Textbook
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A textbook (also called schoolbook) is a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study. They are produced according to the demand of educational institutions. Although most textbooks are only published in printed format, some can now be viewed online.
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[edit] History
Texts specifically designated for educational purposes were written in ancient Greece as well as ancient Egypt (the Edwin Smith papyrus). Formulary, collections of models for official writings, were widely used in Europe in the middle ages. The modern textbook has its roots in the standardization made possible by the printing press. Johann Gutenberg himself may have printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus. Early textbooks were used by tutors, teachers, who used the books as instructional aids (e.g. alphabet books) and individuals involved in autodidacticism. Compulsory education and the subsequent growth of schooling in Europe lead to the printing of manystandardized texts for children. Textbooks have become the primary teaching instrument for most children since the 19th century. Two textbooks of historical significance in United States schooling were the 18th century New England Primer and the 19th century McGuffey Readers.
As of 2007, the five largest college textbook publishers in the United States are: Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin and Harcourt General (a division of Reed Elsevier).[citation needed] In addition, other large publishers include EMC Paradigm, Wiley, Jones and Bartlett, F. A. Davis, and others.[citation needed]
[edit] Used textbook market
As with many media products, a market for used textbooks exists. The goal of such trade is to acquire textbooks for less money than the price of new copies or to sell unneeded books to recoup some or all of their purchase price.
[edit] Bookstores
The bookstore selling the textbooks often also buys them back after use, but for a lower price. Furthermore, there are many companies specialized on only buying and selling used textbooks.
[edit] Other students
Students also tend to sell textbooks amongst themselves. After completing a course, sellers will often seek out members of the next enrolling class, people who are likely to be interested in purchasing the required books. This may be done by posting flyers to advertise the sale of the books or simply soliciting individuals who are shopping in the college bookstore for the same titles. Many larger schools have independent websites set up for the purpose of facilitating such trade. These often operate much like digital classified ads, allowing students to list their items for sale and browse for those they wish to acquire.
[edit] International
Used textbooks are also sold on a national and even global scale through online merchant and auction websites which allow shoppers to search many major new and used book sellers at a time for specific titles. Such services can usually locate books based on their title, ISBN or UPC. Sometimes professors choose to bundle their textbooks (package them with multiple components supplied by the publisher or the college), but not all components may be available online. Students also may have access to purchasing annotated teacher's editions online, which if they use at school, may constitute cheating. International copies could also pose a risk for shopping online, as some books are different from their domestic counterparts.
[edit] United States
[edit] K-12
In most K-12 public schools, a local school board votes on which textbooks to purchase from a selection of books that have been approved by the state Department of Education. Teachers receive the books to give to the students for each subject. Teachers are usually not required to use textbooks, however, and many prefer to use other materials instead. Textbook publishing in the U.S. is a business primarily aimed at large states, especially California and Texas. This is due to state purchasing controls over the books. The Texas State Board of Education spends in excess of $600 million annually on its central purchasing of textbooks.
[edit] Criticisms and controversies
[edit] Mathematics
Many mathematics textbooks aligned with reform mathematics have been introduced with the goal of improving understanding, and insuring the success of all students. There has been a controversy covered in newspapers and websites that such textbooks either do not teach basic arithmetic, do so poorly compared to traditional methods, or dismissed as "rainforest" math due to padding non-mathematical material. Editions of TERC and Mathland largely omit standard methods of elementary arithmetic. Some do not have textbooks that students can take home. Some are split up into several books, with editions for the teacher and letters to parents. Some textbooks omit descriptions of the methods that students are expected to derive from teacher-led investigations. For example, Connected Mathematics does not contain the standard formula for the area of a circle, or any complete method to add or multiply fractions in the student edition. Currently such textbooks remain widely adopted by US school districts, despite protests from parents and other concerned citizens.
[edit] High school
In recent years, high school textbooks of United States history have come under increasing criticism. Authors such as Howard Zinn (A People's History of the United States), Gilbert Sewall (Textbook Publishing), and James W. Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me) make the claim that U.S. History textbooks contain mythical untruths and omissions, which paint a whitewashed picture that bears little resemblance to what most students learn in universities. Inaccurately retelling history, through textbooks or other literature, has been practiced in many societies, from ancient Rome to the Soviet Union. History textbooks are not subjected to review by professional academics, nor can authorship of a high school textbook be used to advance an academic toward tenure at a university.[citation needed] The content of history textbooks thus lies entirely outside the academic forum of fact and social science and is instead determined by the political forces of state adoption boards and ideological pressure groups.
Science textbooks have been the source of ongoing debates and have come under scrutiny from several organizations. The presentation or inclusion of controversial scientific material has been debated in several court cases. Poorly designed textbooks have been cited as contributing to declining grades in mathematics and science in the United States and organizations such as the AAAS have criticized the layout, presentation, and amount of material given in textbooks.
Discussions of textbooks have been included in the Creation and evolution in public education debate. The Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County brought forward a debate about secular humanist values being presented in textbooks.
