In the academic world nearby, I’m witnessing
a brouhaha at California State University Fullerton. A mathematics instructor, Alain Bourget, is
under reprimand for refusing to assign the school’s designated textbook for his
linear algebra course. Perhaps it’s more
than coincidence that the coauthors of the officially approved textbook are the
chairman and vice chairman of the mathematics department and that the book
sells for $180 at the campus bookstore.
Associate Professor Bourget selected instead two texts he considered
superior, one for $76 and the other free.
In an earlier era the cost of higher education
caused few concerns. Tuition seemed
affordable and the price of textbooks reasonable. A university degree could be obtained for
what an average student, with the help of supporting parents, might scrape
together from the household budget. This
is no longer the case. With the
inexorable rise in tuitions, together with the conspiratorial nature of
textbook publishing, many collegians now graduate with tens of thousands of
dollars in student loan debt.
Prof Bourget handled things badly. Only an employee asking to be fired flagrantly
derails his boss’s gravy train. He
should have assigned the prescribed text, while deviously suggesting to his
class that the other books might be equally helpful.
Let me add a thought on the matter of
textbooks on complex subjects. For a
number of years I taught inorganic chemistry at a local community college. The subject, by its nature, is heavy on
mathematical problem-solving. Some of
the concepts are not easily grasped and many students find this subject to be
their academic graveyard. One bit of
advice I gave my classes often proved to make a difference. I suggested if my detailed solution of a
problem, together with the explanation in the text, failed to make it clear—and
often it didn’t—then they needed to make a trip to the library to find other
textbooks on the same subject. Usually,
each book’s explanation of the solution employed a slightly different slant, so
the student might obtain a more three
dimensional view, as it were. In
many instances it worked splendidly..
A final word: Perhaps things are improving in
the world of academia. Online courses
and texts to be downloaded on the cheap may make education once again
affordable. At least we can hope.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
In addition to this Straight Talk by
Al Jacobs, I’m now generating a monthly Financial
Newsletter. It normally appears the first of each month and may
be viewed on my website. Click onto http://www.onthemoneytrail.net/
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