In my days school books passed from brother to brother, sometimes other relatives or friends. These days the books last only for one year, two at the most and then we have new books or editions and the other books become obsolete. Do you agree with this or do you see it as exploitation?
It's exploitation. Those new editions hardly have anything new in them. I remember comparing a book which they claimed was a new edition with one which was the old edition and the only difference was the Cover [they had a different picture on it] and they'd added maybe just a little new material. It's a way for publishers to consistently make money from the old books they have.
Not only do they last for only a year but they're expensive and you're forced to buy one, you can't simply scan and print because it's cheaper. In the country I live some university teachers fail your exams if you refuse to buy their books - illegal, but common practice. And what's even worse is that the new editions have minor improvements here and there, and those 'improvements' are used as motive to sell the new book at an inflated price, because hey, where are you going to buy those books from if not us?
Yeah, pretty crazy how they get away doing this. Not only they are expensive and we need to change every other year, but also we listen to the teachers saying the quality of the books is bad and that they are always changing. Someone is profiting from this and it's not the teachers, students or parents...
No, I don't see it as exploitation at all. I think the latest editions are necessary to be published. It's not more about the content. Basically all the contents are the same. But editions of the books differ primarily on the presentation and side notes like the examples are made relevant to the current issues today. Since our society now is fast paced, I think that editions to come fast are just appropriate.
In certain subjects like law, books are nearly out of date by the time they are published. History and English books tend to remain the same, but new editions are updated so they can keep up with what is reported online and new developments, laws, discoveries, theories and reviews. When I was buying books, I looked at what chapters I would need and if I really needed the latest edition.
This has to be a joke right 003? Do you have any kids? What's the point in buying a book after two years that it's almost alike to the one you had for the older brother, why can't we just use the same books? It's exploitation, no doubt.
New editions are just a way for publishers to continue to make money as you said. Most of the time, the information presented is exactly the same and just a few errors/mistakes are corrected in the book. Unfortunately, most classes and teachers in college require the new edition of the book and focus their class based on the new edition. What's frustrating is when teachers require the new expensive book and barely even use material in it on tests It stinks, but it's a necessary evil we have to deal with in school.
Yeah, it really stinks the way companies have taken over schools and our family budgets and I do ask myself, how did this happen? The teachers complain, the parents complain, the kids have no benefit, so who is making this decisions?
Yes, many college students buy older editions even if their professors insist on the newer one, just because they simply can't afford to pay that much for a text book after they have already spent so much on tuition and fees. I think they should not do new editions for at least a few years, or they should just publish a small printout with a few updates if they have new data to add. So often they print a whole new edition for just a paragraph or two change.
Well I know for a fact that it is exploitation. Universities will even partner with different publishing companies as affiliates. I think it is just a way for them to make money. Especially considering the fact that the "new editions" that professors require have the same info as the previous editions.
I do believe it is great exploitation as the school requires you to buy different textbooks every now and then. I do not understand the need of it as I can easily take it from at a second hand price. I am sure that in the new edition textbook hardly a few pages would be different. It is not worth to pay so much for the book.
I believe that it's not even the school or the teachers who are making a profit from this, is something upstream, the ministries of education or some high institution with the power to make these calls, it doesn't serve the best interests of the population that is for sure.
