Obama To Take Over Control of College Textbooks?
by Warner Todd HustonCandace de Russy over at National Review posted an alarming example of an Obama power grab. Or perhaps more precisely it’s yet another alarming example of an Obama power grab. This time Obama apparently is setting the table to take control of what is printed in our nation’s college textbooks.
This one slipped past my radar in August of 2009, but apparently Barack Obama signed the Federal Textbook Act (Download .pdf file) that made provisions for the federal government to take control of the pricing and availability of the text books in our institutions of higher learning (at least the ones that take federal funding).
According to the language of the act, it is all about keeping textbooks affordable for students.
Purpose and Intent- The purpose of this section is to ensure that students have access to affordable course materials by decreasing costs to students and enhancing transparency and disclosure with respect to the selection, purchase, sale, and use of course materials. It is the intent of this section to encourage all of the involved parties, including faculty, students, administrators, institutions of higher education, bookstores, distributors, and publishers, to work together to identify ways to decrease the cost of college textbooks and supplemental materials for students while supporting the academic freedom of faculty members to select high quality course materials for students.
Sounds good, right?
Maybe not so much.
National Review quotes George Mason economics professor Donald J. Boudreaux as saying that this act seems to be “a first step toward federal oversight of the contents of college textbooks.” As proof he points specifically to section C, the publisher requirements section.
(C) A description of the substantial content revisions made between the current edition of the college textbook or supplemental material and the previous edition, if any.
Why does Obama’s overlords need to know what revisions have been made to a textbook? This act is supposed to be concerned with pricing and availability, not content… isn’t it?
Of course, we all know that once government gets its tendrils into your business it takes all power away from you and reassigns it to government. So, once this act is implemented, any federal money involved will give government the opening to begin controlling everything in the process of creating and distributing college textbooks.
As prof Boudreaux points out, if people are upset over the recent newfound control that the conservative leaning Texas textbook commission had over new textbooks, then how upset might they be if the federal government takes over our college textbooks? There should be no difference at all in the reaction if it was really government control that was being opposed.
Naturally, its always about whose ox is being gored with liberals. Texas textbook control: baaaaad. Obama textbook control: gooooood.
I would also point out one other thing. Many professors in our nation’s colleges and universities have hit the lottery by writing textbooks for their own classes, books that their university will then adopt as the “official” textbook for class work. These professors make a tidy sum of money on these expensive, small print run books that their captive student audience is forced to buy. It would seem to me that this Federal Textbook Act could easily eliminate this lucrative but under-the-radar source of income for professors everywhere. Not that I am against that, but it is something for those lefty profs that so love their Obammessiah to think about.
This bill was originally signed in 2008 by President Bush and was introduced by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. It took effect this year during Obama’s presidency. But regardless of who signed it — and this shows that Bush was as bad as Obama for his love of big government — it is a bad idea to allow the federal government to get involved in the production of text books.
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173 Comments
Quite frankly, it might be high time for a mass book burning.
As a college student I can attest to the fact that books are expensive. Yet to say we need a government agency to regulate pricing on these books as well as give them an option on reviewing the content? That's absurd. Books are just not that big of an investment for someone that we need regulation on this. Let us the students do the buying and the learning Mr. President, and for the love of God, please leave us alone on this one.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Soviet Union on winning the cold war.
Sounds like this will be a perfect job for Winston Smith.
I agree. How does the government think they're going to make them cheaper? They were cheap before the government got involved in subsidizing education.
He just keeps running the tentacles of power deeper and deeper. It will take a very long time to root all this corruption out. At least I think it has begun.
I've also been the victim of textbook assault where the college decides to change the required textbook to a newer version, even though the old version is only a year or two old. Same material, new cover, higher price. I've even had the college demand that I buy "their" version of the textbook, so it was impossible to buy used or off the internet sites.
OMG! Does that mean all in college have to learn liberal math techniques. This will be require tons of pot, and a large hammer to hit yourself in the head with when you can never balance an equation.
How?
The Ministry of Truth…of course.
After these books are liberated of the multitude of uncomfortable facts, they will be much shorter and lighter.
