saying that coatis were also known as "Brazilian aardvarks". The false information lasted for six years in Wikipedia and came to be propagated by hundreds of websites, several newspapers (one of which was later cited as a source in Wikipedia), and even books published by a few university presses.[15][16] 😂😂😂 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
@@maryamsharkey Wonderfully so, this sort of phenomenon has largely been stopped, much to the disappointment of trolls and meme-seeking attack helicopters. This page also helps prove how popular Wikipedia content is in making textbooks.
What? I'm from Spain, I studied a major in engineering and never had to buy any book. We always used proffesor's notes which they uploaded to the internet. The several books that were recomended to use were on the library, plenty of them and absolutely free to use and to take home
I am American and major in Biology. The majority of the professors at the university don’t write their own PowerPoints. They use ones that are pre-created by the textbook publishers. I have asked to see their notes or have them uploaded to the student portal, and they just simply won’t.
Yeah... here in the US, educational institutions are about making money, not education. That's why most of the money that gets pumped into American universities goes to amenities, not the actual education departments or professors.
Same in the Netherlands. I have two masters, one in engineering, I think I bought in total 4 books? And those were actually useful books that you still use in your work. The rest were the professors own notes, so you only paid for the cost of copying.
This is actually the literal truth. When I was in college, I went and found the 3rd revision of a text book ($20) for a class, that was using the 6th revision ($150). There was actually more pages in the 3rd revision, than the 6th...... and we used it for exactly 3 different lessons, so a total of 3 chapters in a book the size of an encyclopedia. All three chapters, were word for word identical, except that they were arranged in a completely different order in the book from the latest revision. Thankfully I did this in my first year of college, and never bought the book again. Complete, and total waste of money.
"Wanna waste $150 on a book with 7% of the info you'll actually use, which you can probably find on RUclips?" "No" "You wanna fail this course?" *heads to overpriced bookstore*
James Burgess this is why a ton of teachers are allowing older editions from Amazon, or switching to free ebooks. Fuck the system. (the only reason teachers were allowed to do this at my school was because half of them owned a local aerospace company. They worked at the school outta charity. And they had their fingers all over local government, and the property the college branch was on. It's kinda like if the bad guys in stranger things were also really cool substitute teachers.)
@First Name Last Name My psych class was like that, and it was literally just a paperback book without a spine. So to "save me the cost" of 10¢ in glue I have to buy a binder...
Ah: DRM old skool style / built in obsolesce. So glad my University libraries had either 5p a sheet photocopying (old days) or 'Scan to multi-page Document' + email (recently).
I doubt it's technically illegal if he had the courtesy of mentioning all the references in the appendix. You can basically copy & paste anything for as long as you mention the references and don't infringe the copyright(s) in any additional way.
Once I actually had a college class that required the student's buy a textbook that had tear-out assignment pages. The professors were not allowed to accept any work that didn't include the book's tear-out page stapled to it. So you couldn't just buy or borrow someone else's used book if it had those pages torn out. I'm telling ya, these guys are getting better and better at plugging in those loop holes in order to scam students.
Ouch, I know I’m only in Highschool and don’t have to pay for books, but my teachers just let me hand in a paper with the answers numbered, or a printed out version. Cause sometimes I leave my workbook in my locker.
Well, it's a skill that my students didn't have. I didn't expect any original thought but I was hoping they could at least edit out the parts from the text that was outside the scope of the essay. All I received was a downloaded text in its entirety and with original font. And all students used the same website because I told they can work together, i.e share ideas as long as each writes their text individually. 😂
They can change a single word and legally call it a new edition. I used to work for one of the major college textbook chains and if there's a way to make a profit, they'll do it...ethical or not.
Reminds me of a class i had to buy a $150 dollar book for. They told us that we needed it to study and pass. But I didn’t buy it. Instead I looked up the information online and it was exactly the same. Only with minor changes so it wouldn’t be noticeable.
@@oakstrong1 I dont want to blame you but teachers like you are the reason why our children are getting dumber... For education there should be very little use of computers except in IT
College students are too self-indulgent, sheltered, and dependent on electronics to understand camaraderie anymore. The cutoff was ppl born after 1993. They have no social skills.
Me Talking Yeah just apply a sweeping generalization to millions of people. As if your base internal image of the middle class, blue haired, starbucks coffee drinking millennial posting moral outrage on their iPhone actually captures what a college campus is like today. And for the record, I have never seen a culture so vane, infantilized and self-gratifying as the youth culture of the 90s. You guys grew up in a booming economy, we reached adolescence in one of the worst economic crashes in history. You're sheltered
After two years of being bamboozled into purchasing text books, in my junior year at university, I bought no books until the moment I knew I needed them (say, for a test). Such moments were few and far between. I got by just fine. Now, as a teacher, if my students are required to buy the books (it is not my decision), I make an effort to use them as best as we can to justify the cost.
Lone Wolf For all of my classes that required an online code (All of them were science classes) the codes were used to access the homework. Purchasing them was mandatory unless you wanted zeros on every assignment
David Brigham That’s what happened in my technology and society class. It was just a collection of tech articles but somehow my professor is credited as the main author.
Not from the US, so I had a different experience, there were none mandatory textbooks for any class of my economics degree, except for one, and that was because the professor wrote the book... Needless to say I just used the one from the library.
Wouldn't it be worse if they didn't use their own text for the class? I TAed for a prof who used his own text, but tossed the money he made from his share of those purchases into a fund for snacks in labs. He liked his book, but didn't want to profit from assigning it.
Bobby Feet It depends on the Professor. Some will sell their book for a ridiculous price, even if the quality isn’t that great compared to similar books. Luckily I haven’t encountered many of these professors, only one arguably but it was more about the quality of the book not being worth the price versus how expensive it is. Another professor I had was self published, his book was extremely cheap and the book was very interesting and unique.
Textbooks are the most atrociously written things ever made. They use 1,000 words to explain something that somebody with a hint of succinctness and language discipline could do in 50.
@@yosemite735 in law they just have to elaborate on every single little detail to avoid ambuguity and loop holes. Even then you still find loop holes and they get patched over time.
I remember reading a Math Textbook where the first page complained about people who sold used books and how it took away money from the poor people who wrote the book I laughed
My dad was asked to write chapters for multiple books in his specialty. Books costed heck of a lot and he made almost nothing but publisher made money Good professors write shit not for money but to spread thier knowledge or name
Yeah in my school there was an "illegal business" of students selling *gasp* their second hand books. If you were caught with one on your desk, you were punished. It was a catholic school...
This was one of the reasons my professors were okay with kindle books. They didn’t care how the information was found, they just wanted in to be sourced properly.
Even in highly specialized field (mine is femtosecond laser) you can learn for free, google scholar is your friend. As of now completing my research, I don't even buy any books. Those books are like the diamond industry-- students are conditioned to think that they "have" to buy the crazy expensive books, otherwise how to you think the publishers make money? Normal folks have no use for them.
Yes, but in books it's much better organized. You can't search for a particular study if you don't even know it exists. A coursebook however summarizes a lot of related information for you in one chapter. You can learn in a matter of several minutes what you would otherwise spend days/weeks looking for on your own when all you have is a name of the topic you want to study and no major researchers' names, no special terms, no data on studies, nothing. While the video is funny, it's rather untrue for a lot of coursebooks.
Danny Sullivan even that is available on the internet. But, if you have to find it on the internet, you’re probably not right for those highly specialized fields.
1st year Freshman: "Wow there's a lot of books I have to buy! Well its for my education, and I don't want to fail. Whoa every book is so expensive!" 2nd year College: "Hmm I really don't have money for books (but for beer)... I'll just buy second hand books for 1/10th the price!" 3rd year Coollege: "Wait a minute..... Lecture notes+ Wikipedia+ RUclips + Google is kind of enough...?" 4rd year : "Internet" 5rd year: "Internet." Ph.D : "Internet." Professor: "Use Internet."
I have friends who wanted the ‘college experience’ ie partying and drinking and went to college 4-5 years. I did my first 2 at a community college. I’m in the green with savings and no college debt. They’re all mostly still not working in their fields paying off loan debt.
My favorite kind of book is the "You can't buy an old copy because this book contains a special code that you must have in order to do the coursework online".
At the community college I went to, a handful of teachers would tell their students not to buy the new edition, ignore the syllabus, save money by buying the old editions.
My professors just used power points and digital textbooks mainly for our assignments. It may be a messed up system but at least there are professors who understand.
So that is why when my sister finds a free PDF or online copy of her textbooks, she gets down on her knees, lifts her face to the sky and shout 'YES!' To the heavens. Interesting.
As a college instructor, I am frightened by how realistic this video is! I do use the textbooks, but I hate the way publishers put out new editions just so they can jack the price up. The textbook I use in one class has gone up from $70 to over $100 with new editions. You better believe we will use the book... a lot! What a crock!
I knew I was going to college for that stupidly expensive piece of paper. I could've learned everything they taught me online for free. But it's not about knowledge really. Otherwise, employers would have you just prove you have relevent skills. Also, yesterday I saw an internship for doctoral students that required three years of experience. They were basically just trying to underpay an overqualified person.
