One of the largest textbook publishers has declared bankruptcy. It sticks lenders with over $3 billion of bad debt. It wipes out shareholders.
The Left long ago bet the farm on its control over the public schools. Now the schools are slowly losing money. They are cutting back on everything except football.
Houghton Mifflin could not survive the change. It is the first major textbook publishing to go belly-up. Others will follow.
Some big-name funds were dumb enough to buy the shares of this obvious dinosaur. Rich fund managers still don’t get it. The Internet has doomed traditional textbook publishers.
Professors can put together textbooks for their students by using scholarly journals or other online documents. They don’t need third-party textbooks.
They can write their own e-textbooks and get 70% of the sale price as a royalty. Who needs committees to screen these textbooks? The teacher is in charge.
Would you rather assign a $150 textbook and get nothing, or assign your own and get 70% of $10 times 30 or 60 every semester? Would you rather have students read your ideas or a committee’s ideas?
You can assign the textbook of some author whose ideas you agree with.
If a college department is in charge, members of the department can each write a chapter.
What does a traditional textbook publisher bring to the table? Not much.
That’s why they are all doomed. It’s about time.
Your darn right it is about time!! Thank God…these morons have been filling our children's heads with garbage, lies and distortions for long enough. Some of the idiotic 'new math', the drivel they are forced to read in English lit books, the 're-written' history, the focus on evolution without the benefit of countering with creation….Sick of ALL of that crap…
No sympathy for Houghton Mifflin or the rest. RIP. It is about time. They all have been GROSSLY over charging for the books anyway.
And the teachers and schools are not innocent either. They are the ones that get a cut for requiring certain books…don't believe me….check the royalty payments to teachers. the "kick backs" to the schools….all there on the "books"…..a forensic auditor will see it like running red ink…
What's the benefit of creationism other than filling a child's head with more fiction? The Bible was written by men in an attempt to dictate the lives of the rest of humanity. Garbage.
Any publishing company, who on purpose, prints lies, communist propaganda, promotion of Muslim jihad , Atheist lies, Anti-American hate, the hate of God, etc.; should go bankrupt. And Obama better not bail them out. Historical facts only, no matter who's feelings they hurt. Obama had historical books printed up of him before he cheated his way during the 2008 election and the books had been distributed out the first year he was in office: "Obama the greatest President of the largest Islamic country". No joke, look it up. Also, they have in books that the Muslims discovered American not the Puritans.
I worked in NASA for five years (S. California, Edwards Air Force Base) and I had the highest classified clearance, because I handles different levels of classified docs. The true mission of NASA, not Islam) is Space Exploration and there was never any annotation that Muslims had any hand in space exploration. When you pray eight times a day, who has the time to educate themselves, let alone go to school. Publishers, beware. You are doing yourself a sure fire failure to continue printing lies and unfounded topics. The pen is mightier than the sword, but the pen better be truthful.
I remember in my K-12 school classes, some teachers would say that they would not be using the provided school books but would teach with the blackboard, chalk, erasors and lectures. Have you seen any of those school books lately how out of date they are, and the stuff they contained. Check the book out "Everything I learned in school was wrong".
I took my post K-12 school education from correspondances courses in Electrical Engineering, Modern Business, Law and Computer Science from schools that had texts written by industry leaders in their fields. Many times when I worked with University graduates with BS and Master degrees in the office, and they came to me for help, I wondered what the University Professors had taught them.
Thinking that you evolved from pond scum 3 billion years ago is moronic
The problem with the schools is that they have been teaching antisocial leftwing behavior for so long that the society that pays the bills is beginning to collapse.
I wonder what kind of funding Berkeley has after releasing so many trained marxists that the California state budget is underwater.
This educators have been throwing it into the fan with absolutely no realization of the fact that there is blowback.
One complication with the world as it is, is that NOW the leftist teacher, can construct an textbook without peer review and teach the kids anything they want. At least with a published book, others could review and critically correct the author's blatant errors.
That's why, Russ, every parent should take an active part in their childrens' education and check on EVERYTHING they are being taught. If ANYTHING goes against one's beliefs, take the child/children out and send to a TRUE Christian school, if it can be afforded or home school. There are many books which teach true history and other subjects. Some to try are Peter Marshall and David Manuel books about our founding history. They are excellently researched and written.
Evolution is an idea designed to fill a child's head with a lie. That lie was invented and written by men who desire to control their lives and rob them of the truth of God. Evolution is trash.
People think that the healthcare system is a rip-off? Hardly. If you have been to college you can see what a giant ripoff the whole school textbook thing is. Often the required textbook just happens to have been written by an alum of the college. Then within a year or two a chapter gets ‘tweaked’ a little bit and suddenly ‘oh, we aren’t using that book anymore’ and you paid $75 for it and they offer you $12. And, the new book is nearly identical to the old one anyhow but they churn these book sales to make $$$ $$$ $$$ left and right. I normally don’t like seeing businesses go under but if (IF) this one was involved in that kind of sale$ churning then I don’t mind.
Textbooks for public schools have been a ripoff and a SCAM for decades!!! Hardback, obsolete every couple of years, very expensive, RIDICULOUS!!
I remember my daughter developing back pain in junior high and high school because of all the RIDICULOUSLY heavy textbooks!
and it's even worse at the college/university level!!
Smaller, shorter chapters in paperback editions would be far less expensive, easier to carry and easier to replace. You could just replace the updated chapters as they come along every year! But NO ONE has ever suggested that, either at the schools level or the textbook makers!
Scam, lies, sausage and spam! that's what textbooks are! Great way to LOOT the public claiming an expense! All the school districts should be dismantled as this is just one form of scamming the public's money for a very poor ROI!!
if you truly believe that then you've already lost in the game of life. the only pertinent LAW is revealed law, everything else is manipulation by men. God loves you, do you love yourself enough to pursue the Truth?
Correct that thought please; It was written by God THROUGH men. Don't you think that an omniscient, omnipotent God wouldn't be able to write something about Himself? Isn't is conceivable that if He could, He could also use people to do the same? If you truly think YOU are so perfect "because there is no God," try to walk on water.
Wolf-Spider
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