Well, let's take the view of a prospective judge, shall we? Where's the harm? This language is assuredly designed to keep publishing companies honest, to dissuade them from releasing "new" editions of books that have not been substantially revised. In which case the Federal government might, I don't know, make recommendations that school systems keep the older editions? Wow, that's right out of Josef Stalin right there.
Oh, and there's nothing "newfound" about local school boards making curriculum designations. That's how the system has always worked. Nobody is surprised that the Texas school board has control over the content of the books they choose to accredit. What's "newfound" is the length to which Christian zealots will use their "newfound" power as school board members to apply historical revisionism statewide.
But why fight conservatives over re-including Thomas Jefferson, when it's so much more fun to call Obama a white-hating communist?
If conservatives don't get very aggressive, this nation is over. Every day brings another assault on our beliefs by this man and his Progressive minions. Folks this is getting really serious.
How do we stop this and still remain within the law? I am beginning to feel voting is not going to be enough! Should we just lay down and let them take everything? I honestly don't know anymore.
We know we are not the kind of people who break the law. How can we fight this socialist power grab and still be true to who we are? I am seriously asking the question.
The premise for this whole program is flawed. Price controls never work.
We need to send everyone in Congress a copy of "Economics in One Lesson" By Henry Hazlitt.
Oh and you kinda missed this important part of the language of the law as enacted: "The Secretary is prohibited from regulating on this section of the HEA, but will monitor institutions and review student complaints relating to these provisions."
Oh well, Breitbart, back to the drawing board…
All these textbooks would and will be cheaper when they go to electronic versions on the kindle.
Provided Lord Barack the Most Merciful allows that.
Do you even know what is in the act? It has nothing to do with regulation of companies. It has to do with regulating Federal dollars that go to institutions of higher learning. To whit: take steps to get the facts from the text book companies you contract with so that the Federal Government can see that you are not being bilked. Schools can opt out, if they don't want Federal money. So there, sign up at Regents U or Liberty U and you're good to go. Uncle Sam, who you hate so much Mr. Patriot, will be out of your business entirely.
when dan rather said "o couldn't sell watermelons on the side of the road with state troopers stoping traffic" forgot to mention he was subsidized, no one could pass without a bo stamped watermelon
Awww.. C'mon…. How hard is it to add 2+2 ? The LIB answer is 5. AND you get an award and a pat on the head for an excellent effort to bolster your self esteem ! Next year LIB math will have you doing SUBTRACTION ! Oh wait… LIBS have no clue how to REDUCE anything. Be it welfare for the ghetto rats or federal spending or teen pregnancies or…you name it !
Although my dislike for Obama and his thugs is immense..I didn't like the way this article was written..Bush signed it first..just as in many instances; Bush opened the door for Obama to come through..
I think it is a poor road to take in my opinion..to deceive by alittle or allot. Leave that to the left. By the way, my dislike of Bush is rather immense as well. If I find I can't trust you..I won't come here. I've had enough BS from our government and the media to last me more than a lifetime..
EVERYTHING this administration so much as looks at crumbles into leftist, libertine sludge. Clearly, this is an attempt by this government to take over all public outlets of information dissemination.
If we're not willing to wake up NOW, then when? Who do we call about this? I'll do it–
Where to begin? Well…
1) I think it's absurd that government can keep anything "honest" in any industry. It's like a referee giving Phil Jackson a whistle at the NBA Finals and saying, "Call it fair."
2) Local school boards SHOULD be making decisions on what is taught at schools, while being held accountable by the parents of students in that district. This site, "Librarian", is called "Big Government". It is critical of "big government" for this very reason.
3) Stalin was never against "newer" editions of documents and photos that removed references of those he liquidated. He was all about controlling info.
4) If you hate Texas so much, don't live there. I'm sure there's plenty of Blue States out there that have educations systems that haven't resulted in ballooning debts.
Oh, wait…
We all know that once the government is "subsidizing" the sale and purchase of textbooks, they'll want a say in what goes into those textbooks. They'll have to be "Politically Correct" of course.
But what happens when Gov. Rick Perry of Texas becomes the next president and he decides he wants God and Creationism taught in all science books Who will be screaming then?
I have not taught in a college in many years, but I always had the choice of what books to be used in my classes. There was no "official" text dictated from on high. Has this changed?