The public education system in America in general is a scam. We're conditioned from a young age to be workers and employees, and if you try to do literally anything else in your life, you're basically excommunicated from everyone you know. "How dare you want to enjoy life and not struggle to pay off a lifetime or a lifetime and a half of financial debt, not have time for your family, and work for someone who treats you like you don't even exist for years on end just so you can retire and have nothing?" It's absolutely rediculous.
@@thedivalovesglitterandglam9428 Yeah, the strangest things are "too greedy". A month or so ago I was trying to network and I mentioned to someone I was talking to that I had a preference for telecommuting. He basically told me I was being a prima-donna. I'm a prima-donna for saying that I prefer to pay for my own office space, light, and heat. It's cheaper for them to have telecommuting workers, and the pandemic proved it's not all that hard to work while telecommuting. Plus, I have a couple disabilities that would make it so I'd be much more productive without wasting all my spoons (energy) on physically commuting. But yeah. Sure. I'm a prima-donna for making it cheaper for my employer and accommodating my disabilities. I really hate capitalism and all of the weird casual ableism that goes with it.
BEST LEGAL LOOPHOLE It is illegal to copy more than 10% of a textbook due to copyright laws so all you have to do is follow the instructions: 1.Borrow textbook from friend 2.Take pictures of 9% of content 3. Delete pictures of content once completed 4.Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 until completing the subject.
I learned 7,000 total french and russian words and grammar for under $40. My college is trying to make us RENT a $300 French textbook for a first semester french class. What a joke! 😂 self education is basically free
French Man Took me couple of years to learn English. No expenses. Little bit of theory putted into practice. But I know many people who spent around $500 and so to pay for classes and still can’t learn a shit.
@@nurkenrustem6044 Disclaimer: I'm assuming you'd like a native's minor input to help you improve your English a bit. If you don't, then please ignore this comment Your English is overall very good! Based on this brief comment, anyway. I see two mistakes that give you away, one that a less educated native might make and one that has a very foreign feel to it. The one that a native might make is saying "putted". As far as I know, that's never an actual form of put. It's the past tense of putt, but that's a golf term and is pronounced differently. The second would be "still can't learn shit." No "a" necessary As a bonus, "$500 and so" makes no sense, but most people reading that would automatically correct that in their heads to "$500 or so" and assume that it was autocorrect or a mistype. If you said it in speech, though... That would be another story I hope I didn't come off as a dick! Just tryin' to help. If you don't want it, fine. Like I said, please just ignore me
GubbaNubNubDooRahKah Oh, thanks. Very kind of you. Being isolated from native speakers like you, I make minor mistakes often. But what you did is very good and I appreciate it. In the Era of the internet people are ruining the culture of language. Sometimes they can’t even keep the simple basics of grammar. Peace, brother.
@@nurkenrustem6044 Oh, I forgot to mention that the correct form would simply be "put". I know it's confusing when the past tense is the same as present, especially when it's on a case by case basis with each word But I'm glad I could help and that you found it useful. I know I appreciate it when natives help me with my foreign language skills, so I thought I'd extend the same kindness to you. Take care!
The only department at my school that didn't require those new and specific books was computer science, a field that has huge changes every few years. I took a class in 2019 that used a book written in the 70s. The first chapter was "when are floppy disks better than 8-track-tape" and we were tested on that.
The fundamentals of computer science change very little. Sure, it's silly to use what sounds like a 1970s operating systems book but, for example, a lot of the theory at the level that's taught in undergrad classes hasn't changed much since the 1970s.
@@debesys6306 Certainly the point about testing floppies vs 8-track tape is ridiculous. But most of what was in that book was probably still relevant today. Just like how physics is a science that is advancing hugely, but most of what you'll find in a general physics textbook has been known for 100+ years.
@@debesys6306t's not though. The core of computer science is the same as the 70s. The modern CPU is more complex and multilayered and has more registers and has far faster links to RAM and power off storage, but at its core it's still an 8 bit CPU dumping data onto an 8 track. The same physical problems and optimisation issues exist in modern computers as existed in old ones. A lot of CompSci is about understanding what computers are, and most of modern computing is about hiding that under abstraction. Under the abstraction, the 086 with tapes model still works perfectly fine. Further, in order to understand the advances since the 80s you need to understand what the 80s actually had in them. CompSci is understanding how computers came about and what they are and that is close to impossible to teach without starting at the basics - which necessitates study of fundamental computing.
Not really. It stopped when the government stopped doing the job it was assigned with. The government is the reason why you have student debt, not the corporations. If one corrupts, the other is corrupted. So stop blaming the businesses or even the corporations. They want to maximize their profits. That's their moral duty. The government has the power to put a stop to this insanity and it doesn't do it. That's where you should be mad at.
I once took a course where the professor made us preorder a book for $80 because it wasn't out at the start of the semester, but would release 4 days before we needed to read the first 120 pages. So you needed to preorder to guarantee you got it early enough to read it. Then she told us that we were behind schedule with the syllabus and she would have to cut the book out entirely. I tried to get a full refund for the book (still in the plastic) which almost worked. Then while this lady was ringing up my refund, out of casual conversation I explained how the professor made us buy the book only to say she didn't want to use it anymore. Somehow that piece of information changed everything and the lady refused to give me a refund. Suddenly the best i could do was sell it online because "we don't buy back books that have been removed from the course syllabus." I asked my classmates to come fight it with me, but out of 25 kids only 2 wanted to. Needless to say our complaint went nowhere, and I still have that stupid book sitting on my shelf.
When I was in college I was told my degree was something no one could take away. When I got in the field I was told it is good for 3 years, and have to present experience for another job.
Little trick if you’re a prof: make the “official” textbook the new/expensive one your university wants while making sure the previous edition is freely available for download in PDF format on the web and use that for your class. Then give your students a speech about how they “DEFINITELY should NOT go looking for the last edition online, wink wink”.
Sociology is mandatory in many colleges for many majors. Its a useless class that many don't need but is forced to pay for and waste time in the class.
Students: Already broke from paying for College and have now accumulated immense amounts of debt. Textbook companies: "I missed the part where that's my problem."
my books were no doubt the most expensive part of my degree, my managerial accounting book, about 400 pages, cost me over five hundred dollars, they really do screw you with the cost of books.
@John Daedalus If it's the exact same material, only tossed around a bit what's the problem with buying the older book and just look through it to see which chapter/part is correct. I'm guessing the titles don't really change much. I've done this for most of my courses no problem. Might be different how the universities do things in sweden compared to USA not sure, but most our books are either american or british so I don't really see the difference.
John Daedalus, can you pay your classmate $5 to borrow their book overnight and take pictures of all the end of chapter problem pages? That’s what I did.
a lot of people learn best by practical examples, so this was just a method to ensure majority of students understand the concept of "buy low, sell high" properly (and seeing the results when they fail executing this strategy is a free by-lesson) ;)
An insight from a lecturer, we are forced to sell the book by the university/institution too. It's not that we didn't go through the same shit as you guys do. In fact, I didn't buy some of the books when I took my degree either. That being said, you're "force" to buy new books because sometimes there are new updates or findings in the research area. Sometimes the info is obselete (e.g like pluto being a planet in a some years and next it's not then suddenly it is a planet back). So it's necessary to buy the latest book. Also, even though you can find anything in internet, without legit resources your reference won't be accept by your lecturer. So, some lecturers do deduct marks easily from assignments just solely because of your reference. That being said, I really oppose with the book pricing so sometimes I just ignore the "force" and ask my students to look it up at library.
I've collected text and reference books since I was a kid... Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Atlases, Harvard/ Princeton Science text books, etc... and I find it quite intriguing how the printing style has changed over time. Specifically, my collection of pre- 1940's text books are so much more factually accurate than those that came after.
How many times in outtakes did Roger hit Bridgette in the head with that textbook when he tossed it with a no-look overhead backward pass? I hope you're recovering quickly!
the students at my University is smart, they create a FB group dedicated to reselling, or trading textbooks/materials require for courses for cheaper, some even give away their 'trash' of a textbook
I had a teacher make us read a chunk of some literary criticism and theory book only to start the class with, "We're not going to go over this because this is not a class in badly translated German." God she thought she was clever. Half the class dropped out and she just thought it was an attendance problem.
SJA no, free education wouldn’t make college anymore that precious. Making it cost lots of money will motivate students to study harder because they’re putting risk into it.
Ace Shadowins without means of disappointing you, here in Argentina our main university is top 75 in the world and it’s completely free (you have to buy the books and stuff but the teachers have dealerships with printers and they select different texts of various books)
1:56 Even 17 years ago when I was in college this is exactly what they did. Several times I got a hold of and compared previous year versions of Calculus/Physics only to find they literally just swapped positions of chapters. It's shameful. And the fact that your college administrators allow & support this practice is a big red flag about your school. Pay attention!
College students! Here's what you should do! Step one: Buy the textbook! (Keep receipt) Step two: Go to the nearest print shop on the same day! Step three: Photocopy everything off that textbook and place it in a binder! Step four: Return your textbook the same day citing "wrong class" excuse! Your 400 dollar textbook is now just a 40-60 dollars investment.
