Government Regulation of Textbook Updating Frequency

[bhanson]

I was standing in line at my campus bookstore today and a person told me the government regulates textbook publishers so they cannot publish updates more frequently than every four years.

I had never heard of this and I cannot find anything about it on the Internet. Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[spidey07]

Sounds like total bullshit. Not to mention unconstitutional.

Now if it's a school board saying they'll keep the current edition for 4 years for consistency with the program, that may happen depending on district. But regulating publishers would get a constitutional smackdown.

 

[Josh]

I wish this was the case instead of the textbooks being updated constantly and the books that you may pay hundreds of dollars for being worth shit once the class is over and it comes time to sell it.

 

[JEDI]

I wish this was the case instead of the textbooks being updated constantly and the books that you may pay hundreds of dollars for being worth shit once the class is over and it comes time to sell it.

yeah. cant wait till colleges pick textbooks that have an electronic option. ie: read it on your ipad

 

[MotF Bane]

I've never heard of that.

If it's true, as much as we all hate buying incremental updates, what about books for computer related topics? Four years... let's see, Vista was fairly recent, SSD's were a fantasy...

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Not as bad as professors writing their own books and forcing you to buy them.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Reminds me of someone's conspiracy theory that the government has laws preventing fast food establishments from mechanizing burger production, lest tens of thousands lose their minimum wage jobs.

 

[Farang]

yeah. cant wait till colleges pick textbooks that have an electronic option. ie: read it on your ipad

In my experience what they charge you for the electronic version is usually about equal to the depreciation on the real book (so price paid minus price you can sell it for). Might as well get a physical copy of something for your money.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Not as bad as professors writing their own books and forcing you to buy them.

This is a conflict of interest and should not be allowed in state universities.

 

[grrl]

Sounds like FUDD to me.

 

[DaveSimmons]

There is such a law, but it only applies to textbooks that discuss the first amendment.

 

[MotF Bane]

This is a conflict of interest and should not be allowed in state universities.

Shouldn't be done in any university really.

 

[frostedflakes]

I wish this was the case instead of the textbooks being updated constantly and the books that you may pay hundreds of dollars for being worth shit once the class is over and it comes time to sell it.

Meh, blame the professors that require the new editions. I always loved it when professors would provide reading and questions for old editions of the texts as well as the current edition. Really nice of them to put a bit more effort into the rubric and course planning so that students could use older editions of a text that are much cheaper. Unfortunately a lot of professors just don't give a crap, though, and expect students to just suck it up and spend hundreds a semester on textbooks.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Shouldn't be done in any university really.

I don't see what's wrong with a professor selling their own textbook. You're often "forced" to buy one either way.

 

[Possessed Freak]

I like the professors who decide to allow the ebook equivalent and then the student prints out the damn book on lab printers.

 

[techs]

Shens. My science books still say the Earth is the center of the universe.

 

[MotF Bane]

I don't see what's wrong with a professor selling their own textbook. You're often "forced" to buy one either way.

Let's say you don't understand how the professor teaches it. Something about their style, maybe all theory and standard forms, with very few examples, makes it very difficult for you to understand the course. So instead you try to open the book and figure it out yourself - but it's the same teaching style because it's written by the same person.

 

[kami333]

In my experience what they charge you for the electronic version is usually about equal to the depreciation on the real book (so price paid minus price you can sell it for). Might as well get a physical copy of something for your money.

Yup. And many of them require a constant internet connection, some cannot be transfered between computers easily, and many expire at the end of the term so you can't use it as a reference later.

 

[waggy]

college textbooks are one of the biggest scams around. its amazing how often they get "updated". is there a reason that a MATH book is updated every year?

they charge $200 for the book+bullshit software you have to have (but never use).

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Let's say you don't understand how the professor teaches it. Something about their style, maybe all theory and standard forms, with very few examples, makes it very difficult for you to understand the course. So instead you try to open the book and figure it out yourself - but it's the same teaching style because it's written by the same person.

Schadenfroh's "conflict of interest" post (and your quotation of it) eluded a more devious element to the practice, rather than simply it being contrary to a good learning experience. Your case makes sense, although I have had plenty of classes where the textbooks are still terrible despite being authored by someone different. If it's a science or engineering related class it probably doesn't even matter as whatever the professor will question you on will already be well-researched and available from a plethora of different resources.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

college textbooks have always been the biggest rip off. why does a calculus book have to be rewritten every 2 years? so they can sell a new edition for 200. now they have a new scam--customized books that have no resale value. and dont think etexts will be any better. once paper books are no longer made they will charge 200 for the licensing on those too