Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
Actually, that was a typo. I meant to say you certainly DO have a choice whether to buy the book or not. Of course, buying the book generally will make passing the course much easier and more convenient.
BOb
|
Just to stick my oar in, what we have here is, effectively, a monopoly situation - where authorities need to ensure fair business practice is being followed (IMO it isn't).
As a former student myself (if I can remember back that far) - most of the textbooks were fairly significant is size and scope - and regularly refreshed...
An acceptable compromise, to me, would be to make books more modular, so that only the parts which
need to be updated are (or it's easier to issue erata). Also this would enable more of a 'pick and mix' approach for students on very tight budgets...
I definitely agree that copyright breach isn't an ideal solution, but equally we do need to keep publishers (and academics) accountable for their business practices...
Also, we could see more standardisation across textbooks internationally. I don't see why a biology textbook, for example, should be any different in the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ and US for example - which gives more economy of scale... (Of course, produced in English with a capital E
)