Well books in your country maybe expensive but here we are in a third world country where we have chaper version of the books and i prefer reading the book rather than listening to the teachers because most of the teachers in my school is bad at explaining things.I prefer reading the book to get the knowledge i need.
same here, also, third world countries there is no student lown, if you don't pay you just won't study there. I like books because i can have my favorite pdf in phisical version, other than that, fuck text books, my teachers tell us to print and where to get the free online stuff.
Same; I always end up self-studying the text book or watching a free online course on places like Udacity or edX because most of my professors suck at explaining things. Where are you from, btw, and what do you study?
Fadi Naoum, hm.. I've never used those sites, I'll make sure to check them out! I'm from brazil, I'm currently studying economics in college :) hbu? (How about you?)
T. N. Oh, cool! :) I am from Jordan, and I am studying computer science in college. I use these sites to learn computer science topics, but I believe that these sites have some courses about economics and business. You don't have to pay for the courses; you can watch them for free, but you can pay for a nano-degree if you want.
in Iran textbooks are 5 to 10 $ and (as expensive as a pizza )also borrow em from universitys library or download it. i can't believe in America they charge 150$for just a book
Here in America I have been forced to pay $300 for a textbook and an extra $100 to buy the online access code that has all of the homework questions. College is a scam.
@@seyamrahman1002 it is illegal, but everyone who doesn't have the cash does it in my country. Heck my school even encourages it. There is even a recycle or borrow program. Return the book to the school and the next person can use it.
Here is a little secret ... for all those classes you only use the book for 1 or 2 assignments, go to the library. They have it for free. Dont bother buying the book otherwise.
Yeah, my college never had the book, my local library did not either. Regardless, I was never dumb enough to just buy the books in the syllabus. Always waited until our teacher used the book multiple times or my grades started to go down a bit before I decided that teacher did not lie and the book was truly needed. Then rented the book from amazon or chegg. Only if I really needed the book for reference through my future career would I buy it. Never understood how so many kids showed up with all the books they needed on the first day of class just cuz syllabus said so. What a waste of money, never trust those teachers saying you need the book to pass, wait for them to prove it.
Lecturer: You need Shigley Mechanical Engineering Design 10th addition to pass this class. Me: What's wrong with 9th addition? Lecturer: There have been changes. Only use 3 chapters.
@@lizzy4827 best is when a math book gets a new addition. Unless it's in super advanced types of math it doesnt change much. Calculus isnt going to change in a year
It was very strange, I went into my Introduction to Psychology class and got straight A’s. It was almost as if I had already read the basics of Psychology in my free time. I still had to buy the class textbook tho.
I noticed that my textbooks contained virtually the same information every year but the sections were moved around so you couldn't do the reading assignments assigned by the teacher because the page numbers didn't match with the prior years' editions. That way you couldn't buy used textbooks at a fraction of the price of new books. The text book industry is a criminal enterprise.
In India, we buy just one book and photo stat thousands of copies that can be bought from any bookstore at 5% the price of original book. My middle finger to the publishers.....😎
Prgrmr1152 But I'm pretty sure you must agree that this falls under cause and effect. Educational institutions/publications try to profit over this sham of overpriced books, which in turn causes students to search for cheaper alternatives which in turn cause problems for the genuine authors and the content they wish to share.
It used to cost 2000$ for my textbooks for each sem for the first four semesters, until i figured out that i could use the photocopier in the library to print out updated ebooks of the same book. The total cost for the next four semesters didnt even cross 1000$, now i tell every freshman about this just so they dont lose any money on them
I remember how we have bought some books in primary and secondary school then later we have never used... Teachers just order them because they get some money for it...
The city-run college system I was a part of had a program that gave $500 textbook vouchers each semester. I didn't even have to use them most of the time since some of my professors either gave us handouts containing relevant portions of the textbook or didn't bother with any textbook at all.
Sir, your poetically fluid satire flows as if it were Shakespeare. Your wit and coveted sarcasm a delight to those enlightened that do not see the world through the rose tinted glasses of falsehood. Your 3 minutes are a delight and always guaranteed to get a grin, again and again (a nod to Nicholson's Joker). Thank you.
flashdrive, Go Block Dude, GO! But really there's no justification for the price of these calculators. RaspberryPis have better hardware, and even your cheapest smartphone can run a free emulator.
A physical device is good for simple computations and any graphing calculator for $20 will do that just fine. Beyond a certain point it becomes far more efficient to do it in Maple or Mathematica, both are free for students btw.
In 1973, as a college junior, I paid $162 for a calculator that did add, subtract, multiply, divide, square and square-root. It had no memory other than the accumulator. Yes, I'm that old. Now get off my lawn!
My parents: The knowledge and education is free. Me: Then why you're paying these text books and a particular teacher? Btw... If they bring up new textbooks every year, then it means that all we learn in school will be obsolete in a few years, right? RIGHT?!
@@hvhhvvggg8663, I know I'm right. I know from years of experience. Media publishing sources are the bedrock of determining how a textbook will be published as "revised", "updated", or "condensed". They control the flow of information. If something major happens in a field of study, they are the first ones to scope out the journals, testimonials of the event, and then they pull out two years past worth of textbooks and determine what needs including or what needs removing.
'Exploitative business practices will exist for as long as they make a small group of people an obscene amount of money.' If that's not the catchphrase of modern capitalism I don't know what is.
Don't forget that schools also act like game stop. I bought a math book for $250 and when I try to resell it back to the school they said "the best we can do is $60"
There should be a option to buy, not a requirement, tuition can be paid for any damages to a book borrowed within the school or that person can be fined for damages, simple. Someone needs to leak all the PDF files.
There's a PDF file for virtually any major textbook on torrent websites, the problem is, many colleges require you to buy the textbook from their bookstore in order to be eligible to maintain your enrollment in a class. Fucking scam.
For a couple of classes, I have to pay for ACCESS to an online version of the textbook in order to do homework assignments. I either buy the book or fail the class.
Considering the huge duration of time most "core" textbooks can last, the business model you propose should be acceptable. I might suggest a couple tweaks (maybe only in the wording)... A nominal "usage fee", say about five percent the actual total cost of the book (market price) for the duration of the course requirement. Additive fees can be assessed based on the condition of the book as it's returned... More damage than is considered "normal" calls for a higher fee... Other fees can be applied in case there are required repairs (rebinding and or replacement pages, etc)... Of course, this would only work as applicable for keeping costs in general down. Consistent reasonable use of books can easily allow for continued use over well more than twenty years, and the information won't change enough for a new issue (most likely anyway) in courses like English Lit', Any Math 101, or even Basic Electricity and Electronics... That allows the school in question to order the books and reap easily more than their cost before they need replaced. You do have a good point... :o)
My country practice this already for decades...even the knowledge of torrenting materials are taught by the lecturers to help their students. This happens when the government doesn't care about the citizens and support only commercial entities that make politician rich.
I remember in my university days, we'd have to buy 3 textbooks for 1 class. Of the 3, we never used 1 cause we fell behind on a material that everyone, I mean EVERYONE, failed. And that 1 book we didn't used just so happened to be the most expensive (about $400) because it was a hard covered book. As for the other 2 books we used, 1 book we did actually heavily used but the 2and book, we only read half a chapter (chapter 1) and then it was pretty much the end of the semester. Talk about a waste of money! This was early 2000's so smartphones weren't widely available yet. Many of us were barely getting into flip phones with green screen and black text on the screen so no cameras were on phones yet.
@@Livetoeat171 at the ti.e, the professors would have us bring the books to show we got it or at least show the receipt that we got it. I did have 2 professors that allowed us to buy an older book for the very thing you just mentioned but there are some that will not accept anything but the most current book.
I literally had one university professor that had us purchase some random up to date little book for $17.00 that he told us we would only use once- and it was only because the university made him require one up to date text. He choose the cheapest one, and bought the actual expensive textbook and just photocopied it for everyone in the class. What a guy!
A true hero
I had a physics prof for later courses that just handed out photocopies of his notes as a textbook. It was a good time.
If it was in my school the teacher would make us pay DOUBLE for the photocopied versions.
(Btw double the expensive price)
Kristyn Dailey 👍
Lucky tho, for my course we had to buy 5 brand new books for a total of 650$.
"The smartest sounding credentials possible"
This isn't even a parody. This is real life.
@JASON, I am late to this party but ROGER has a definite point!
None of them are parodies. Horton speaks pure facts.
Yup, we've been hustled
Bruh when I was in High School we had a shelf of textbooks and we never used them
and i'm not joking in each class there were textbooks that were related to the subject
History was the only exception (obviously)
My english teacher said it best: "We are required to require it."
What - you have a text book for English?
I'm British and have never heard of anyone using a textbook for English at any point in the academic process, from elementary school to university level.
@@capitalb5889 bruh ive had english textooks my whole life, even in kindergarten as "phonics."
If you never used English textbooks then what did u carry around in your backpack all day?
@@greenstorm5568 - in my bag I had a folder and notepads. I can remember textbooks for French, history, science, geography etc. But never one for English. The teacher taught and we made notes in our books.
For English what do you need a textbook for? I've studied a number of Shakespeare plays, a couple of Dickens, contemporary fiction and much more, but never had a textbook.
@@capitalb5889 Here are a few things you may find in textbooks for native speakers regardless of the language: advanced grammar and syntax rules, descriptions and rules surrounding of various types of texts/writing styles and important concepts in text analysis (such as figures of speech, punctuation, etc.). The textbook may also serve as study material for concepts seen in class, or be used mainly for assignements as they often contain premade exercises.
