Ads in Textbooks May Lower Prices

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Justin Pope[Edit][Delete]: Ads in Textbooks May Lower Prices, Associated Press [Edit][Delete] August 15, 2006
The cost of textbooks - now estimated to be $US 900 per year, according to this article - is one thing. But placing advertisements in textbooks is not the answer. In addition to the advertising, "Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print." The coverage in this article is one-sided and in some cases deceptive - as, for example, in the statement of this falsehood: "so far, the model hasn't spread to college textbooks - partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified." It's not dignity that professors are worried about, it's the misleading credibility advertisers get when associated with taught material. More...