There is much talk about text books these days and how expensive they are. The Board of the Institutions of Higher Learning is working on a policy that will address the issue somewhat, but it will remain an issue. Textbooks are expensive. That's the way it is. Faculty, students, nor college bookstores have much control over the prices of books.
Some things can and will be done. It has always troubled me that some sections of the same course would use a different book. This certainly cuts down on sharing books, passing them down from student to student, or even being able to reuse the same book should a student need to take the same course again. Books can be adopted for a longer period of time which will increase their resale value. And some books can be more clearly labeled as "required", "recommended", or "suggested".
But what is bothering me more than the cost of textbooks is the attitude of some students towards books. Some, by no means all, students have been educated in schools systems with such low expectations that they are unable to make the switch from high school to college. I dare say some of them do not even belong in college. For example, on the television news tonight one student was quoted as saying something along the lines of "my professor uses PowerPoints [sic] and doesn't even use the book." Let's see now, could it possibly be that in a college class a professor does not stand in front of the class and read from the textbook? Could it be that in some college classes the professors actually expect the students to read the textbook before they come to class (gasp!)? Could it be that the textbook is expected to be used outside of class by students who are actually working at the college level?
The important factor is not the cost of a textbook but rather its value. I recall spending in the neighborhood of $120 for my calculus book a few decades ago and it was expensive then. However, I used that book for four required courses, used it as a reference in several others, and while working as a research engineer I would even pull it off the shelf for reference. My English Composition text sits on my shelf to this day and I will occasionally pull it down to research some grammar question. Yes, these texts cost a lot of money but they also had great value.
I fear too many people have started to look at higher education from the point of view of what it costs and not what it gives. Regardless of what some may think, a college education is truly a privilege and those in college are in the minority. Given the reaction some are having towards textbooks, I think they may have come a bridge too far.
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