Admittedly, I don't think they're necessary most of the time, but I definitely think they're helpful for students who prefer to review material on their own. They also serve a purpose in ensuring that the curriculum is standardized all across the board and that no students are set behind because of class material that is lacking in one way or another.
I am a college instructor. The textbook business is a criminal enterprise.
Michael Brook I want money backkk. 😫
*east asian student with the whole shelf filled with textbooks and practice books has entered the chat*
As a British graduate watching this, I am shocked by this racket. This is definitely an American thing.
@@capitalb5889 maybe it is idk how Brits have a different college experience
No shit. We students are the buyers, we feel forced to be victims of this con all the time. I am from a non English speaking country and my economics professor once forced us to buy an English economics book that we never used in class. It was useless.
"You need the textbook or you'll fail the class"
*Buys Textbook*
*Never uses it*
Erik Arustamyan I just experienced this with my Health class, and I still passed with a B.
I always loved that feeling of getting through a class without buying the book. When I was in college, sometimes I would get the book from someone for free, or find enough information online similar to the subjects of the book, or just find text in the school library. Seriously though, words cannot describe how much I hate the current world education-system for being so archaic with their methods of teaching, philosophies on what is intelligence, status-quo work evaluation, and inefficient investments that just slow the progress in a school. We are wasting potential for both teachers and students with the education-system that exist today.
This is literally the worst thing about college. I also had a science class that made buying the book stupid. In the syllabus on the first day the professor provides a link to get the book for free. Would of been nice to know before the class started.
Erik Arustamyan YES RELATABLE
We had assignments that were designed to specifically make us use the book and cite not the author but the page number exactly to prove we used the book. The questions were still relevant to the course however I looked up the answers later online and there was no difference.
the worst is when the professor wrote the book
Like Professor Lockhart from Harry Potter ?
Fuckin hell yeah
Wouldn't that be better? If the professor wrote the book you could read it and not go to any class or if you were to read it and go to class you could even ask the professor which is the author of the book enquiries about it.
Oh my gosh! I had a Psychology of Religon class. The professor wrote his own book on Zen or something, and we were required to purchase it from him, in class, with cash. Hated that class so much! The book had absolutely NOTHING to do with the course.
@@xyannail4678 If you like spending $400 on a book that only the professor can get you and then you literally use 0 times during the course but if you don't buy it they know you didn't and fail you before the semester is over so they can remove you from the class before you figure out that they scammed you out of $400.. Then yes by all means make sure you look for classes where the professor writes the books lol
That's why my college professor printed his own textbook and sold them for like 10 bucks. And if you hadn't bought it by the first couple weeks he'd just give it to you.
One of my favorite professors would frequently "accidentally trip and fall on the copy machine" while holding a textbook relevant to the course and somehow the machine printed out a bunch of copies of the chapter that would be relevant to our discussion... at that point, it'd be wasteful of school resources to NOT give the material to the students for free haha
German universities have agreements with all relevant publishers that let all associates (and yes, students are a part of that) copy any textbook they want.
My philosophy professor does the same thing.
I had a teacher who wrote a textbook once, and put it online for free for the student who took the class. Then we just had to print it out, which doesn't cost all that much.
not all heroes wear capes.
"Free information on web exists"
School: Only use textbooks, never ever visit the big bad evil internet.
Depends on the school, and the teacher. I teach an Anatomy & Physiology class and I utilize the internet in my classes, share related videos and articles with my students, and encourage them to explore on their own (so long as they don’t get ahead of where we are in class).
@@silvussol8966 not sure if this goes to r/woosh or somewhere else
In my high school we didn't use any textbooks, all the information either came from the teacher or the internet. And now in college we use the online library for free if we need textbooks. I'm glad to finally not have to carry those overpriced bricks.
I think its worth noting that a great deal of misinformation also exists on the internet. Much of of it deliberate and much accidental.
Mine told me to use only school sources. The teacher wasn’t happy when I had supporting info against their premise. School is about being a good student that stays inside the box and jumps through hoops. The compensation is about the persistency not the education.
That moment when you realize that school is no longer about education and personal development.
And 50 k plus dept
I personally don't think it ever was
It's really a concentration camp glorified for societal acceptance.
Think about how strict it is with no justifications when students are condemned for just about anything, at the end of every semester, nothing substantial were really provided.
When has it been ?
@@raincloud04 My school too, well, every school.
College isn't about education, it's about getting a degree that says "see? I have credibility...and you know I'll work hard for you cuz I have to pay off student loans."
Maybe if you do an unmarketable degree like arts or lit. Most people shouldn't be at college or uni unless they can pay off their student loan ie medics, engineers, CS etc.
Brilliant
That’s deep
That's so incredibly accurate!
@@jamesquinn6662 James, engineering degrees are useless too. There are too many engineers, and not enough jobs for them. Just like with actors, lawyers, and pro athletes. College is only worth it for healthcare jobs.
My current teachers are like "You can buy the books if you want to but there are five copies in the library so just use that"
*around exam time all the books gone*
@@dutchik5107 the thing is, students kinda aren't allowed to borrow them plus they have powerpoint presentations they send in class group chats
@@brettshair3151 wait... what?
@@sinabrand5244 which part? The one where we are kinda not allowed to borrow the books? The educational ones, I mean.
I don't know either.
@@brettshair3151 yeah, I was just thinking what the use of a library is, if you're not allowed to borrow the books.. I mean, isn't that the original use of a library?! 😅
I remember my health class. My teacher told us there was literally a single sentence added to the new edition of our textbook. That added 1 page to the bibliography. He wrote the sentence on the board, told us to put it on a sticky note, and stick it on the page it was added to in the old book.
Glad he didn’t make you buy the new edition. It was probably an extra $100 for that
Love that
I love the way Cracked exposes greed one industry at a time.
These videos need more attention
Greed isn't a problem. Profit attracts competition in a real free market. You have to have referees calling fouls when they occur.
Makes you wonder how many death threats and blackmails they've accumulated over this Series.
@@stoiclefty just cause they dont show sources doesnt mean its not true or made up. a quick google search can easily show you that its real and alot of this show be already known too unless if keep yourself oblivious.......
@@stoiclefty Seriously, we don't need several revisions to Algebra 1 books. My junior high school had books that had to be updated THAT YEAR to a subject that literally hasn't changed since the 1930's when they were translated into modern American English. Worse yet, we have updated revisions on literature, literally books that are famous for being old, yet "modern" revisions are sold in college bookstores for $50.
blisteringly accurate and every reason I have used to justify to my department why I never assign a textbook.
Thanks!
Andrew Johnstone My favorite part of the University I attend is how often professors don't require the text if they know it's pointless. So far the only useless text I had to buy was written by the professor....
Andrew Johnstone *slow clap*
Actually written by the professor? Was it math, or some obscure sociopolitical "theory" they'd invented themself?
You sir are one of the good professors, Thank you for your contribution to society...
"Exploitative business practices will exist as long as they make a small group of people an obscene amount of money." -Literally the most accurate lesson in economics I've ever heard.
However that lesson is false it isn't the amount of money any group has is the amount of power. Money isn't always power. I suggest you read the book Atlas Shrugged or at least watch the movies
Grant Armbruster ah, yes, read that book by the notoriously pretentious author that a video game called bioshock was able to make fun of for being full of shit
@@ineedmoresleep3728 a) I wasn't talking to you. B) not an argument.
Grant Armbruster a) you shouted into the internet void and b) don’t get salty just because the void answered
@@ineedmoresleep3728 I replied directly to one person's comment
School system : You are required to buy these $500 textbooks for your classes
Students : all this information is free and accessible thanks to google so we don’t have to waste money
School system : *Its the textbooks or your kneecaps*
anonymous required, but no one checks to make sure you have it
@Night shade Indeed, multiple choice for crying out loud! What lazy bastard invented that? Showing possible answers makes an exercise way too easy... I'm sure it's just laziness, makes it easier to grade. But holy fuck, it is horrible for actually learning anything!
@@annekekramer3835 im not american, but do they really cost that much over there?
@@annekekramer3835 lol u have no clue what MCQ exams looks like in my school
@@Gwenfully Back in 2003, I paid over $800 in books for a semester.
I never bought books for my studies at university.
There is a library and I have a smartphone camera.
Library+smartphone+photocopier.. Just in case 😂
Wisdom - for the Kings
Meanwhile libraries are being shut down or defunded. I wonder why...
@@royms2000 that's when you know you have a great professor
Congratulations you broke the law
i thought cracked was supposed to be satire? all he did is describe how the textbook industry works, word for word.
Nick Bright And that's why it's called "if school and college textbooks were honest" It's honest to a highly depressing degree :(
Nick Bright that's what makes it interesting. It's in the title, if ads were honest.
Ha ha ha
That's the joke?
Welcone to Roger Ruins Everthing
Is this why teachers say Wikipedia is an unreliable source?
I think that very well could be the case. That didn't stop me though. When I was studying for my B.S. Degree I frequently used Wikipedia.
Wikipedia and a thirty-two volume Encyclopaedia Britannica set I own, were the supporting columns of my high grades on examinations.
