l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Why Are College Textbooks So Absurdly Expensive?
By Jordan Weissmann
Jan 3 2013, 1:26 PM ET
You thought the rising cost of college tuition was bad? Then check out the
rising cost of college textbooks. The American Enterprise Institute's Mark
Perry has put together this nifty chart showing the egregious, 812 percent
rise in the cost of course materials since 1978, as captured in the Bureau
of Labor Statistics's consumer price index data. The price of all those
Intro to Sociology and Calculus books have shot up faster than health-care,
home prices, and, of course, inflation.
Academic Publishers will tell you that creating modern textbooks is an
expensive, labor-intensive process that demands charging high prices. But as
Kevin Carey noted in a recent Slate piece, the industry also shares some of
the dysfunctions that help drive up the cost of healthcare spending. Just
as doctors prescribe prescription drugs they'll never have to pay for,
college professors often assign titles with little consideration of cost.
Students, like patients worried about their health, don't have much choice
to pay up, lest they risk their grades. Meanwhile, Carey illustrates how
publishers have done just about everything within their power to prop up
their profits, from bundling textbooks with software that forces students to
buy new editions instead of cheaper used copies, to suing a low-cost
textbook start-ups over flimsy copyright claims.
And that has consequences for students. According to the National
Association of College Stores, the average college student reports paying
about $655 for textbooks and supplies annually, down a bit from $702 four
years ago. The NACS credits that fall to its efforts to promote used books
along with programs that let students rent rather than buy their texts. But
to put that $655 in perspective, consider this: after aid, the average
student at a four-year public college* spends about $2,900 on their annual
tuition, according to the College Board. We're not talking about just
another drop in the bucket here.
AEI's Perry writes that he's confident open educational resources, made
available via the web, will eventually topple traditional textbooks, just as
Wikipedia killed off the encyclopedia. The difference is that nobody I know
ever had a college professor who said, "If you don't read Britannica, you'
ll likely fail this class." If we ever want to bring the cost of these books
under control, the faculty need to tune into the problem. | p**j
发帖数: 7063 | 2 网上教育，电子图书和网上图书馆，会大大降低教育费用。
,
【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: Why Are College Textbooks So Absurdly Expensive?
: By Jordan Weissmann
: Jan 3 2013, 1:26 PM ET
: You thought the rising cost of college tuition was bad? Then check out the
: rising cost of college textbooks. The American Enterprise Institute's Mark
: Perry has put together this nifty chart showing the egregious, 812 percent
: rise in the cost of course materials since 1978, as captured in the Bureau
: of Labor Statistics's consumer price index data. The price of all those
: Intro to Sociology and Calculus books have shot up faster than health-care,
: home prices, and, of course, inflation.
| l******t
发帖数: 12659 | 3 这个不一定
如果教师们没法子从出版教科书中间获利，也不一定有优秀的教材出来吧
【在 p**j 的大作中提到】
: 网上教育，电子图书和网上图书馆，会大大降低教育费用。
:
: ,
| b*******n
发帖数: 8420 | 4 总会有大神出来贡献的
就像计算机的开源程序一样
真正的大神不屑于抠抠搜搜的搞教科书那点钱
【在 l******t 的大作中提到】
: 这个不一定
: 如果教师们没法子从出版教科书中间获利，也不一定有优秀的教材出来吧
| p**j
发帖数: 7063 | 5 没有人说过电子版教科书，网上教学不获利啊？只是教师之间的竞争更激烈了，教师要
和全国全世界的同行一起竞争，教师总人数可能会大幅减少，但是其中优秀的可能会发
大财。同时减少了中间环节(出版社)的利润，也减少了纸张，运输，仓库，销售这些中
间环节。
当然，最大的好处是大众的教育费用将大大的降低。
【在 l******t 的大作中提到】
: 这个不一定
: 如果教师们没法子从出版教科书中间获利，也不一定有优秀的教材出来吧
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