After
tuition and housing, textbooks are one of the biggest expenses for college
students. Even back when I was in college, when tuition at the University of
California was a “reasonable” $600 per semester, textbooks still took a serious
chunk out of my budget. They were (and still are) large and expensive,
especially for the sciences. For many classes, you are expected to buy several
books. In some cases, the books are supplemental—not even necessary to succeed
in the course.
The current
trend toward electronic or digital books (ebooks) has reduced the burden on
students’ backs and bookshelves, but not their pocketbooks. Reducing this
burden ought to be simple: make the supplementary books optional. However, when
Mike Tracy, a teacher at the Art Institute of California-Orange County, refused
to make students buy an e-book they didn’t need, he may have jeopardized his
job.
The Art
Institute is part of a national chain of more than 50 for-profit schools,
according to Good Education. Goldman Sachs has a 41% share in the
company. Since ebooks are a significant part of the chain’s profit stream,
compelling students to purchase as many as possible is in the company’s
financial interest. School policy requires students to pay a $50-70 fee to
download temporary copies of the books, regardless of whether they purchase a
hard copy of the book. According to Tracy, some of these books are completely
unnecessary and are required only to increase the school’s profits.
There is a Change.org petition demanding that the Art Institute of
California-Orange County keep Tracy on staff.
Towards the end of the first paragraph, I was going to ask if this was a for-profit school. I should have known.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when teachers are nothing more than workers who have to contribute to the bottom line. Actually educating students does not show up on the radar at all to the hucksters who run these institutions. This is why so many of their graduates wind up tens of thousands in debt without the skills necessary for that job they were promised by these for-profits' predatory recruiters.
This is the corporate vision for the pre-college school system as well. New York is well on their way towards this vision.