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Originally Posted by stxopher
... I've heard that textbooks are huge money makers since they get bought all the time and take minimal updating. From many of the ones I've seen they aren't really to concerned about accuracy or facts either. I could just imagine the screaming and demands for legislation if a group of academics got together and made a cheap, accurate and updatable series of textbooks that could be distributed on a basic reader system. I imagine most schools would have no trouble subscribing to a model that ran a couple of dollars a year per student yet yielded continually updated information and removed maintainence of said volumes from their shoulders. (Hmmm, wonder what the home-school market would be?)
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Facts in textbooks are secondary to the point-of-view of the writer and are included only when they support his/her views. Remember, textbooks in modern American education are there to teach you what to think, not how to think.
As for universities adopting the low cost textbook model, I don't think so. Remember, textbooks are written by other professors and often provide a revenue stream equal or greater than the one they already get for teaching. No one wants to be the first to rock the boat.
As for home schooling the chances there are even less vivid. School systems and professional teachers want this practice stopped because it produces superior results to the normal schooling and is a threat to them. Consequently, they already dictate the texts to be used and the tests that must be passed by each student. The only inroads here might be in the lit classes where the books are available on Gutenberg.