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i have to start teaching students like you in a week.
the complaints above that i sympathize with:
book prices (you can thank ronald reagan for them---he changed the tax code that applies to publishers--that tax change is why books go out of print so quickly--that partially explains the problems with getting older editions--that and the scam that is textbook publishing, in which the color used for the cover graphics gets switched every year, and that forces you to buy a new edition for each class..)...this is a real problem in course design as well--often what you can teach is hamstrung by the extortionate prices of the books you need to do it. my courses usually run about $100-150 a term for books. i try to compensate by paying real attention to which books i order, by encouraging students to shop around to find other editions. but there are situations in which you cant do it, and by using etexts when i can. i dont think anyone operates under any illusions about this area.
i also do alot of music, and find that the riaa idiocy really prevents the development of useful alternatives to paying for things. particularly now, when the riaa has been trying to get universities to turn over lists of students who download too much stuff. while universities have turned over these lists, they have also become jumpy about copyright violation and it is therefore really difficult to figure out ways to allow folk to shell out less for what they need.
the problems associated with having to hold down a day gig while trying to get through school--i had to do it as well--it sucked--i hoped somehow to at least get some stories out of the experience that i could later inflict on other people, but i didnt really. it just sucked.
the other stuff--interacting with administration is a pain, but it is not a big deal--more often than not you can get things fixed that are screwed up--but if you can wait until the semester slows a bit to do it, it is better for you.
what will not help is the idea that because you pay tuition administrators are your servants. trust me on this one. the quickest way to get your situation not handled is to let on at any level that you think this way.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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