In his popular book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, the physics Nobel Prize laureate Richard P. Feynman described his devastating experiences as he once sat in a commission that evaluated science textbooks. At some instances, there were nonsensical examples to illustrate physical phenomena; then a company sent — for reasons of timing — a textbook that contained blank pages, which even got good critiques. Feynman himself experienced veritable attempts of bribery.
[edit] College and university
In U.S. institutions of higher education, textbooks are chosen by the professor teaching the course, or by the department as a whole. Students buy their own copies of their books.
[edit] Pricing
For college and university students in the United States, textbook costs can be a significant percent of the higher education-related expenses. According to a 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study, textbooks and other required course materials amount to 72% of tuition and fees at 2-year public institutions, and 26% at 4-year public institutions.[1] According to the same study, textbook prices increased at twice the rate of inflation from the years 1984-2004. A study conduced by The Student PIRGs found that textbook prices increased four times the rate of inflation in the past decade.[2]
According to the National Association of College Stores, typically 11% of the price of a new book goes to the author's royalties, 23% goes to the store, 64% goes to the publisher, and 2% goes to shipping. Bookstores and used-book vendors profit from the resale of textbooks on the used market, with publishers only earning profits on sales of new textbooks.[1]
[edit] The "Broken Market"
The textbooks market does not operate according to the same economic principles as a normal consumer market. First, the end consumers (students) do not select the product, and the people choosing the product (faculty) do not purchase the product. Therefore, price is removed from the purchasing decision, giving the producer (publishers) disproportionate market power to set prices high.
This fundamental flaw in the market is blamed as the primary reason that prices are out of control. The term "Broken Market" first appeared in Economist James Koch's analysis of the market commissioned by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.[3]
This situation is exacerbated by the lack of competition in the textbook market. A recent wave of consolidation reduced the number of major textbook companies to just three: Pearson, Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill. Consequently, there is less competition than there used to be, and the high cost of startup keeps new companies from entering.
[edit] New editions & the used book market
Students seek relief from rising prices through the purchase of used copies of textbooks, which tend to be less expensive. Most college bookstores offer used copies of textbooks at 75% of the new price. Most bookstores will also buy used copies back from students at the end of a term if the book is going to be re-used at the school. Bookstores typically offer 50% of the new price. Books that are not being re-used at the school are often purchased by an off-campus wholesaler for 0-30% of the new cost, for distribution to other bookstores where the books will be sold.
Students who look beyond the campus bookstore can typically find lower prices. With the ISBN or title, author and edition, most textbooks can be located through online used book sellers or retailers.
One of the criticisms leveled against textbook publishers in recent years is that they issue new editions of textbooks frequently to eliminate the used book market. Publishers typically profit only from the sale of new textbooks, so they seek to limit used book sales and increase new book sales.
Most leading textbook companies publish a new edition every 3 or 4 years, more frequently in math & science. A study conducted by The Student PIRGs found that a new edition costs 12% more than a new copy of previous edition, and 58% more than a used copy of the previous edition.[4]
This practice has come under much scrutiny, particularly in introductory courses where changes between editions are typically cosmetic. Textbook publishers maintain these new editions are driven by faculty demand. The Student PIRGs' study found that 76% of faculty said new editions were justified “half of the time or less” and 40% said they were justified “rarely” or “never.”[5]
The Student PIRGs also point out that recent emphasis on electronic textbooks, or "eTextbooks," does not always save students money. Even though the book costs less up-front, the student will not recover any of the cost through resale.[6]
[edit] Bundling
Another publishing industry practice that has been highly criticized is "bundling," or shrink-wrapping supplemental items into a textbook. Supplemental items range from CD-ROMs and workbooks to online passcodes and bonus material. Students do not always have the option to purchase these items separately, and often the one-time-use supplements destroy the resale value of the textbook.[7]
According to The Student PIRGs, the typical bundled textbook is 10%-50% more than an unbundled textbook, and 65% of professors said they “rarely” or “never” use the bundled items in their courses.[8]
The 2005 GAO Report found that the production of these supplemental items was the primary cause of rapidly increasing prices:
While publishers, retailers, and wholesalers all play a role in textbook pricing, the primary factor contributing to increases in the price of textbooks has been the increased investment publishers have made in new products to enhance instruction and learning...While wholesalers, retailers, and others do not question the quality of these materials, they have expressed concern that the publishers’ practice of packaging supplements with a textbook to sell as one unit limits the opportunity students have to purchase less expensive used books....If publishers continue to increase these investments, particularly in technology, the cost to produce a textbook is likely to continue to increase in the future.[9]
Bundling has also been used as a means of segmenting the used book market. Each combination of a textbook and supplemental items receives a separate ISBN. A single textbook could therefore have dozens of ISBNs that denote different combinations of supplements packaged with that particular book. When a bookstore attempts to track down used copies of textbooks, they will search for the ISBN the course instructor orders, which will locate only a subset of the copies of the textbook.
Pending legislation on the state and federal level that seeks to limit the practice of bundling, by requiring publishers to offer all components separately.[2] Publishers have testified in favor of bills including this provision, [3] but only in the case that the provision exempts the loosely defined category of "integrated textbooks." The Federal bill[4] only exempts 3rd party materials in integrated textbooks, however publisher lobbyists have attempted to create a loophole through this definition in state bills.[5][6]
[edit] Price Disclosure
Given that problem of high textbook prices is linked to the "broken" economics of the market, requiring publishers to disclose textbook prices to faculty is a solution pursued by a number of legislatures.[7] By inserting price into sales interactions, this regulation will supposedly make the economic forces operate more normally.