Great! More Indoctrination!!!
I love this HOPE AND CHAINS (not)!!!
Like "prohibited" means a damned thing to Obama and minions. Every statement, written or verbal, has an expiration date.
That's exactly what I want! I don't want the government involved involved in anything except protecting against acts of aggression and public utilities. My university already doesn't get federal dollars and the thing runs like freaking clockwork!
As if they'd read it! Facts cannot get in the way of ideology- it just won't be allowed.
Fortunately, textbooks are the least-read things on campus…
Auto Industry, Financials, Health Care, Student Loans, Text Books, Energy… What am I missing?
Did the original "tea partiers" break laws when they dumped English property into the harbor, and tarred and feathered captains of ships carrying British goods?
Did they break English laws when they rebelled?
Sometimes the laws are simply a stumbling block. The left does not care about them. The laws are sometimes written purposefully to disarm, fetter and enslave good people.
Okay, I oppose Obama as much as the next guy, but I think you’re making too much of this. The reason for the “content review” is to counter a publishers’ scam that lets them make big bucks off of students who have no choice but to buy their books.
It goes like this: Textbook publisher puts out first edition of fantastically expensive textbook that costs student $100. (That’s not an exageration. My son just paid $110.00 for a chemistry textbook.) In the past, students would then sell their books back to the bookstore, and students in following years had the option of buying the used textbook (maybe marked up and highlighted,maybe tattered) for less than the new price; or he could buy the new one–totally up to him.
Now publishers make a few changes to the text, just enough to justify calling it a second edition, meaning that the first edition is no longer sold. At one fell swoop they kill the used-textbook market and make megabucks for themselves.
I don’t mind someone making megabucks off of honest labor, but off of a scam, not so much.
We should of course be vigilant against the many inroads the current administration is making against our liberties. That said, this specific provision seems fairly innocuous. As others have noted, college textbook publishers are NOTORIOUS for releasing new editions every year, with few if any changes, to try to persuade or force students to buy new editions, rather than buy an edition only a year or two older from a former student through a book buy-back or co-op program. Requiring a prominent disclosure of what changes, if any, have been made from what revision to the next is a fairly reasonable consumer protection matter that in no way dictates the contents of the books or what books must be used or assigned by professors.
It takes Keynesian economics to learn to balance the books in progressive land.
We're doomed!
With each passing day it really seems like they won!!
Mind control!
How could America have been so blind! Tyranny is HERE!
Scary stuff! Our Government is now controling what private universities, state universities and colleges can teach in our higher education facilities…. Sounds VERY SociaI, fascist, you name it… It's anything BUT American!
Obumbles words don't mean a thing….He eats s–t and spits it out, and his followers lick
it up with relish!!
We were getting out from under oppressive British rule at the time…who cares what laws were broken during the first 'tea party'…it was about taxation without representation…same as now!!
Obama's marxist professors already control evertyhting about education, why would we talk about this?
Let's drop-kick this administration first. Then toast marshmellows in celebration over the burning books, later.
Consider how the Obama's and their appointees and Czars higher educations turned out. Their heads were filled with garbage long before this lousy textbook idea came along.
Seriously, we will have to wage the same war back, using thebn same tactics, and it may take a long time. We have to educate ourselves, and educate our kids regarding CONSERVATIVE values. We have to take over what the Left has now: schools, courts, TV stations, newspapers, internet sites, local and state legislatures. Churches and temples need to be attended. The Judeo-Christian message is one of freedom from slavery; it is about resistance and hope.
You personally must work to bring about the change. Go help get your local and state reps elected. Donate your time. Talk to your neighbors. Start with YOU.
"Well, let's take the view of a prospective judge, shall we? Where's the harm?"
If the judge is a liberal leftist, there's a good deal of harm to be had.
These are not the facts you're looking for. *wave hand* The only textbook available: Dreams From My Audacity.
Thanks Mike 100% correct !!!!
I agree!!!
I'm a fan of Big Government and the huge stories this web site broke. But I have to say that this article is pretty weak. The linked document containing the statute clearly states that the revision information must be supplied to the school, not the federal government. Also, it contains no mechanism by which the government could approve or disapprove of a textbook. I just don't see how this rises above the usual government fiddling.
