Why bother?

[Sirfearoth]

The ruling elite do not want indepent educated free thinking people. That is the only true reason why getting a real education is becoming so fucking expensive.

[fanglekai]

The ruling elite do not want indepent educated free thinking people. That is the only true reason why getting a real education is becoming so fucking expensive.

we're seeing the effects of privatization of once public resources. thanks republicans.

[Infinityshock]

Its a continuance of the corpocracy running this country.  Services that should be government-provided,  especially those that should never be for-profit, are being under taken by private entities

It is a myth that a private for-profit entity is able to provide any service for a lower rate than a public provider

[fanglekai]

Its a continuance of the corpocracy running this country.  Services that should be government-provided,  especially those that should never be for-profit, are being under taken by private entities

It is a myth that a private for-profit entity is able to provide any service for a lower rate than a public provider

it's a hilarious myth that they created to.....wait for it........generate more profits for themselves. healthcare, education, basic utilities like the internet... this shit shouldn't be for profit.

[Lanny]

As bad as college is, government-mandated licenses are even worse. I need about 10 books for the study materials for a particular licensing exam and the total cost is about $1300.

Utter and complete bullshit

This is a good point. In fields that are trying to avoid state or defacto certification (like software engineering) having a degree/department at most accredited universities goes a long way in soothing popular opinion.

[Ninja]

I'm an autodidact, and I love the user Autodidact for that name, so fuck the system!

[RustyShackleford]

The books for one class I took were $500...plus $60 for an access code to an online homework grading program that literally took a job away from a GTA who would otherwise have gotten paid to grade all the homework instead......needless to say.......torrents are free....

So often professors insist on getting the very newest edition of a book. Fortunately this year I only had to buy one book. And a professor wised us up to getting the international edition so I only spent $90 total rather than ~$500.

Also if the book is on reserve and I couldn't find a torrent I would photograph every single page before purchasing.

[Σ]

I dont see why students dont A. Torrent their college texts or B. Look at the index/table of contents of the specific text they are being told they must use in class and obtain a far cheaper set of books on those subjects. I mean really all a text book is is a book full of information to study. If you can break down a list of information found in one text book that costs $500 I am positive I could find a book or a list of books for $100 that contains information of the same quality.

Considering the simplicity of giving students a list of topics the course will study and requiring the student find texts pertaining to the topics on the list rather than saying they must purchase a $500 book that will be worth $90 the next year it is silly for colleges to require textbooks at all really.

[Infinityshock]

Its a continuance of the corpocracy running this country.  Services that should be government-provided,  especially those that should never be for-profit, are being under taken by private entities

It is a myth that a private for-profit entity is able to provide any service for a lower rate than a public provider

it's a hilarious myth that they created to.....wait for it........generate more profits for themselves. healthcare, education, basic utilities like the internet... this shit shouldn't be for profit.

prisons.  garbage collection.  the myth of recycling. government required licensing run by private corporations.

[Infinityshock]

I dont see why students dont A. Torrent their college texts or B. Look at the index/table of contents of the specific text they are being told they must use in class and obtain a far cheaper set of books on those subjects. I mean really all a text book is is a book full of information to study. If you can break down a list of information found in one text book that costs $500 I am positive I could find a book or a list of books for $100 that contains information of the same quality.

Considering the simplicity of giving students a list of topics the course will study and requiring the student find texts pertaining to the topics on the list rather than saying they must purchase a $500 book that will be worth $90 the next year it is silly for colleges to require textbooks at all really.

have you ever taken a college course?

[Lanny]

I dont see why students dont A. Torrent their college texts or B. Look at the index/table of contents of the specific text they are being told they must use in class and obtain a far cheaper set of books on those subjects. I mean really all a text book is is a book full of information to study. If you can break down a list of information found in one text book that costs $500 I am positive I could find a book or a list of books for $100 that contains information of the same quality.

Considering the simplicity of giving students a list of topics the course will study and requiring the student find texts pertaining to the topics on the list rather than saying they must purchase a $500 book that will be worth $90 the next year it is silly for colleges to require textbooks at all really.

I don't see why students bother with books in the first place, torrented or otherwise. Most your professors will cover 100% of the relevant material in class and if they don't then it's probably a lot of primary source stuff you can find between google and whatever academic database you have access to. In a three and a half year college career I've bought like maybe 5 books for classes

[fanglekai]

Publishers come out with a "new edition" that changes the homework problems around or rewrites them so that when the professor assigns chapter 3 problems 1, 6, 9, 30, 67, 83 if you have the wrong edition you can't do the homework. There are ways around buying the books, and so far I've been lucky with either finding torrents, international editions for texts I had to have, or other methods. I've bought a handful of books for my courses, but mostly I end up spending money on the online access codes that I cannot get around purchasing. It's a huge scam but whatever. Some degrees are worth the cost and effort. Most aren't.

[stentor]

With privatized corrections facilities there isn't much of a discourse as to why prisons are so over crowded. There is no rehabilitation when the incentive for convictions is mere profit, this doesn't benefit taxpayers like they try to convince us of and it certainly doesn't benefit ex cons who sometimes walk out of prison in debt. How fucked is that? This is something that we're going to see more and more of with the privatizations of what should be public institutions, a greed driven nation which will hopefully someday drive itself into the ground. It can't be sustained forever.

[RisiR]

Enjoy your Soylent Green, everybody.

[Calzone]

I don't see why students bother with books in the first place, torrented or otherwise. Most your professors will cover 100% of the relevant material in class and if they don't then it's probably a lot of primary source stuff you can find between google and whatever academic database you have access to. In a three and a half year college career I've bought like maybe 5 books for classes

At least for my school, not buying the books isn't an option. The professors purposely leave material out which forces you to purchase the book. But fuck that, I torrent every book I can.

All college is for our generation is a pyramid scheme which you get shat on if you don't fall for. Personally, I need the higher education since I'm a physics major (and I'm going all the way to doctorate) but the shit you hear for majors seriously doesn't sound like it requires any real education past high school. Nursing? Go to a two year med school. Rehabilitation? Why the fuck does this need school at all?

College these days is more expensive, less informative, and more necessary. Which is complete and utter bullshit. Getting your bachelor's is treated pretty much the same as a high school diploma. Fuck it, you might as well call the first four years 'second high school'