Lumps of lifeless paper.

It is not a surprise for anyone today, that every day rituals, festivals, and even education have been structured in a way to help the corporate side of the world. Weddings have to be "magical", and what ends up working behind that concept, is a team full of designers, planners, and other various businesses that gain from the term "magical". Same is the idea of education, I think. I am not going to go into much detail right now, but will focus only towards the books that are used by the universities every semester.

Every year, rather every 4-5 months books' editions change, the publishers simply change the covers and few terms in the book, to create a newer edition, that students must purchase. In case students try to save themselves from the increasing cost of education by purchasing old/used books, most of the instructors force them to buy the new edition as it might have a key CD or chapter crucial to passing the course.

Many times, I have been in a situation, where I 'had' to purchase a new book, but ended up using it no more than twice or three times that semester. Either the instructor decided to use notes from last year, or the course material in the book was too irrelevant for the daily discussions in class. For someone, who has to either get a student loan or work on the side to pay for school, it is just unfair to be charging this kind of fees, in the name of education. Some students try to sell their books at the end of the semester, and the amount they receive from the bookstore for their recently purchased books are usually a very tiny fraction of the actual amount.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think any thing is absurd with learning the newest material, but if it is done only in the name of earning profit, then I don't think the system of education is pure. All those old books are a waste of money, time, and other material invested in it. It may sound cliche, but even if it is thought of in terms of environment friendly, it is unhealthy of the education system, to mistreat books like that.

I think, that publishing books and the system of assigning books to each course, should be looked after by some sort of a committee where they make sure that no one is wasting a penny more just to feed the corporate system of life today.