Agreed that the book prices are high, but compared to housing, tuition and the rest, the cost are relatively minor. As the grandson, son, and newphew of about 20 teachers, I believe education is important. That's why it should be a state issue, and the federal government should simply keep away. When the feds first came into the picture is when so many schools started the spiral downwards.
"Books are just not that big of an investment" well I am assuming that statement was overlooked. That is the whole point of this article. I couldn't agree with more about not needing an agency to regulate books. But the fact remains that when states take federal money they are subject to what the money will be spent on. So the vicious cycle starts with us at home. Entire generations, not just in America but around the world, are "invested" in what is being taught to our children. We are the "beacon of freedom." With liberals indoctrinating an entire country's young people through this vehicle they call education, how long do you think that will last? I know I don't expect to retire in a "free" country. But I will DIE in one!!!
Won what cardon? The biggest jackass award?! The booby prize? The "I AM THE MAN CHILD OF THE WORLD' prize? All they have won is a ticket out, all their deception is exposed day by day, how else can you get rid of dirt if you can't see it?!
There was a Soviet defector that wrote a book about how the Soviet Union would fall and become more free and capitalist and at the same time the United States would fall and become the Soviet Union.
At the very least he was right about us. We are no longer free.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/433943/dk_r...
You almost made it to the end of you comment without inserting your hate for Christians.You lefties have worn out the 'Christian….fill in the blank' card. Find someone else to demonize for a while. People tend to tune out the repetitive drone. You're beginning to bore us.
"This language is assuredly designed to keep publishing companies honest"
You meant "broke" at the end.
You want to know why textbooks cost so much? There's no mass market for them. They're in limited demand, but where that demand exists it is an *essential* demand. It is expensive to produce a book (although with improved technology it's decreasing), and the company has to make a profit. That means the price per book will go up. It's not like selling a Stephen King novel for $7.99, where you can sell 100,000 copies in the first month and make back your investment. You're talking about a book that sells to maybe 1,000 people EVER.
So where's the harm? It's called the government mucking up the market once again and forcing producers to lose value. Net result, no one publishes books because who wants to lose money?
You could always do like the monks in Korea and set yourself on fire as a protest. Then they might listen to you.
This administration is looking more and more like the "new and improved Communist take over" that it truly is. They obviously believe that they are in a good position to move forward with their take over on every front.
Winston Smith is currently in Room 101!
I hope someone is keeping copious notes….so we don't forget what needs to be fixed and defunded.
Sorry, let me clarify. I meant books are not a big investment on a dollar basis. I didn't mean to say that we don't need books anymore. My college education cost me over $100K and I may have spent 1-2% of that on books. My fault on that one.
we can use the books to heat the tar…..
Oh man, this is getting more and more creepy! I truly fear for this country. Yes, MikeinIdaho, the Marxist professors have been at work for decades, but it just gets worse.
That was me under EBW and the original comment.
Just as "equality" would never be used for quotas right? When you give satan an inch he will make himself a ruler. I know it is corny but this is the type of disease we are trying to stop…which is made no easier with people that are just complacent to "oh, they are trying to make something more effective and equal." "Breitbart, back to the drawing" Why don't you just do like a librarian and shut Fu(k up!
And they wonder why we compare them to the Nazis?
All federal aid to education should be ended. Hillsdale College is an excellent example of what can be achieved when the government is kept out of schools.
I'm 100% against this, but once again some corruption that has been ignored in the past gives openings for the neo-communist to take control of things now. Many college text book publishers tweak content so that new versions of a text book come out all the time, so students have to buy new text books every year instead of old ones (fail one). Publishers at times have worked a bit in collusion to keep price points up (fail 2). Companies like the Apollo Group have come up with very innovated offerings to keep school text book cost down (like bullying publishers to offer digital versions of their content at a substantially reduced cost to the university, which passes on entire libraries of books to students in digital content for a flat fee). Not sure if gov is efficient or innovative enough to come up with better solutions than that. Instead they will appoint new bureaucrats to bull business and possibly restrict books based on "correct" content going forward, which is frightening. Conservatives, take note. Don't turn your back on problems, because if you do, the crazies will come in with an authoritarian anti-business solution. If things are dealt with upfront the crazies (neo-communist "progressives") won't have an opening. Once we (conservatives/libertarians/Christians) take back control, remember this. Fix problems rather than getting cozy with lobbyist, else the crazies will give their "fixes" a go next time they are in power. Our fixes should be on fairness, market forces, anti-oligarpies. Their "fixes" will be more gov interference, control of outcomes, and spending more of your money.
