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A certain Professor of mine uses a book that he authored on personal finance as the sole textbook for the course, practically everything revolves around it the class.
What bothers me is that the Book is $200.00 and is not found anywhere else but the publisher's website. There are much better books on the subject written for 20 dollars. I can't help but see this as a way for the Professor to opportunistically make students buy his book to boost his own income.
What school do you go to? When I got my BS, my school largely went away from making students buy physical text books and instead opted for free digital copies of books.
What school do you go to? When I got my BS, my school largely went away from making students buy physical text books and instead opted for free digital copies of books.
I go to a State University in Texas. Most Professors are friendly and tell students to get the cheaper kindle edition or something. This is just the first class I've had where the teacher makes students buy a self written and expensive Book, so it strikes me as wrong.
Very common. Usually books very overpriced and school book store is the only place to find. My nephew went to a trade school for HVAC but they have a few non-trade classes they have to take. I guess to make them "more rounded". He only had choice of two and he had to take one in order to graduate. He ended up with Astronomy and was a total joke. Of course the professor wrote the book he was required to buy. This was at a well respected private/not state trade school that has been around for at least 50 years, if not longer.
You have to wonder just how that professor got that sweet deal, must know someone. There surely was some other classes that would be more beneficial for a trade school that could better prepare but be outside of a trade class.
I'm a tax account who has a professor for a client. His textbooks are required for his classes. He refunds the royalties he earns on his textbooks sold at the university bookstore to the store.
Less common than it used to be actually, thanks to online sites where you can rate the professor. I frankly think it is unethical. I had a professor do it back in the dark ages and was absolutely appalled by poor quality of both the material and the editing in the book. I complained on the teacher evaluation, but many before me and after me had done the same and it made no difference. The college ignored it and the only way people found out back then was through word of mouth. Switch to another section if one is available and if not, just consider it part of the cost of taking the class. Be sure to express your dissatisfaction on the teacher evaluation, explaining exactly why you object, and find sites where you can forward others. Won’t help you, but at least it might help other students in the future.
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When my son went to community college, some of the professors were part of a group to write the textbooks. Then the textbooks were used ONLY for that community college and all students had to buy it. There were also online components that had to be purchased, so even if you bought the book, you had to buy the online component (one time use) as well.
While my son was home this summer, he took 2 community college classes to save some money. Both used books not written by professors, but he had to buy the $50-$70 interactive online portion separately. It was honestly some lazy teaching. All the quizzes, tests, and assignments were online and graded by the computer. It made it a lot less work for the professors!
Not sure if it is unethical, especially if the Universities expect professors to be published. And I am not sure the professors necessarily get the royalties, at least a large portion goes to the college itself typically.
If you are a student in the class, you aren't an expert on the material. You can't know - given the course objectives stated in the syllabus - that other textbooks would be more suitable. I can sympathize with book prices being high though.
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