*money*
Actually Wikipedia can be a very good source, especially if the article is a "featured article" (Means Wikipedia's editors have verified the information and the article is up to date). Also if you notice, most Wikipedia pages include sources to where they got their info, so you can just use those sources instead.
The paper found that Wikipedia's entries had an overall accuracy rate of 80 percent, whereas the other encyclopedias had an accuracy rate of 95 to 96 percent.
In July 2008, a 17-year-old student added an invented nickname to the Wikipedia article coati as a private joke, saying that coatis were also known as "Brazilian aardvarks". The false information lasted for six years in Wikipedia and came to be propagated by hundreds of websites, several newspapers (one of which was later cited as a source in Wikipedia), and even books published by a few university presses.[15][16] 😂😂😂
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
@@maryamsharkey Wonderfully so, this sort of phenomenon has largely been stopped, much to the disappointment of trolls and meme-seeking attack helicopters. This page also helps prove how popular Wikipedia content is in making textbooks.
What? I'm from Spain, I studied a major in engineering and never had to buy any book. We always used proffesor's notes which they uploaded to the internet. The several books that were recomended to use were on the library, plenty of them and absolutely free to use and to take home
Same here in Brazil, those poor US students hahaha
I am American and major in Biology. The majority of the professors at the university don’t write their own PowerPoints. They use ones that are pre-created by the textbook publishers. I have asked to see their notes or have them uploaded to the student portal, and they just simply won’t.
Same here in India too we are aloud to use secondhand books
Yeah... here in the US, educational institutions are about making money, not education. That's why most of the money that gets pumped into American universities goes to amenities, not the actual education departments or professors.
Same in the Netherlands. I have two masters, one in engineering, I think I bought in total 4 books? And those were actually useful books that you still use in your work. The rest were the professors own notes, so you only paid for the cost of copying.
This is actually the literal truth. When I was in college, I went and found the 3rd revision of a text book ($20) for a class, that was using the 6th revision ($150). There was actually more pages in the 3rd revision, than the 6th...... and we used it for exactly 3 different lessons, so a total of 3 chapters in a book the size of an encyclopedia. All three chapters, were word for word identical, except that they were arranged in a completely different order in the book from the latest revision. Thankfully I did this in my first year of college, and never bought the book again. Complete, and total waste of money.
"Wanna waste $150 on a book with 7% of the info you'll actually use, which you can probably find on RUclips?"
"No"
"You wanna fail this course?"
*heads to overpriced bookstore*
yep!
Cracked *THE EARTH IS FLAT*
nope!
Every College Textbook I've purchased in a nutshell.
James Burgess this is why a ton of teachers are allowing older editions from Amazon, or switching to free ebooks. Fuck the system.
(the only reason teachers were allowed to do this at my school was because half of them owned a local aerospace company. They worked at the school outta charity. And they had their fingers all over local government, and the property the college branch was on. It's kinda like if the bad guys in stranger things were also really cool substitute teachers.)
You forgot how the industry is also cutting cost by making the books so cheap sunlight makes the pages turn to dust.
@First Name Last Name
My psych class was like that, and it was literally just a paperback book without a spine. So to "save me the cost" of 10¢ in glue I have to buy a binder...
Ah: DRM old skool style / built in obsolesce.
So glad my University libraries had either 5p a sheet photocopying (old days) or 'Scan to multi-page Document' + email (recently).
@John Daedalus Warehouse Management is not easy on Paper
But they sell it for 10% more because "new eddition"
nice thing my school uses those books from 2000.....wait.....
My PE teacher is an author and I literally saw him copying from Wikipedia for his new book!
That's unfair.
Can’t he get in trouble for that??
I doubt it's technically illegal if he had the courtesy of mentioning all the references in the appendix. You can basically copy & paste anything for as long as you mention the references and don't infringe the copyright(s) in any additional way.
Once I actually had a college class that required the student's buy a textbook that had tear-out assignment pages. The professors were not allowed to accept any work that didn't include the book's tear-out page stapled to it. So you couldn't just buy or borrow someone else's used book if it had those pages torn out. I'm telling ya, these guys are getting better and better at plugging in those loop holes in order to scam students.
NotoriousNoe That's messed up cuz they could have easily just told u to write down questions and answers for every assignment on a piece of paper.
Ouch, I know I’m only in Highschool and don’t have to pay for books, but my teachers just let me hand in a paper with the answers numbered, or a printed out version. Cause sometimes I leave my workbook in my locker.
NotoriousNoe why didn’t your class just photocopy the assignment page and staple the work to it? Make the copy look ripped if you want
Wow that's crazy smh
That's messed up
Change the fonts, move some content around, but don't fix the errata, and call it a new edition
Well, it's a skill that my students didn't have. I didn't expect any original thought but I was hoping they could at least edit out the parts from the text that was outside the scope of the essay. All I received was a downloaded text in its entirety and with original font. And all students used the same website because I told they can work together, i.e share ideas as long as each writes their text individually. 😂
Maybe add a picture or two
They can change a single word and legally call it a new edition. I used to work for one of the major college textbook chains and if there's a way to make a profit, they'll do it...ethical or not.
Reminds me of a class i had to buy a $150 dollar book for. They told us that we needed it to study and pass. But I didn’t buy it. Instead I looked up the information online and it was exactly the same. Only with minor changes so it wouldn’t be noticeable.
@@oakstrong1 I dont want to blame you but teachers like you are the reason why our children are getting dumber... For education there should be very little use of computers except in IT
College: The MOST EXPENSIVE WAY to meet new friends
College students are too self-indulgent, sheltered, and dependent on electronics to understand camaraderie anymore. The cutoff was ppl born after 1993. They have no social skills.
@@TheorizingWithBen THATS ME YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
Me Talking Yeah just apply a sweeping generalization to millions of people. As if your base internal image of the middle class, blue haired, starbucks coffee drinking millennial posting moral outrage on their iPhone actually captures what a college campus is like today.
And for the record, I have never seen a culture so vane, infantilized and self-gratifying as the youth culture of the 90s. You guys grew up in a booming economy, we reached adolescence in one of the worst economic crashes in history. You're sheltered
+Ezra X Mullins Well you would certainly benefit from the NSA/CIA technology since evidently you didn't pass the fourth grade
Yeah what they charge for textbooks are insane.
After two years of being bamboozled into purchasing text books, in my junior year at university, I bought no books until the moment I knew I needed them (say, for a test). Such moments were few and far between. I got by just fine. Now, as a teacher, if my students are required to buy the books (it is not my decision), I make an effort to use them as best as we can to justify the cost.
Those damn access codes man, 100-200$ for numbers on the back on of a piece of cardboard. That you use once.
You should ask for the book up front before paying for it and take a picture of the code without buying the book.
and sometimes the code is put inside the book. What I've been doing is just purchasing access codes straight from the publishers website.
I spent $80 for a math code expired within a year
Yeah they're doing it because people are waking up to their scheme. It's how they get you.
Lone Wolf For all of my classes that required an online code (All of them were science classes) the codes were used to access the homework. Purchasing them was mandatory unless you wanted zeros on every assignment
The worst is when the professors make their own authored book a requirement for their class.
David Brigham That’s what happened in my technology and society class. It was just a collection of tech articles but somehow my professor is credited as the main author.
Not from the US, so I had a different experience, there were none mandatory textbooks for any class of my economics degree, except for one, and that was because the professor wrote the book... Needless to say I just used the one from the library.
Wouldn't it be worse if they didn't use their own text for the class?
I TAed for a prof who used his own text, but tossed the money he made from his share of those purchases into a fund for snacks in labs. He liked his book, but didn't want to profit from assigning it.
@@bobbyfeet2240 If the professors really think it necessary, why not make copies available at the school library that way he/she is still published?
Bobby Feet It depends on the Professor. Some will sell their book for a ridiculous price, even if the quality isn’t that great compared to similar books. Luckily I haven’t encountered many of these professors, only one arguably but it was more about the quality of the book not being worth the price versus how expensive it is. Another professor I had was self published, his book was extremely cheap and the book was very interesting and unique.
Textbooks are the most atrociously written things ever made. They use 1,000 words to explain something that somebody with a hint of succinctness and language discipline could do in 50.
study law. They have made it worse on purpose.
Try studying maths with only ever getting the short explanation.
@@yosemite735 in law they just have to elaborate on every single little detail to avoid ambuguity and loop holes. Even then you still find loop holes and they get patched over time.
@@yosemite735 Truer words have not been spoken
@@klobiforpresident2254 Actual hell
Degree...
A sheet of paper with latin written all over it.
THEY LIED TO ME!
Otaku Mouse Belldandy!
Nice to see a fellow fan here.
Otaku Mouse *peers through comment window*
...............we're everywhere...
*fades from view*
XD
Otaku Mouse they lied to us all
I still make them cum louder.
I remember reading a Math Textbook where the first page complained about people who sold used books and how it took away money from the poor people who wrote the book
I laughed
My dad was asked to write chapters for multiple books in his specialty. Books costed heck of a lot and he made almost nothing but publisher made money
Good professors write shit not for money but to spread thier knowledge or name
Math teacher here - I know about that
@TheWingsofprey Holy cow! Especially if they taught you syntax!
