Skip to main content

In case you didn’t think…

…textbook publishers have the greatest scam going, here’s more evidence.

A friend of ours, a math tutor, is having some health problems and although she has done without the solutions manuals for years, she caved and bought a couple to help herself through it this year. 

The solutions books cost between $150 and $400 each (depending on whether you want a print copy or CD).

That’s probably because teachers aren’t buying them out of pocket:  it’s school boards, who don’t care about the expense.  In case you think of the money spent as an investment, the minute the company comes out with a new text in a few years, this solutions manual will be out of date, too.

newbook 001

I wish I’d taken the picture from the side so you could see how thin this thing was.  Ted was astonished when he picked it up from Batner for her on Friday.  He was expecting something a little more – well, substantial.  I probably could have told him otherwise.

Labels:

Comments

  1. naomicatgirlSeptember 11, 2011 1:26 PM

    Just another perspective. A LOT of work goes into those solutions manual. As someone who has worked on textbooks, I can tell you, the pay is quite pitiful for the authors, and there is not a lot of room for profit. The items are limited run, and they certainly don't publish enough to lower the cost to consumers and still allow the authors to make any money at all.

    It's the same with all textbooks - they certainly will never sell the same numbers as best selling novels, so the unit price will always be quite high.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TziviaSeptember 11, 2011 2:29 PM

    Alright, this post wasn't very nuanced. :-)
    However, Diane Ravitch has also worked on textbooks over a lifetime and has a TON more to say on the topic, and better, than I ever could. I highly recommend reading everything of hers you can get your hands on.
    I question the need to revise every five years... meaning my Grade 11er needs a brand-new Biology text which costs $100 (no used copies until next year) and incorporates almost ZERO new science.
    As for math, many homeschooled kids are quite happily using Ray's Arithmetic and other decades-old texts and learning tons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChelleSeptember 13, 2011 2:02 AM

    Hi Jennifer,
    I enjoy reading your blog via google reader and would like to invite you to participate in a homeschool meme.
    You can get the questions from our blog post here ~
    http://www.last-in-line.info/2011/09/homeschool-meme-chareen-from-every-bed.html ~ where I've tagged you. :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. ChelleSeptember 13, 2011 2:03 AM

    I enjoy reading your blog via google reader and would like to invite you to participate in a homeschool meme.
    You can get the questions from our blog post here ~
    http://www.last-in-line.info/2011/09/homeschool-meme-chareen-from-every-bed.html ~ where I've tagged you. :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You,...
27 comments
Read more

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful....
10 comments
Read more

What do we tell our kids about Chabad and “Yechi”?

If I start by saying I really like Chabad, and adore the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, z"l, well... maybe you already know where I'm headed. Naomi Rivka has been asking lately what I think about Chabad.  She asks, in part, because she already knows how I feel.  She already knows I’m bothered, though to her, it’s mostly about “liking” and “not liking.”  I wish things were that simple. Our little neighbourhood in Israel has a significant Chabad presence, and Chabad conducts fairly significant outreach within the community.  Which sounds nice until you realize that this is a religious neighbourhood, closed on Shabbos, where some huge percentage of people are shomer mitzvos.  Sure, it’s mostly religious Zionist, and there are a range of observances, for sure, but we’re pretty much all religious here in some way or another. So at that point, this isn’t outreach but inreach .  Convincing people who are religious to be… what? A lot of Chabad’s efforts here are focused o...
Post a Comment
Read more