It's the wrong solution (market would be better) , but it is a problem, and content IS relevant. E.g., every several years the Norton Anthology of Western Music drops a few pieces and adds a few, all to depress the market for used textbooks. No, the canon of western art music hasn't changed, but they can swap out the "PC pieces" (ethnic music, music by women or colored people) and keep the money flowing in.
Get the government out of education. They create problems like rising tuition by way of subsidies and then creat new problems to solve the ones they created. Check-out Hillsdale College for an example of how to do things right.
Unlike the way dumb ass Bush allowed a lot of Clinton nonsense to remain,………..
I just hope that if and when the next Republican gets into the White House,………….
he has the balls to eradicate all these Obama bills,…………….
Does anyone remember the directive to the FBI and CIA,…………"The Wall"
Odumbo on the tube yet again….when will this nightmare end….please 2012 can't come soon enough…
There are no private universities or college that accept government money. Once the suck at the federal teet, they have answer to the whole pig.
Why not just go to ebooks? Buying an ipad and downloading the content seems like a practical solution on many levels.
I don't hate Uncle Sam, I despise tyrants in the disquise of Nannys.
I'm not an Obama-fan by any means, but this seems to me not a restriction on content, but the government forcing textbook publishers to have something different in a new edition of a textbook. I realize this is not right, a business should be able to sell whatever it wants, but it is true that textbook publishers often sell a book as a new edition and practically change nothing but the picture on the cover and charge 50 dollars more than they did for the previous edition.
Why not just make textbooks available to students as PDF's?
conservatives have children, liberals decide what to teach them. Why would anyone want more of that? Don't you see what the liberals are pushing in schools now? Homosexual agenda, marxism, racism, destruction of the nuclear family, white guilt, white hate, etc, etc. Is it really a good idea to make these things mandatory by law? Why would any free people want that?
Actually, Obama is an equal opportunity Communist.
Tempest in a teapot. The reason for publishing revisions is so that consumers can decide whether a new edition of a textbook is actually necessary when compared to last year's edition. In a 3000pg literature anthology, the addition of 50pgs of short stories is entirely meaningless if the professor isn't teaching them. Without some knowledge of what was in last years edition, it's impossible to decide whether the cheaper used book is sufficient, or if the new edition must be bought at full price to fulfill class requirements.
I posted much the same sentiment, I guess it comes down to somewhere down the line someones piece of the pie is being protected as usual.
all those good people donating to hillsdale and other schools? guess what. when they take that deduction for their charitable giving, they are in fact using that loss in income tax revenue to subsidize hillsdale, et al.
Good points, Buzz.
I'm sure the "authors" and publishers are already looking for a work-around to the content review. But I think you're exactly right – this is all about ending the "revision" bullshit.
That said, pushing this through will benefit the Obama administration greatly in their takeover of higher ed. Lower text book prices will be a big selling point in their new give-away program.
$1,000 to $2,000 on books for your college education?? seems low by a bunch. as a college graduate, i'm sure you are aware of professors making minor changes, sometimes just punctuation changes, in order to come up with a new edition of their own works. this effectively makes all prior editions worthless in the used book market. a lot a students look for used books (at a savings) to help them and their families get through school more cheaply.
textbooks are a cash cow for publishers. while a textbook may hit 500,000 copies printed, you never see the price fall.
Yeah, let's leave the christians alone. They have suffered enough persecution. As a christian, how much more could you stand to hear after listening to the fact that your religion has started almost every major war, molested countless children, and now are forming militia's to kill the police. Maybe if you continually exgage in sh***ty behavior, people will tune you out as repetitive drone….doubt it.
This is too true. In engineering we have text books that have a new edition come out every year or two years for the expressed purpose of forcing students to buy new. I have one text book that is in it's ninth edition and the only thing that changes are the ordering of the problems or the values in the problems at the end of the chapter.
