CSUN reads, but what is the message?

[Jack]

For two years now CSUN has encouraged a campus-wide reading
experience, selecting a single book for the campus to share, while
promoting the experience through posters, discussion groups, classroom
connections, and whatnot. The purpose of this activity, of course, is
to promote literacy, old-fashioned book reading, by making it look
"cool," fun, a socially-shared experience.

But at the same time, prodded, I believe, by Sacramento, we are
sending the message to our students that books are not worthy objects
to have or to own--certainly not worthy of investing in--by
essentially apologizing for having textbooks assigned to our classes
at all. We rent books; faculty are instructed to seek out textbooks
that can be purchased used and to reduce the numbers of books
required. We emphasize that books can be sold back to the bookstore.

The book is thus presented as a temporary inconvenience, something to
get rid of as soon as possible, clearly nothing to hold onto for
future reference and continued learning. What may have been learned
from it can be quickly forgotten because it will no longer be there to
refresh one's memory. No wonder learning retention is so brief.

Thus we contradict ourselves. Rather than trying to tell our students
that their textbooks are a part of their education, and a continuation
of it, we send the cultural message that education is not worthy of
investing in, that it is secondary to the entertainment spending that
we never suggest to our students might be reduced while they pursue an
education. This is wholly consistent with our culture, but not with
the culture of reading that CSUN tries to promote through its campus-
wide selection of a book of the year.

[harry]

as usual, excellent points, jack. did you know that indeed
californians spend 2ce as much on entertainment as ed? meanwhile, to
allow for the rising fees, we must find categories within over all
cost to control, as an offset. text cost is but one option.