Is It Textbook Engineering Or Are We Busy Re-Engineering Our ...

As a quasi-near engineer and innovator, and founder of a think tank I often use the phrase ?textbook engineering? and that means the fundamental principles of engineering and the mathematics and physics behind it. The reason I use this term so much is that when I talk to inventors, innovators, and those folks in our think tank with new ideas and concepts, I often explain that the solution to their problem is quite simple; it?s textbook engineering. Okay so let?s talk about this for second shall we because it appears to me that we are reengineering our textbooks as well, and it has implications for our education system.

Now then, there was an interesting article the Wall Street Journal on August 9, 2012 titled ?Avoiding the Sting of Rising Textbook Prices,? by Kelli B Grant which stated; ?the average student at a private four-year college spent $1213 on textbooks, course materials and other supplies for 2001 and 2012 academic year, a 3% increase from previous year, according to the college board.? Well, in many regards people could say we are reengineering, price-fixing, and allowing a monopolistic system to operate in our universities in college with regards to textbooks.

Consider if you will that a professor puts together a textbook, and anyone taking his class has to purchase that textbook. They don?t have any other choice, and therefore due to the captured audience the price goes through the roof, often $250 or more ? the cost to print, oh about $15 to $20 wholesale. Thus, that huge profit margin due to the fact that there is zero-competition, well, that just seems rather unfair, especially since the professor only changed four or five pages to keep it current from the previous year. That?s a pretty good little business to run, I should?ve thought of that. Further, it seems that we are modifying and reengineering our textbooks in order to prove their worth by making those few changes.

Lastly, it seems as if today?s textbooks, the physical ones are not keeping up with the flow of information, and they contain less material than one could find online. Therefore if the professor just requires the students to read the textbook, do rote memorization, and answer test questions; than one could ask why bother? Just take online video lectures, and read all you can on the subject matter, you might even be better off.

Perhaps what bothers me the most are history textbooks, the history didn?t change, therefore there are only limited reasons why you might change the pages in that textbook. You should be able to print the same textbook for the next 50 years. Unfortunately, it seems as if we are rearranging our prior history, and in the process of smoothing over the less than politically correct history of reality, we are using this as a justification for making changes. Enough engineering already, because in the end all we are doing is brainwashing the student in our attempts to reformat their minds and that?s not textbook engineering ? it?s bioengineering. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on the Future of Education. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/referenceandeducation/2012/08/13/is-it-textbook-engineering-or-are-we-busy-re-engineering-our-textbooks-i-ask/

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