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Kanye Tweets for Cheaper Textbooks

时间:2016-03-07 14:09来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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Kanye Tweets for Cheaper Textbooks

Rapper Kanye West went to the social media website Twitter in February to share his views on the cost of textbooks.

“Education puts Americans into debt before they even get a chance to get started,” he wrote. “We have to lower the price of textbooks.”

The Bureau of Labor2 Statistics3, or BLS, gathers information on labor and the economy in the U.S. BLS information shows that from January 1977 to June 2015, the cost of university textbooks increased by 1,024 percent.

This increase is at three times the rate of normal inflation4.

Within a few hours of West writing his comments on Twitter, Tidewater Community College in Hampton Roads, Virginia responded.

“We got you,” the school wrote on its Twitter account. “The nation’s first textbook-free degree.”

Tidewater began offering what it calls a “Z-degree” in 2013. Z-degree stands for “zero-textbooks.” The two-year degree program provides students with an associate’s degree in business administration.

Students in the Z-degree program do not have to pay for any of the required course materials. All of the required materials come from open educational resources, or OER. OER are free educational materials anyone can use for any purpose.

Creators of OER do not ask for a copyright, or exclusive5 use of the content.

Tidewater professor Linda Williams teaches several courses for the Z-degree program. She says that universities should be working to make education more available to everyone.

“Knowledge and learning shouldn’t be locked behind a pay wall. Education is sharing. We learn from each other and everybody should have that opportunity, not just those who can purchase a textbook.”

The Student Public Interest Research Groups, called Student PIRGs, are a group of non-profit organizations that work with college students. Student PIRGs help students study and try to solve issues in higher education.

Student PIRGs surveyed more than 5,000 college students about the cost of textbooks for a report called “Covering the Cost.” The report found that almost 30 percent of students surveyed spent financial aid on textbooks.

The report also argued one of the main reasons for high prices is because five companies own 80 percent of the textbook publishing industry. With little competition, the companies can set the price at whatever they want.

Marisa Bluestone is the Director of Communications for the American Association of Publishers, or AAP. She notes that the Student PIRGs report says its own research is “unscientific.” She also argues that the information from Student PIRGs and the BLS is unclear.

“When they’re measuring the cost of textbooks, they’re looking at the traditional books. They’re not including in their calculations the digital materials and the other options that students are using...”

The College Board is a non-profit organization concerned with higher education. They estimated that the budget for books and supplies at a four-year public university was $1,298 per year.

Bluestone says this information does not show how much money students are actually spending. Digital copies, rentals6 and used books are much cheaper. Cheaper options are the reason in 2015 the National Association of College Stores reported a six-year decrease in average annual spending, Bluestone says.

David Anderson is the Executive7 Director for the AAP. He says that for-profit publishers work hard to reduce cost.

“I don’t know of any other participant in higher education that can claim that they’re cutting their costs in half.”

University of Maryland University College, or UMUC, is another school that uses OER to help its 84,000 students reduce costs. All of the school’s undergraduate courses became textbook-free in fall 2015.

Kara Van Dam is the vice8 provost at UMUC. She argues that the publishing industry does not do enough to help students.

“Typically, the electronic versions are barely9 any cheaper than the hard copy versions. Where they are lower cost, they may be out of date editions. I respectfully disagree with the publishing industry’s take on this. But I also recognize this is their entire business model. So it would be very threatening to have textbooks go out of style.”

Both Williams and Van Dam suggest the quality of OER has greatly increased in recent years. They say that the faculty11 of their schools are experts in their subjects. As experts, the faculty can decide which materials meet the needs of their students and courses.

Williams also says that the information in OER is more current. Faculty can update the materials when necessary.

OpenStax College is a non-profit organization that has been publishing OER since 2012 through Rice University.

David Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of OpenStax College. Harris says that OpenStax works with other non-profit organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create the best free content possible.

“What we do is we peer12 review the materials by many, many reviewers. We work with professional development editors who make sure that the material is level appropriate.”

Van Dam says there is nothing that makes regular textbooks better than OER.

“There’s nothing magical about a textbook. A textbook was put together by a publisher. The publisher hired a faculty member or multiple faculty members to write that textbook and they sell it.”

Van Dam and Williams agree students should not have to choose between costly13 textbooks and food.

Williams also says using OER shows that universities are more than a place people go for information.

“Is a university simply a collection of textbooks? I don’t believe that at all. I believe that the university system provides much more than just content.”

Harris says 20 percent of universities in the U.S. use at least one OpenStax free textbook. But Harris, Williams and Van Dam all agree that the world of for-profit textbook publishing is not going away.

For one thing, changing a course completely to OER materials requires a lot of work, Williams says.