Using NASA talent to be auto mechanics is an example of Obama dumbing down America and dismantling it's richness. Just wait until he starts with "green" jobs. What a waste of talent, money and time that will be. He is using America as a great experiment on how quickly to wipe out 200 years of sweat and tears to prove a point and get even with whitey dominance.
All education should be defunded. In a free society there should be no more connection between education and state than between church and state.
It depends on which school–some colleges decide what text will be used by committee or committee leader, while some schools allow individual professors to choose what they want to teach.
Of course you're right!!….It just gets disheartening when he's thrust in our faces everyday, and when
I see the college students so brained washed that they have no idea what our country is about!!..When
we have immigrants both legal and illegal that are just here for freebies no longer coming here to join
in…We won't give up the good fight, but they've had years of planning, and I do worry about all the damage they can do in the time they have left….We have that idiot Lindsay Graham ready to do what it takes to lick up….We do have a lot to overcome!!….Will try to keep my chin up……eh….
WHAT'S AN OLIGARPY? SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED A TEXTBOOK TO TWO.
Then what the hell are you complaining about?
1st off-I don't know what 'exgage' means. Is that some athiest term?
2nd. Which wars?
3rd. Is molesting countless children a 'Christian' thing. I bet you know of a few molesters on a personal basis.
4th. Christians are not forming militia's to kill police. Crazies are. It's just easy to hide behind them. This militia's church has 9 members there, Red. They've all been arrested.
Obama is a communist, not merely a socialist. Communists take entire control of industries. We're now at 50% of the private sector taken over by the federal government, and he's not stopping. Once he moves in illegals, he'll have the Supreme Court, his ultimate prize. That will come through his being re-elected.
Obama is a magnificent liar. He talks in a way that still appeals to some Americans, those who need politicians to feel themselves empowered, but governs like what he is, which is a communist. If he could take complete control he would. I know in college he praised Marxists, and even ran with a student Marxist group. That's been reported here by people who knew him.
"Hype and Che"
Makes sense, if he succeeds they will all eventually be about his ascendancy to Godhood anyway.
HA HA, oh your serious?
You mean like the executive order that isnt, the most honest and open adminstration that isnt, the constution that might as well not be.
Yeah these guys are real sticklers for the "Law" not to mention using the crow bar of appropriations to make their will heard indirectly for anyone that does not play ball.
Made me laugh, nice.
The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers gets more daily face time on TV than any president I have seen in my 43 years…
He honestly believes that the more we see him, the more we'll "love" him, never going to happen!
I am so sick of seeing his face and hearing his voice that I just shut off the TV every time his butt ugly face is on it!
I despise his daily propaganda and I see him as the modern Mao with his "teaching sessions" for the masses…
O my word!
All the alphabet soups must go…and probably will once we delve into the economic abyss that is coming. That will be one positive to our economic upheaval that is coming and unavoidable.
What's next nuclear engineers running peanut farms?
Too late, Jimmah Carter did it!
And these liberal textbooks will spew how Washington and Jefferson were racists, so their contributions to American society should be disregarded. Reminds me of when Ken Burns was interviewed on Conan's Late Night show. Burns talked about his WWII documentary and said that those vets were mercenaries (I guess in the same way that German mercenaries were hired to fight the American colonists). And the kicker was that Burns's own grandfather fought in WWII.
Yeah, these liberal morons will be writing textbooks, documentaries, etc. Instead, there will be entire chapters dedicated to Che, FDR's progressive movement, Roe v. Wade, and the Black Panthers. And of course, Obama's historic presidency. BTW, even now, chemistry books talk about environmentalism and global warming.
If Obama wanted to cut the cost of textbooks for students couldn't this be done by simply making them digital copies? Every college kid has a laptop so why not just make the book electronic. Problem solved right? The free market system has already solved the issue. Right? Hardly. The issue is not how cheap the book is since most can be bought second hand. The issue is what is in the book that bothers Obama. But considering we have no proof Obama even went to college other than his say so why should he be in control of what goes into the books? He was too busy hanging with the Marxist professor and his cocaine dealer/roommate.
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