Yeah in my school there was an "illegal business" of students selling *gasp* their second hand books. If you were caught with one on your desk, you were punished. It was a catholic school...
@@gadlicht4627 are you saying people are supposed to work for free and let others profit off of their hard work?
This was one of the reasons my professors were okay with kindle books. They didn’t care how the information was found, they just wanted in to be sourced properly.
Unless you're in a highly, highly specialized field everything you need to know is on the internet. Just be smart, folks.
Even in highly specialized field (mine is femtosecond laser) you can learn for free, google scholar is your friend. As of now completing my research, I don't even buy any books. Those books are like the diamond industry-- students are conditioned to think that they "have" to buy the crazy expensive books, otherwise how to you think the publishers make money? Normal folks have no use for them.
@733Rafael could you perhaps explain the msm academic joke?
Yes, but in books it's much better organized.
You can't search for a particular study if you don't even know it exists.
A coursebook however summarizes a lot of related information for you in one chapter. You can learn in a matter of several minutes what you would otherwise spend days/weeks looking for on your own when all you have is a name of the topic you want to study and no major researchers' names, no special terms, no data on studies, nothing.
While the video is funny, it's rather untrue for a lot of coursebooks.
@733Rafael Pretty funny, nation wrecker.
Danny Sullivan even that is available on the internet. But, if you have to find it on the internet, you’re probably not right for those highly specialized fields.
1st year Freshman: "Wow there's a lot of books I have to buy! Well its for my education, and I don't want to fail. Whoa every book is so expensive!"
2nd year College: "Hmm I really don't have money for books (but for beer)... I'll just buy second hand books for 1/10th the price!"
3rd year Coollege: "Wait a minute..... Lecture notes+ Wikipedia+ RUclips + Google is kind of enough...?"
4rd year : "Internet"
5rd year: "Internet."
Ph.D : "Internet."
Professor: "Use Internet."
Bran Coan 4rd year
5rd year...
That shows how unnecessary textbooks really r!
*are
Mr. Parabola I know, I was being sarcastic...
Well I stole your face!
(That is a reference to ASDF movie.)
Yup. Though thankfully it only took me an 18 month diploma to learn that lesson.
I worked for Prentice hall for about a year. . this is spot on
Oh God, I'm sorry. I was a History teacher and I remember those craptastic books.
This is why I’m so thankful I went to community college. Half of my bachelor’s degree done for free & I get a refund. A true win.
The same. Factoring in the pell grant from fasfa, some semesters were only a few hundred dollars total.
That's the smart way to do it. Or take college classes in High School
I have friends who wanted the ‘college experience’ ie partying and drinking and went to college 4-5 years. I did my first 2 at a community college. I’m in the green with savings and no college debt. They’re all mostly still not working in their fields paying off loan debt.
I'm currently taking classes online from a respected online college and am also saving butloads. All our textbooks are online and there's no tuition
community college same thing
My favorite kind of book is the "You can't buy an old copy because this book contains a special code that you must have in order to do the coursework online".
Coby Arts I know. I don't like that either. They could have just added us on blackboard online for that. smh
w*ley :D
At the community college I went to, a handful of teachers would tell their students not to buy the new edition, ignore the syllabus, save money by buying the old editions.
My professors just used power points and digital textbooks mainly for our assignments. It may be a messed up system but at least there are professors who understand.
At mine the profs just put the content online.... No text books!
I’m a student:
Library genesis, the Pirate Bay, and reddit.
You’re welcome
Coming soon from the creators that brought you Denuvo for video games: Booknuvo for textbooks.
Exactly!!
You left out sci-hub and project Gutenberg
pdfdrive
Bump
"Get a cover - you'll want to protect your investment."
Love it.
Never leave us, Horton Rogers
So that is why when my sister finds a free PDF or online copy of her textbooks, she gets down on her knees, lifts her face to the sky and shout 'YES!' To the heavens.
Interesting.
As a college instructor, I am frightened by how realistic this video is! I do use the textbooks, but I hate the way publishers put out new editions just so they can jack the price up. The textbook I use in one class has gone up from $70 to over $100 with new editions. You better believe we will use the book... a lot! What a crock!
I knew I was going to college for that stupidly expensive piece of paper. I could've learned everything they taught me online for free.
But it's not about knowledge really. Otherwise, employers would have you just prove you have relevent skills.
Also, yesterday I saw an internship for doctoral students that required three years of experience. They were basically just trying to underpay an overqualified person.
We can learn anything on the internet for free. But we pay for the paper. "Diploma in science" example.
Yet its a scam to pay for a degree printed in Pakistan. Colleges are a scam where they get to screw you and you take it with a smile
Facts
The public education system in America in general is a scam. We're conditioned from a young age to be workers and employees, and if you try to do literally anything else in your life, you're basically excommunicated from everyone you know.
"How dare you want to enjoy life and not struggle to pay off a lifetime or a lifetime and a half of financial debt, not have time for your family, and work for someone who treats you like you don't even exist for years on end just so you can retire and have nothing?"
It's absolutely rediculous.
@@thedivalovesglitterandglam9428 Yeah, the strangest things are "too greedy". A month or so ago I was trying to network and I mentioned to someone I was talking to that I had a preference for telecommuting. He basically told me I was being a prima-donna.
I'm a prima-donna for saying that I prefer to pay for my own office space, light, and heat. It's cheaper for them to have telecommuting workers, and the pandemic proved it's not all that hard to work while telecommuting. Plus, I have a couple disabilities that would make it so I'd be much more productive without wasting all my spoons (energy) on physically commuting.
But yeah. Sure. I'm a prima-donna for making it cheaper for my employer and accommodating my disabilities.
I really hate capitalism and all of the weird casual ableism that goes with it.
BEST LEGAL LOOPHOLE
It is illegal to copy more than 10% of a textbook due to copyright laws so all you have to do is follow the instructions:
1.Borrow textbook from friend
2.Take pictures of 9% of content
3. Delete pictures of content once completed
4.Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 until completing the subject.
Or use that 10% to make a cheaper textbook
I want purssanaly fhhhhhhhhh
Thank you
Or if u r in the subcontinent, get it photocopied and no one gives a damn
@Omar Monajed You're a real lifesaver!
I learned 7,000 total french and russian words and grammar for under $40.
My college is trying to make us RENT a $300 French textbook for a first semester french class. What a joke! 😂 self education is basically free
Wow
French Man Took me couple of years to learn English. No expenses. Little bit of theory putted into practice. But I know many people who spent around $500 and so to pay for classes and still can’t learn a shit.
@@nurkenrustem6044
Disclaimer: I'm assuming you'd like a native's minor input to help you improve your English a bit. If you don't, then please ignore this comment
Your English is overall very good! Based on this brief comment, anyway. I see two mistakes that give you away, one that a less educated native might make and one that has a very foreign feel to it.
The one that a native might make is saying "putted". As far as I know, that's never an actual form of put. It's the past tense of putt, but that's a golf term and is pronounced differently. The second would be "still can't learn shit." No "a" necessary
As a bonus, "$500 and so" makes no sense, but most people reading that would automatically correct that in their heads to "$500 or so" and assume that it was autocorrect or a mistype. If you said it in speech, though... That would be another story
I hope I didn't come off as a dick! Just tryin' to help. If you don't want it, fine. Like I said, please just ignore me
GubbaNubNubDooRahKah Oh, thanks. Very kind of you. Being isolated from native speakers like you, I make minor mistakes often.
But what you did is very good and I appreciate it. In the Era of the internet people are ruining the culture of language. Sometimes they can’t even keep the simple basics of grammar.
Peace, brother.
@@nurkenrustem6044
Oh, I forgot to mention that the correct form would simply be "put". I know it's confusing when the past tense is the same as present, especially when it's on a case by case basis with each word
But I'm glad I could help and that you found it useful. I know I appreciate it when natives help me with my foreign language skills, so I thought I'd extend the same kindness to you. Take care!
The only department at my school that didn't require those new and specific books was computer science, a field that has huge changes every few years.
I took a class in 2019 that used a book written in the 70s. The first chapter was "when are floppy disks better than 8-track-tape" and we were tested on that.
Mind-boggling!
The fundamentals of computer science change very little. Sure, it's silly to use what sounds like a 1970s operating systems book but, for example, a lot of the theory at the level that's taught in undergrad classes hasn't changed much since the 1970s.
@@debesys6306 Certainly the point about testing floppies vs 8-track tape is ridiculous. But most of what was in that book was probably still relevant today. Just like how physics is a science that is advancing hugely, but most of what you'll find in a general physics textbook has been known for 100+ years.
@@debesys6306t's not though. The core of computer science is the same as the 70s. The modern CPU is more complex and multilayered and has more registers and has far faster links to RAM and power off storage, but at its core it's still an 8 bit CPU dumping data onto an 8 track. The same physical problems and optimisation issues exist in modern computers as existed in old ones.
A lot of CompSci is about understanding what computers are, and most of modern computing is about hiding that under abstraction. Under the abstraction, the 086 with tapes model still works perfectly fine.
Further, in order to understand the advances since the 80s you need to understand what the 80s actually had in them. CompSci is understanding how computers came about and what they are and that is close to impossible to teach without starting at the basics - which necessitates study of fundamental computing.
It’s the old “C” book, isn’t it.
