Too easy to duplicate. The cost of textbooks is obscene. I don't think a publisher is going to sacrifice that kind of profit to put it on a medium that can be reproduced for twenty-five cents on a home PC.
Posted on 02/01/2005 12:02:04 PM PST by Ol' Sox
I've often watched my 13 and 14 year old sons hoist their bookbags onto their shoulders and head off to school. Didn't think much of it until this morning when I saw my youngest almost fall over backwards when he saddled up. I stopped him and took the bookbag off his shoulders and was surprised by the heft of it. Told him to wait there, and weighed the bag on the scale. 34 pounds.
Now my son is a small and wiry guy, metabolism like a hummingbird, and weighs 82 pounds soaking wet. The bag had his textbooks, notebooks, lunch, a project and some other odds and ends. It amounted to over 40% of his body weight.
Now, we aren't the kind of family to complain about this, and in certain respects, I think that carrying heavy things is good for you. But 40% of body weight is too much, which brings me to my topic.
Why aren't my kid's books on CD?
Light, durable, replacable. The answer, I believe, is that textbook manufacturers get a really high turnover because a $50 book might last 3-4 years. Another is that not every student has a computer at home, and we wouldn't want to leave anyone behind now, would we?
I would love input from my fellow FReepers on how the textbook manufacturing industry might be convinced to change how they do things and incorporate CD distribution into their business models.
You're assuming every kid has access to a computer at his desk and at home.
I agree about the books, though. My daughter's backpack is way too heavy.
Too easy to duplicate. The cost of textbooks is obscene. I don't think a publisher is going to sacrifice that kind of profit to put it on a medium that can be reproduced for twenty-five cents on a home PC.
No, I recognized that (just didn't solve the problem). Keep the physical textbook at school if you want - I just don't want my kid to break his spine hauling it back and forth. And while I feel sorry for kids that don't have computers, I believe that they are ubiquitous enough in today's society that they are generally available to anyone who really wants one.
Because the textbook industry is the biggest scam going.
Because it's a lot cheaper for my taxes to buy books.
Now I was thinking that as well. But profits, literally, on the backs of kids demonstrates negligent thinking in their business model, IMHO. OSHA would have a fit if they had jurisdiction. But, litigation aside, why can't I just get a copy of the textbook on cd? Maybe as an adjunct to purchasing the textbook? Criminy, they're cheap enough...
Cheaper to buy books than PCs or personal CD readers? I wonder. At $50 bucks a pop, 6 books per student, 400 students in a Middle School, book turnover rate of, what, three years? You're talking about $120,000 worth of town property being hauled around by 13 year old kids. As opposed to, for example, getting a nearby corporation donate its out-of-warranty computers to the 10% of the school population who dont have or cant afford a computer?
How would the kids without computers study , or do homework?
How would the kids without computers study , or do homework?
There are many families that cannot afford computers or ISP payments.
A friend of my daughter carries a 30 pound backpack and continually complains about her back hurting. I suggested she use a rolling backpack. My suggestion was knocked because rolling backpacks aren't *cool*.
Well, for starters, how about the library? For another, see my previous post.
Got that right. Those damn books cost upwards to $100 a piece. Way to gouge the consumer! Where's the Congressional investigation?????????
Rolling backpacks also don't fit into school lockers.
Can you imagine trying to do homework on the computer. My browser would be open to FR instead of studying!
An instant messenger would be a wonderful tool for cheating.
Formatted properly, a cd can also be displayed on a Playstation or XBox. Just a thought.
Where I live the students aren't allowed to *use* their lockers due to *problems*. So they carry, drag or otherwise haul their earthly belongings to and fro.
If the textbooks are not too new, you may be able to buy a set of used (cheap) books for use at home. I did this with a few of my daughters' textbooks and it helped somewhat.
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