College textbooks part rant, part question

The college takes about seven students per year to study English, and I think that the Renaissance course is compulsory.

 

Ah, interesting, this maybe makes more sense to me now.  So, the University as a whole may have admitted 100 (?) students to study English, but only 7 per college (maybe fewer), and each college (of 20 colleges ?) has its own library, each of which probably has many of the books on his list.  So, he's not vying with 100 students for the library books, but 6 others.

 

So, to compare to most American universities, it would be as if each dorm had a private library, containing much of the literature their students needed.  I think most US universities tend to have one huge university library, then smaller ones per discipline.

[Word Nerd]

I worked at the main college bookstore on my campus. The markup on the new textbooks wasn't that outlandish, but they made a killing on the used ones they bought back from students for a pittance and resold multiple times. There's more competition now with online sources and other options available, but I'd guess it's still a racket.

[Laura Corin]

Ggardener: that is not far off except that some colleges are bigger. The college libraries are not enormous though, as only those, for example, doing a degree in English will require English books. The others will have completed their English studies before the age of eighteen.

 

L

[Violet Crown]

Dh and a colleague are just finishing up a textbook in their field, on contemporary issues in that field (for upper level undergraduate classes). They're writing it as multiple shorter books of about 100 pp each. The idea is that (1) many instuctors would want to use it as an add-on to an overview type of text, and this avoids requiring buying the entire textbook or some sort of non-resellable customized option; (2) since it's contemporary work in the field, if there are major changes in one area, they can write a new edition for just that section; and (3) if a professor likes a couple of the chapters but not others (as is frequent - a big reason instructors in his field assign their own work is they believe their own approach to be the right one), he can just purchase the chapters he wants.

 

Admittedly, this is a field where prices are already fairly low, as it doesn't start with the letters S, T, E, or M. So there's some expectation of keeping materials affordable. I wonder if part of the problem in fields with $300+ books is that everyone already expects that to be the normal cost.

[Violet Crown]

A topical article I read today: Beware the Gilderoy Lockharts of the University.

That's one way of looking at it I suppose, and dh doesn't deny that egomaniacal twits abound in his field. But as the article's author mentions at the end, professors who write their own materials generally do it because they've looked at the options and feel they can do a lot better. If that's twittery, it's nevertheless the same reason dh wanted to homeschool our children.

[Reefgazer]

This phenomenon is typical where I teach.  When DH and I went to college, we were proactive about the application process, our major, courses we took, etc..  Now I just see students sitting there with a blank look on their face, waiting to be told what to do next.  I think it's a result of recent parenting techniques that strive to protect a child from every failure, no matter how minor, and exacerbated by high school administrators/teachers that demand certain planners/notebooks/calculators/etc without every allowing students to feel their way around for what works best for them.

 

I wish I could skip the pre-reqs for some of the classes I want to take. The 100 level classes are some subjects I either know or could self-study for. Tests outs are only allowed in certain departments. 

 

My situation is a bit unique as I am a 40+ year old adult, but my advisor has really just okayed my choices without interference. I have to meet with him prior to signing up for each semester. I'm the one that has researched the major, availability of classes. He did let me know of some upcoming classes not yet scheduled that would be of interest. 

When I initially signed up for classes, I met with someone in student success center (non-departmental). I know she was surprised that I came in knowing what classes I wanted or didn't want. I go the idea that wasn't common. I guess that seems odd to me, if you're an adult returning to school (what she handled) shouldn't you have an idea of what you want to study before committing the time and money? I also noticed that she had me signed up for classes with the highest per credit hour fees, not sure if that was coincidental or not. 

[Reefgazer]

I am not sure higher standards would make a difference in the grade inflation, dumbing down of classes, and hand-holding.  That to me indicates administrators wanting to keep up pass rates, and hence, graduation rates, so that the school (and they, by extension) look wonderful on paper.  

 

I do agree with you on the bolded.  It's the bane of my existence, and I am forced to choose between teaching a truly college-level class and getting my contract not renewed if I have a high fail rate.  That very thing has happened to a colleague in the not too distant past.  Administrators justify this by saying that a high fail rate indicates an instructor who cannot teach effectively, when really, it indicates a student who will not or does not know how to learn.

I'd suspect that the higher the admission standards, the less of this attitude you'd see. I have no proof.

 

But when there are more students applying than there are places and they are generally well-prepared for college, there is less emphasis on trying to retain every student whether they have the executive functioning skills necessary or not.

 

ETA: Frankly, I would like to run my classes more like this. However, I would also like to remain employed, and that isn't going to happen with the astronomical failure rates that being this far outside of the norm would bring. So I can either run my classes as I would like and then pass people who haven't learned the course material, or I can provide the scaffolding necessary to bring them up to my standards for a pass.

 

[nansk]

That's one way of looking at it I suppose, and dh doesn't deny that egomaniacal twits abound in his field. But as the article's author mentions at the end, professors who write their own materials generally do it because they've looked at the options and feel they can do a lot better. If that's twittery, it's nevertheless the same reason dh wanted to homeschool our children.

 

To be fair, he specifically criticizes professors who make their students buy their books at full price ($300+), not those who write and share for the cost of a photocopy.

 

[nansk]

 ... Now I see classes where the first quiz is over the syllabus. The students have to be told to read and study the syllabus and then be tested over it! ..

 

This bolded part was very shocking when I first heard about it (on these forums). I had never heard of such a thing. We didn't even have a published syllabus; we just knew when the class was held, who the lecturer/professor was, and what the required texts were. No schedule was published. We had to attend every class and pay attention.

 

I read another article today about this phenomenon of "syllabus bloat" as the writer calls it.

 

[Violet Crown]

To be fair, he specifically criticizes professors who make their students buy their books at full price ($300+), not those who write and share for the cost of a photocopy.

 

I don't think an academic is necessarily acting out of greed or narcissism even if she writes a "real" textbook, though. If she thinks there's nothing suitable in the field, or she believes there ought to be a completely different approach to teaching an area, why shouldn't she try to get her own textbook out there to many students, instead of just customized sets of photocopies for her own classes? They're not in it for the money.