Anderson says that publishing is changing. Non-profit and for-profit publishers should work together to create the best teaching materials.

“Publishers make a profit. They make a profit either way. Many of the members of AAP collaborate14 with open source producers to produce new learning materials that address specific problems for specific schools. With respect to the ‘zero degree’ program, this is a new thing. We’ll see how it works.”

Words in This Story

rapper – n. a person who performs rap1 music or speaks the words of a rap song

textbook(s) – n. a book about a particular subject that is used in the study of that subject especially in a school

associate’s degree – n. a degree that is given to a student who has completed two years of study at a junior college, college, or university in the U.S.

course – n. a series of classes about a particular subject in a school

copyright – n. the legal right to be the only one to reproduce15, publish, and sell a piece of work for a certain period of time

opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

non-profit – adj. not existing or done for the purpose of making a profit

financial aid – n. money that is given or lent to students in order to help pay for their education

calculation(s) – n. a process or result of counting something

digital – adj. using or characterized16 by computer technology

cheap(er) – adj.  not costing a lot of money

undergraduate – adj. related to a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after four years of study

out of date – adj. no longer useful or acceptable17

out of style – adj. not popular or fashionable

faculty – n. the group of teachers in a school or college

content – n. the ideas, facts, or images that are in a book, article, speech, or movie

peer review – v. a process by which a scholarly work (such as a paper or a research proposal) is checked by a group of experts in the same field to make sure it meets the necessary standards before it is published or accepted

editor(s) – n. a person whose job is to edit10 something

appropriate – adj. right or suited for some purpose or situation

magical – adj. having special power, influence, or skill

collaborate – v. to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something

specific – adj. clearly and exactly presented or stated


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 rap SABzi     
n.轻敲,拍击,责骂,厉声说出,说唱音乐,谈话,最少量;vi.轻敲,敲门,表演说唱音乐,畅谈;vt.抓,抢,拍击
参考例句:
  • I heard a rap on the door.我听到有轻轻的敲门声。
  • Today we are going to rap about relationships.今天我们要聊聊关系的问题。
2 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
3 statistics iGyzb     
n.统计,统计数字,统计学
参考例句:
  • We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
  • Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。
4 inflation 4bqz8     
n.胀大,夸张,通货膨胀
参考例句:
  • Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
  • The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。
5 exclusive Th7zy     
adj.不包括的,不算在内的,独有的,独享的
参考例句:
  • The hotel charges 6 pounds a day,exclusive of meals.这家旅馆一天收六英镑,不包括饭钱。
  • This bathroom is for the President's exclusive use.这间浴室是总统专用的。
6 rentals d0a053f4957bbe94f4c1d9918956d75b     
n.租费,租金额( rental的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • In some large hotels, the income derived from this source actually exceeds income from room rentals. 有些大旅馆中,这方面的盈利实际上要超过出租客房的盈利。 来自辞典例句
  • Clerk: Well, Canadian Gifts is on the lower level. It's across from Prime Time Video Rentals. 噢,礼品店在楼下,在黄金时刻录像出租屋的对面。 来自口语例句
7 executive Ymlxs     
adj.执行的,行政的;n.执行者,行政官,经理
参考例句:
  • A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
  • He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。
8 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
9 barely gyFz0w     
adv.仅仅,几乎没有,几乎不
参考例句:
  • The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
  • He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。
10 edit pqRxu     
vt.编辑,校订,主编,编辑,剪辑(影片等)
参考例句:
  • You'll have to edit that tape,it's too long.那盘录音带太长,你得把它剪辑一下。
  • It is not yet decided who will edit it.由谁校订未决。
11 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
12 peer mLExX     
n.同辈,同等地位的人,伙伴,贵族;vi.仔细看,费力地看
参考例句:
  • Children are easily influenced by their peer.孩子很容易受同辈影响。
  • He is a peer.他是一个贵族。
13 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
14 collaborate SWgyC     
vi.协作,合作;协调
参考例句:
  • The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作,工作做起来就更快了。
  • I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。
15 reproduce yVkxZ     
v.生育,繁殖,复制,重做
参考例句:
  • The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
  • The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。
16 characterized b5a3a6f8ba328c165c65eecbe476fb72     
adj.[医]具有特征的v.是…的特征( characterize的过去式和过去分词 );以…为特征;描述(人或物)的特性;使…具有特点(或最引人注目的特征)
参考例句:
  • Mozart's music is characterized by its naivety and clarity. 莫扎特的音乐特色是纯朴兴清澈。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The world situation is characterized by turbulence and intranquility. 世界局势动荡不安。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
17 acceptable NIByZ     
adj.可接受的,合意的,受欢迎的
参考例句:
  • The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
  • Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。
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