評論
打印
Higher education
更燒錢的教育
Why textbooks cost so much
課本這么貴為啥哩
It's Economics 101
經(jīng)濟學主要章節(jié)
STUDENTS can learn a lot about economics when they buy Greg Mankiw's “Principles of Economics”—even if they don't read it. Like many popular textbooks, it is horribly expensive: 292.17 on Amazon. Indeed, the nominal price of textbooks has risen more than fifteenfold since 1970, three times the rate of inflation.
當學生們購買Greg Mankiw寫的《經(jīng)濟學原理》,他們可以學習很多經(jīng)濟學知識—即使他們只買不讀。如同眾多流行教材，它貴的離譜：在亞馬遜上要花費292.17美元。確實，課本的虛價從1970年開始瘋漲了15倍，是通貨膨脹率的三倍。
Like doctors prescribing drugs, professors assigning textbooks do not pay for the products themselves, so they have little incentive to pick cheap ones. Some assign books they have written themselves. The 20m post-secondary students inAmericaoften have little choice in the matter. Small wonder textbooks generate megabucks.
正像醫(yī)生們開的藥物那樣，教授們布置的這些教材并不用他們自己付錢，因此他們對于挑選廉價教材沒有太多動力。一些人吩咐學生買他們自己寫的書籍。美國兩千萬的高年級學生經(jīng)常在這件事上沒多少選擇。課本產(chǎn)生巨大效益也就不足為奇。
But hope is not lost for poor scholars. Foreign editions are easy to find online and often cheaper—sometimes by over 90%. Publishers can be litigious about this, but in 2013 the Supreme Court ruled that Americans have the right to buy and resell copyrighted material obtained legally. Many university bookstores now let students rent books and return them. Publishers have begun to offer digital textbooks, which are cheaper but can't be resold. And if all else fails, there is always the library.
但是貧窮的學者們不會喪失希望。網(wǎng)上很容易找到國外版本，而且往往更便宜，有時候價格能低到將近一折。出版商們對此怨念不已，但是2013年最高法院裁決美國人有權(quán)購買或重賣合法占有的合法出版物。許多大學書店現(xiàn)在準許學生租借書籍并到時返還。出版商們開始提供電子版教科書，這種更便宜但是不可出售。而且如果所有方法都失敗了，圖書館永遠對你開放。