No data suggests that this is in fact true. However, The Student PIRGs have found that publishers actively withhold pricing information from faculty, making it difficult to obtain. Their most recent study found that 77% of faculty say publisher sales representatives do not volunteer prices, and only 40% got an answer when they directly asked. Furthermore, the study found that 23% of faculty rated publisher websites as “informative and easy to use” and less than half said they typically listed the price.[10]
The US House passed language in the 2008 Higher Education Act reauthorization bill that would require price disclosure.[8][9] Legislation requiring price disclosure has passed in Connecticut[10], Washington[11][12], Minnesota[13], Oregon[14], Arizona[15], Oklahoma [16] and Colorado[17]. Current legislation in Oklahoma will change existing statute to remove this requirement. Publishers are currently supporting price disclosure mandates, though they insist that the "suggested retail price"[18] should be disclosed, rather than the actual price the publisher would get for the book.
[edit] International Market Pricing
Similar to the issue of re-importation of pharmaceuticals into the US market, the GAO report[19] also highlights a similar phenomenon in textbook distribution:
Retailers and publishers have expressed concern about the reimportation of lower-priced textbooks from international locations.
Specifically, they cited the ability students have to purchase books from online distribution channels outside the United States at lower prices, which may result in a loss of sales for U.S. retailers. Additionally, the availability of lower-priced textbooks through these channels has heightened distrust and frustration among students regarding textbook prices, and college stores find it difficult to explain why their textbook prices are higher, according to the National Association of College Stores. Retailers and publishers have also been concerned that some U.S. retailers may have engaged in reimportation on a large scale by ordering textbooks for entire courses at lower prices from international distribution channels. Concerned about the effects of differential pricing on college stores, the National Association of College Stores has called on publishers to stop the practice of selling textbooks at lower prices outside the United States.
Publishers told us that they intend for the textbooks they distribute in other countries to be sold for use in those countries, not for resale to the United States, and so have taken recent actions to limit large-scale reimportation. Most of the publishers with whom we spoke say they are particularly concerned about the actions of foreign distributors and U.S. retailers that may result in large-scale reimportation of textbooks. As a result, publishers told us they have taken recent steps to limit the reimportation of textbooks in large quantities. Specifically, publishers told us that they have strengthened their agreements with foreign wholesalers to prevent the large-scale sale of U.S. textbooks back to the United States. Some publishers also said they have made an agreement with an online retailer outside the United States to limit the number of copies of a given textbook that can be delivered to a single U.S. address in one order. Because these measures target large-scale reimportation of U.S. textbooks Publishers Have Taken Recent Steps to Limit the Reentry of Their Textbooks into the U.S. from international sources at lower prices, they will not prevent U.S. students from purchasing single copies of textbooks from international sources.
[edit] Textbook exchanges
In response to escalating textbook prices, limited competition, and to provide a more efficient system to connect buyers and sellers together, online textbook exchanges were developed. Most of today's sites handle buyer and seller payments, and usually deduct a small commission only after the sale is completed. In recent years, several online companies have emerged to rent textbooks to student.
A number of student governments and student groups offer free local "book swap" websites, where students can post books they have and search for books they need. The Student Public Interest Research Groups maintain Campus Book Swap[20], which is a bulletin-board style site with individual campus listings.
[edit] Rental Programs
According to Nicole Allen of The Student PIRGs, renting is “the best short-term” way to lower textbook costs.[21] PIRG data found that students using existing textbook rental services pay $130 to $240 per year plus some course materials, while students attending public four-year colleges currentlypay an average of $800 to $900 to purchase their textbooks each year. [22]
More than 20 schools offer textbook rental programs, including The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater[23] and Southern Illinois University [24].
[edit] "Open Textbooks"
The latest trend in textbooks is "open textbooks," which are free, openly-licensed textbooks offered online by their authors. A number of these textbooks already exist, according to PIRG, and are being used at schools ranging from Caltech to Harvard.[25]
Although the largest question seems to be who is going to pay to write them, several state policies suggest that public investment in open textbooks might make sense. [26][27]
PIRG seeks to build support for this idea through a statement people sign.[28]
[edit] Sweden
[edit] K-12
In grundskolan (basic school), the Swedish equivalent of K-12, textbooks are paid for by the school system.
[edit] University
In institutions of higher education, students pay for textbooks themselves, although higher education in Sweden is free of charge otherwise.
[edit] See also
- PIRG
- Make Textbooks Affordable
- Kanawha County textbook controversy
- Wikibooks [29] - A sister project to Wikipedia whose goal is to create textbooks.
- Casebook - A special type of textbook used in law schools in the United States.
- Textbook LineA textbook seller sharing his experience and know-how
[edit] References
- Slatalla, Michelle. "Knowledge Is Priceless but Textbooks Are Not" New York Times, Aug 30, 2007