"Its a bachelor's of english literature and it counts"
..."mmMMmm"
We stopped evolving when corporations took over education
We stop evolving like crazy when RNA existed.
We r still evolving regardless, if u r talking about evolution from the biological perspective
Not really.
It stopped when the government stopped doing the job it was assigned with. The government is the reason why you have student debt, not the corporations.
If one corrupts, the other is corrupted.
So stop blaming the businesses or even the corporations. They want to maximize their profits. That's their moral duty. The government has the power to put a stop to this insanity and it doesn't do it. That's where you should be mad at.
I once took a course where the professor made us preorder a book for $80 because it wasn't out at the start of the semester, but would release 4 days before we needed to read the first 120 pages. So you needed to preorder to guarantee you got it early enough to read it. Then she told us that we were behind schedule with the syllabus and she would have to cut the book out entirely. I tried to get a full refund for the book (still in the plastic) which almost worked. Then while this lady was ringing up my refund, out of casual conversation I explained how the professor made us buy the book only to say she didn't want to use it anymore. Somehow that piece of information changed everything and the lady refused to give me a refund. Suddenly the best i could do was sell it online because "we don't buy back books that have been removed from the course syllabus." I asked my classmates to come fight it with me, but out of 25 kids only 2 wanted to. Needless to say our complaint went nowhere, and I still have that stupid book sitting on my shelf.
Take your revenge: scan it and put it online
Sue you're teacher and bookstore
Moral of the story... you talked too much. The textbook industry is like the mafia, you outed yourself mate.
Take it to that twat n slap her about the head n neck with it
You never wanna say too much.
bruh that is the worst. I have had the luxury of having a professor who wrote my math textbook and provided free PDF versions of it.
When I was in college I was told my degree was something no one could take away. When I got in the field I was told it is good for 3 years, and have to present experience for another job.
Super late, but may I ask what the degree was?
The worst is when you can’t buy the book used cause there’s a one-time use code inside that you need to get access to the publishers website 🙃
Little trick if you’re a prof: make the “official” textbook the new/expensive one your university wants while making sure the previous edition is freely available for download in PDF format on the web and use that for your class. Then give your students a speech about how they “DEFINITELY should NOT go looking for the last edition online, wink wink”.
Love how this always pops up at the beginning of every semester.
Hard Copy of textbook: $350 to RENT
Digital copy that's basically the same thing: *Is only $3.99*
Piracy is a student's best friend.
As a person with a degree in English Literature, this hit close to home lmao ITS ALL FUCKING TRUE
Kayla Kemper *flips a burger* would you like some fries with that?
BadBoy_____17 more like working at companies and writing useless crap, but nice attempt...
Kayla Kemper whatever pays the bills Miss.. do you do something you are passionate about on the side?
BadBoy_____17 of course
Kayla Kemper may I ask what it is?
Fun fact a 200$ textbook cost roughly around 6-7$ to make and schools expect us to buy it for 200 corrupted business
i once had a text book for sociology that attempted to define "otaku" culture and completely butchered it.
I'm not surprised sadly
😂😂😂😂 Only we Otakus can truly define it! 😂😂😂😂
I am a Otaku and seriously, you can just look it up on the Internet. There are plenty of definitions. That's so stupid.
Sociology is mandatory in many colleges for many majors. Its a useless class that many don't need but is forced to pay for and waste time in the class.
Oh crap you invoked the weebs );
And now they’re having us buy online access codes for the course, so you’re *required* to buy them new.
Nathan Lee a lot of times you can buy the code separately and get the digital pdf on the internet
School, where you learn thousands of facts and retain about 12 of them...
That's like so true though
Students: Already broke from paying for College and have now accumulated immense amounts of debt.
Textbook companies: "I missed the part where that's my problem."
😂😂
my books were no doubt the most expensive part of my degree, my managerial accounting book, about 400 pages, cost me over five hundred dollars, they really do screw you with the cost of books.
i pay no more than 100 euro's per semester for books, i'm currently doing my third bachelor year in civil engineering in Ghent, Belgium
Nathan Dutoit Europe is different
What the fuck......
@John Daedalus If it's the exact same material, only tossed around a bit what's the problem with buying the older book and just look through it to see which chapter/part is correct. I'm guessing the titles don't really change much. I've done this for most of my courses no problem. Might be different how the universities do things in sweden compared to USA not sure, but most our books are either american or british so I don't really see the difference.
John Daedalus, can you pay your classmate $5 to borrow their book overnight and take pictures of all the end of chapter problem pages? That’s what I did.
Business school taught me to buy low, sell high. So I bought a $400 book and sold it back for $10 🤔
a lot of people learn best by practical examples, so this was just a method to ensure majority of students understand the concept of "buy low, sell high" properly (and seeing the results when they fail executing this strategy is a free by-lesson) ;)
Then they call it an investment😂
Uhm, I think you’re doing business wrong
@@bluepeng8895 He mean he is forced to buy a textbook for $400 then after that class he recycled it for $10
They did not mean get high lmao
My math professors told me it was absolutely necessary to buy the book with the access code... I still have one of my math books in the plastic 😑
Marie Ji try selling it to an incoming student if u don’t need any. Could get some money back and help out another person.
@@fpp144 Yep. Math is useless. If you bought the book for $150 and sold it to some chump for $70, you'd have a net loss of only $60.
@Peepee Poopoo That's the joke.
An insight from a lecturer, we are forced to sell the book by the university/institution too. It's not that we didn't go through the same shit as you guys do. In fact, I didn't buy some of the books when I took my degree either. That being said, you're "force" to buy new books because sometimes there are new updates or findings in the research area. Sometimes the info is obselete (e.g like pluto being a planet in a some years and next it's not then suddenly it is a planet back). So it's necessary to buy the latest book. Also, even though you can find anything in internet, without legit resources your reference won't be accept by your lecturer. So, some lecturers do deduct marks easily from assignments just solely because of your reference. That being said, I really oppose with the book pricing so sometimes I just ignore the "force" and ask my students to look it up at library.
Sounds like my graphing calculator. Used it twice
I've collected text and reference books since I was a kid... Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Atlases, Harvard/ Princeton Science text books, etc... and I find it quite intriguing how the printing style has changed over time. Specifically, my collection of pre- 1940's text books are so much more factually accurate than those that came after.
How many times in outtakes did Roger hit Bridgette in the head with that textbook when he tossed it with a no-look overhead backward pass?
I hope you're recovering quickly!
At least 6.. but we asked Bridgett to be the one to keep count.. so uh.. that got difficult for her after a while..
Best TA ever who told us straight up we did NOT need the textbook.
the students at my University is smart, they create a FB group dedicated to reselling, or trading textbooks/materials require for courses for cheaper, some even give away their 'trash' of a textbook
I had a $450 Chemistry book by Chang get "denounced" mid semester so had to buy a different book for the same course.
I had a teacher make us read a chunk of some literary criticism and theory book only to start the class with, "We're not going to go over this because this is not a class in badly translated German." God she thought she was clever. Half the class dropped out and she just thought it was an attendance problem.
If knowledge was truly the goal, everything would be available free for everyone online.
But it's not. It about MONEY 💲💲
masterpiece! Comment!
SJA no, free education wouldn’t make college anymore that precious. Making it cost lots of money will motivate students to study harder because they’re putting risk into it.
Ace Shadowins without means of disappointing you, here in Argentina our main university is top 75 in the world and it’s completely free (you have to buy the books and stuff but the teachers have dealerships with printers and they select different texts of various books)
And indoctrination.
F Jerez yea hence “75”, maybe you guys should start making it cost money. That’s why America is ahead of you guys. No disrespect.
1:56 Even 17 years ago when I was in college this is exactly what they did. Several times I got a hold of and compared previous year versions of Calculus/Physics only to find they literally just swapped positions of chapters.
It's shameful. And the fact that your college administrators allow & support this practice is a big red flag about your school. Pay attention!
College students! Here's what you should do!
Step one: Buy the textbook! (Keep receipt)
Step two: Go to the nearest print shop on the same day!
Step three: Photocopy everything off that textbook and place it in a binder!
Step four: Return your textbook the same day citing "wrong class" excuse!
Your 400 dollar textbook is now just a 40-60 dollars investment.
Not with most of the books in my bookstore. They plastic wrap all of them and once the seal is broken it can not be returned.
Some stores will tell you no
Christina Flinn...then you borrow the textbook from a classmate and then give the textbook back.
HitomiNoRyu And that's why my school's bookstore doesn't allow returns once the book has been unwrapped
Once again, if your book store has that policy, borrow the textbook from a classmate.
I laugh so hard when people call it an “Education”. This entire system is literally a giant business that couldn’t care less about teaching.
Well books in your country maybe expensive but here we are in a third world country where we have chaper version of the books and i prefer reading the book rather than listening to the teachers because most of the teachers in my school is bad at explaining things.I prefer reading the book to get the knowledge i need.
same here, also, third world countries there is no student lown, if you don't pay you just won't study there. I like books because i can have my favorite pdf in phisical version, other than that, fuck text books, my teachers tell us to print and where to get the free online stuff.
Same here. I learn more stuff on the internet too.
Same; I always end up self-studying the text book or watching a free online course on places like Udacity or edX because most of my professors suck at explaining things.
