Yes. This has been a problem for years. It's like skimming cream off the top for college textbook publishers. Also, K-12 publishers are just as greedy. We need to get the K-12 project going. Believe me, once we create a *quality* K-12 book, based on strict state framework standards (ideally, California, because that would make, by far, the biggest impact), we could revolutionize the whole textbook creation and adoption process. University books are also ripe for reform, but they are really less of a challenge than the K-12 sector. The K-12 publishers really have a stranglehold on the books, the pricing, and the process. Millions of kids, parents, and teachers - and our society - lose in this antiquated process.

Before sending anything to Slashdot, as Karl suggests, I think it would behoove us to get something substantial underway, or have something finished. Otherwise, it's just empty promises.

Here are some more links to an excellent series (expose) in K-12 books that was done about 8 months ago in the San Jose Mercury News. Additionally, an excellent piece from Forbes. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4743883.htm http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/4749572.htm http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/4756801.htm

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2000/1030/6612178a_print.html

Best, Sanford

----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Ehrenberg" littledanehren@yahoo.com To: "Wikimedia textbook discussion" textbook-l@Wikipedia.org Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 12:19 PM Subject: Re: [Textbook-l] NYT article on textbook prices

--- Karl Wick karlwick@yahoo.com wrote:

...

This was on the front page of my local paper this morning:

"When Books Break the Bank"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/nyregion/16BOOK.html?pagewanted=all&po...

...

An article about outrageous textbook prices and the things that students are doing to avoid paying them. (No mention of our site unfortunately).

I saw old NYT articles on Sept 11 archived on the main wikipedia .. could we do that with this one, put the text on Wikibooks ?

I'm sorry to say this, but no Wikibooks book is anywhere near usable quality, especially in a college environment. LDan

---

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