Where are you from, btw, and what do you study?
Fadi Naoum, hm.. I've never used those sites, I'll make sure to check them out!
I'm from brazil, I'm currently studying economics in college :) hbu? (How about you?)
T. N. Oh, cool! :)
I am from Jordan, and I am studying computer science in college.
I use these sites to learn computer science topics, but I believe that these sites have some courses about economics and business.
You don't have to pay for the courses; you can watch them for free, but you can pay for a nano-degree if you want.
His way of speaking and dissing people with sarcasm is my new favorite thing
in Iran textbooks are 5 to 10 $ and (as expensive as a pizza )also borrow em from universitys library or download it. i can't believe in America they charge 150$for just a book
Farzad akhtar sometimes they r even 175 dlls here in USA
Here in America I have been forced to pay $300 for a textbook and an extra $100 to buy the online access code that has all of the homework questions. College is a scam.
Farzad akhtar
Yeah but to be fair, how much goes into making yours?
@@ReformedSooner24 I doubt it makes much of a difference if it's an introductory/intermediate course
Its probably subsidized by your government, but damn that’s cheap. Must be nice
You can buy one book as a class, split the price and scan it so everyone has it on their laptops/ipads/phones
Pretty sure thats illegal
@@seyamrahman1002 How is that illegal?
@@nogoodgod4915 that's illegal
@@nogoodgod4915 but you can do it (like me) if no one that will sue you comes to know about it
@@seyamrahman1002 it is illegal, but everyone who doesn't have the cash does it in my country. Heck my school even encourages it. There is even a recycle or borrow program. Return the book to the school and the next person can use it.
Here is a little secret ... for all those classes you only use the book for 1 or 2 assignments, go to the library. They have it for free.
Dont bother buying the book otherwise.
Some colleges do others don't.
Yeah, my college never had the book, my local library did not either. Regardless, I was never dumb enough to just buy the books in the syllabus. Always waited until our teacher used the book multiple times or my grades started to go down a bit before I decided that teacher did not lie and the book was truly needed. Then rented the book from amazon or chegg. Only if I really needed the book for reference through my future career would I buy it.
Never understood how so many kids showed up with all the books they needed on the first day of class just cuz syllabus said so. What a waste of money, never trust those teachers saying you need the book to pass, wait for them to prove it.
Most colleges have wised up to this. You typically won't find the book you need there either, trust me, everyone is in on this racket.
If you have the time, you can request them through Inter-library Loan if your local library doesn't have a copy.
Lecturer: You need Shigley Mechanical Engineering Design 10th addition to pass this class.
Me: What's wrong with 9th addition?
Lecturer: There have been changes.
Only use 3 chapters.
This is so true, the changes are so minimal and you don't even use those chapters most of the time 🤦
Exactly, it's such a waste.
@@lizzy4827 best is when a math book gets a new addition. Unless it's in super advanced types of math it doesnt change much. Calculus isnt going to change in a year
Ahh, Shigley's. That's a book I've become too familiar with
Discovers libgen Now professor can ask for any book :)
It was very strange, I went into my Introduction to Psychology class and got straight A’s.
It was almost as if I had already read the basics of Psychology in my free time.
I still had to buy the class textbook tho.
I noticed that my textbooks contained virtually the same information every year but the sections were moved around so you couldn't do the reading assignments assigned by the teacher because the page numbers didn't match with the prior years' editions. That way you couldn't buy used textbooks at a fraction of the price of new books. The text book industry is a criminal enterprise.
In India, we buy just one book and photo stat thousands of copies that can be bought from any bookstore at 5% the price of original book. My middle finger to the publishers.....😎
ptu zindabad hahahahaah
We do that in college. What about in school? Carrying a ton in weight of books stating bullshit.
I guess that pretty soon there won't be any books to buy. I, if I was a writer, I would not like to publish my books in such place.
Prgrmr1152 But I'm pretty sure you must agree that this falls under cause and effect. Educational institutions/publications try to profit over this sham of overpriced books, which in turn causes students to search for cheaper alternatives which in turn cause problems for the genuine authors and the content they wish to share.
Yeah, I agree.
That moment when satire is the reality.
Student - why do I need these particular books ,,,
College faculty - I want my kickbacks err I mean
EDUCATION
It used to cost 2000$ for my textbooks for each sem for the first four semesters, until i figured out that i could use the photocopier in the library to print out updated ebooks of the same book. The total cost for the next four semesters didnt even cross 1000$, now i tell every freshman about this just so they dont lose any money on them
I remember how we have bought some books in primary and secondary school then later we have never used... Teachers just order them because they get some money for it...
The city-run college system I was a part of had a program that gave $500 textbook vouchers each semester.
I didn't even have to use them most of the time since some of my professors either gave us handouts containing relevant portions of the textbook or didn't bother with any textbook at all.
I stopped buying books in my 1st year of college.
Sir, your poetically fluid satire flows as if it were Shakespeare. Your wit and coveted sarcasm a delight to those enlightened that do not see the world through the rose tinted glasses of falsehood. Your 3 minutes are a delight and always guaranteed to get a grin, again and again (a nod to Nicholson's Joker). Thank you.
i paid $80 for a calculator[drops mic....]
That's it? I paid $120. It was required for my class, but I really only used it to play games.
there's a text based Skyrim for graphing calculators out there
flashdrive, Go Block Dude, GO!
But really there's no justification for the price of these calculators. RaspberryPis have better hardware, and even your cheapest smartphone can run a free emulator.
A physical device is good for simple computations and any graphing calculator for $20 will do that just fine.
Beyond a certain point it becomes far more efficient to do it in Maple or Mathematica, both are free for students btw.
In 1973, as a college junior, I paid $162 for a calculator that did add, subtract, multiply, divide, square and square-root. It had no memory other than the accumulator.
Yes, I'm that old. Now get off my lawn!
My parents: The knowledge and education is free.
Me: Then why you're paying these text books and a particular teacher?
Btw...
If they bring up new textbooks every year, then it means that all we learn in school will be obsolete in a few years, right? RIGHT?!
Bro 90% of the things in school are useless
@@eclecticreader961 technically that is correct
@@hvhhvvggg8663, I know I'm right. I know from years of experience. Media publishing sources are the bedrock of determining how a textbook will be published as "revised", "updated", or "condensed". They control the flow of information. If something major happens in a field of study, they are the first ones to scope out the journals, testimonials of the event, and then they pull out two years past worth of textbooks and determine what needs including or what needs removing.
Yeah I don’t think the school system has changed much in the last like 100 years.
@@the_void996 It actually hasn't.
'Exploitative business practices will exist for as long as they make a small group of people an obscene amount of money.' If that's not the catchphrase of modern capitalism I don't know what is.
*Marxism Intensifies*
Don't forget that schools also act like game stop. I bought a math book for $250 and when I try to resell it back to the school they said "the best we can do is $60"
There should be a option to buy, not a requirement, tuition can be paid for any damages to a book borrowed within the school or that person can be fined for damages, simple. Someone needs to leak all the PDF files.
For some books there are. That's how I got through chemistry and algebra without buying a book
There's a PDF file for virtually any major textbook on torrent websites, the problem is, many colleges require you to buy the textbook from their bookstore in order to be eligible to maintain your enrollment in a class. Fucking scam.
For a couple of classes, I have to pay for ACCESS to an online version of the textbook in order to do homework assignments. I either buy the book or fail the class.
Considering the huge duration of time most "core" textbooks can last, the business model you propose should be acceptable. I might suggest a couple tweaks (maybe only in the wording)...
A nominal "usage fee", say about five percent the actual total cost of the book (market price) for the duration of the course requirement.
Additive fees can be assessed based on the condition of the book as it's returned... More damage than is considered "normal" calls for a higher fee... Other fees can be applied in case there are required repairs (rebinding and or replacement pages, etc)... Of course, this would only work as applicable for keeping costs in general down.
Consistent reasonable use of books can easily allow for continued use over well more than twenty years, and the information won't change enough for a new issue (most likely anyway) in courses like English Lit', Any Math 101, or even Basic Electricity and Electronics... That allows the school in question to order the books and reap easily more than their cost before they need replaced.
You do have a good point... :o)
My country practice this already for decades...even the knowledge of torrenting materials are taught by the lecturers to help their students. This happens when the government doesn't care about the citizens and support only commercial entities that make politician rich.
PLEASE DO ONE FOR CLOTHING COMPANIES AND RETAILERS
I remember in my university days, we'd have to buy 3 textbooks for 1 class. Of the 3, we never used 1 cause we fell behind on a material that everyone, I mean EVERYONE, failed. And that 1 book we didn't used just so happened to be the most expensive (about $400) because it was a hard covered book. As for the other 2 books we used, 1 book we did actually heavily used but the 2and book, we only read half a chapter (chapter 1) and then it was pretty much the end of the semester.
Talk about a waste of money! This was early 2000's so smartphones weren't widely available yet. Many of us were barely getting into flip phones with green screen and black text on the screen so no cameras were on phones yet.
@@Livetoeat171 at the ti.e, the professors would have us bring the books to show we got it or at least show the receipt that we got it. I did have 2 professors that allowed us to buy an older book for the very thing you just mentioned but there are some that will not accept anything but the most current book.