Current Events > Oklahoma teachers reporting in on what their text books look like

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/oklahoma-teachers-are-posting-their-crumbling-textbooks-online











But those football stadiums, though...


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God damn those are awful textbooks. Even the worse ones at my schools were better than that.

JE19426 posted...

God damn those are awful textbooks. Even the worse ones at my schools were better than that.

to be fair many places are still probably using the "worst ones" from the time you went to school....and they're even worse now.
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But at least we have bigger guns than everyone else!
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That's fucking ridiculous. What is the state government doing?
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pegusus123456 posted...

That's fucking ridiculous. What is the state government doing?

Cutting funding to schools over and over and refusing to raise taxes to pay for repairs and new textbooks
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I don't know why it's a big deal that the text books still list Bush as President. We all know that by the end of the year they have only gotten 3/4 of the way through the book anyways.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

I don't know why it's a big deal that the text books still list Bush as President. We all know that by the end of the year they have only gotten 3/4 of the way through the book anyways.

They could at least have books that don't looks like they were hand-me-downs from dogs that used them a chew toys.
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Maybe they should take care of their textbooks instead of treating them like shit and then begging for new ones.
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And they think they're going to get raises how again?
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So, why were the kids who used the books before fucking them up so bad. I always kept my books in new condition.
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Books are fucking expensive
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CableZL posted...

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

I don't know why it's a big deal that the text books still list Bush as President. We all know that by the end of the year they have only gotten 3/4 of the way through the book anyways.

They could at least have books that don't looks like they were hand-me-downs from dogs that used them a chew toys.

https://www.thespruce.com/making-a-paper-bag-book-cover-3106756

I remember this stuff was required with each book within 3 days of getting them.

(PS: I'm just joking around, those books are terrible.)
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MrTacoBell posted...

So, why were the kids who used the books before fucking them up so bad. I always kept my books in new condition.

Could be water damage.
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Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.
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MrTacoBell posted...

So, why were the kids who used the books before fucking them up so bad. I always kept my books in new condition.

One of those books is apparently at most 18 years old. Over the course of nearly 2 decades of students carrying those books back and forth to class wear and tear will occur. Once it starts to occur, even if it was just ONE student who fucked up the cover or spine, it'll start to go quicker no matter how careful you try to be. That's all beside the point anyway. We have a long standing history (for some absurd reason) of not providing teachers with the proper tools to do their jobs and this is just highlighting that. We can do better as a nation than to expect THOSE books to "just get the job done" and expect the teachers to buy needed supplies out of their own pockets on their already pitiful salaries. I don't understand why so many in this country are ok with education being lackluster and "just good enough"...
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

I feel like if they're using books held together with thread and prayer, they probably aren't paying for personal iPads for every students.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

Oklahoma is the key word here
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pegusus123456 posted...

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

I feel like if they're using books held together with thread and prayer, they probably aren't paying for personal iPads for every students.

CableZL posted...

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

Oklahoma is the key word here

I get that, but if they are saying "hey we aren't buying anyone new books for the next 5 years and at that time we will have enough money for iPads for students" it's more understandable.
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GOATTHlEF posted...

DifferentialEquation posted...

Maybe they should take care of their textbooks instead of treating them like shit and then begging for new ones.

You've never been around children, have you?

I was a kid in school once. We had textbooks. They had normal wear and tear like the corners getting a bit frayed/bent but they were never mangled like that. This just another result of a generation that refuses to discipline their children or teach them to have respect for others' property and then expects the tax payers to foot the bill. Fuck em.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

I get that, but if they are saying "hey we aren't buying anyone new books for the next 5 years and at that time we will have enough money for iPads for students" it's more understandable.

I doubt that's the reason why they haven't bought new books.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

In elementary school, my son had an iPad as a required school supply. We bought a second hand iPad Air on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks.

In middle and high school, the kids are issued a touch screen laptop with all of the books on it. They keep the same laptop for the entire time they are in that school. The school insures them. Parents pay the deductible if anything breaks.

Our school district is considered one of the best for STEM in the nation. Its one of the reasons I willingly pay to live in the city here. I live in TN not OK.
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I know schools that start using iPads in like kindergarten. Nobody cares about books anymore.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

My son just started high school here in OK and at the start of the year he got a Macbook. I've seen him bring textbooks home, but he does a lot of his school work on his laptop.

They also remodeled Norman High School just last year during the summer and into the start of the school year. And Norman North, maybe 2 years ago? They both look like the front of high rise skyscrapers. So there's money to be had somewhere.

As I understand it, the cutting of the funding is less about schools, equipment, books (though that is still an issue) and more about teachers' and special educators (like speech therapist, and special needs) getting better pay. Oklahoma ranks in like 40 something place of the 50 states in what they pay teachers.
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

I get that, but if they are saying "hey we aren't buying anyone new books for the next 5 years and at that time we will have enough money for iPads for students" it's more understandable.

I'm not positive the government sits on money like that.
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GOATTHlEF posted...

DifferentialEquation posted...

Maybe they should take care of their textbooks instead of treating them like shit and then begging for new ones.

You've never been around children, have you?

You've never been around DifferentialEquation, have you?

edit: oh lord he responded lmao
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Let's not talk about the incredible mark-up on text books as being a major deterrent for their purchase.
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That is a nice looking stadium though
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GOATTHlEF posted...

What does gamefaqs make me censor the black goat of the woods' name?

The middle of his name is the N word.
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Even if you get eBooks, you'd need to pay every few years for the new editions, which is really not much different from the cost of physical text books. Text books are an absolute racket at every level of education.
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Ranting Nord posted...

Let's not talk about the incredible mark-up on text books as being a major deterrent for their purchase.

Imagine thinking you have the right to dictate the profit margins of a private company. In the private and home school settings, there are tons of textbook producers. Many of those kids do better on standardized tests too. Maybe the books arent the problem?
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C7D posted...

Imagine thinking you have the right to dictate the profit margins of a private company. In the private and home school settings, there are tons of textbook producers. Many of those kids do better on standardized tests too. Maybe the books arent the problem?

One reason for this is the slow as shit pace US schools teach at. I remember watching some show a while back about a kid who was home schooled, but wanted to start going to public school. The math teacher passed out one of those tests on the first day of school that gives her an idea of where the students are, wrt competency.

The kid had been studying at least algebra at home, but the test was just full of simple addition and subtraction problems.

When I was in 2nd grade, I was reading at a 4th grade level. When we had reading time, the teacher would have me and this other kid sit outside the classroom in the hall and read more advanced books.
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My high school was the same. Great football arena. Crappy actual school material.
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The Admiral posted...

Even if you get eBooks, you'd need to pay every few year for the new editions, which is really not much different from the cost of physical text books.

electronic books are considerably less expensive because you pay hardly nothing for the physical medium. it's all paying for the intellectual property.

edit: turns out printing is only ~8% of the cost of publishing a book. not as much as i thought
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

electronic books are considerably less expensive because you pay hardly nothing for the physical medium. it's all paying for the intellectual property.

edit: turns out printing is only ~8% of the cost of publishing a book. not as much as i thought

How much are transport costs?

CableZL posted...

C7D posted...

Imagine thinking you have the right to dictate the profit margins of a private company. In the private and home school settings, there are tons of textbook producers. Many of those kids do better on standardized tests too. Maybe the books arent the problem?

One reason for this is the slow as shit space US schools teach at. I remember watching some show a while back about a kid who was home schooled, but wanted to start going to public school. The math teacher passed out one of those tests on the first day of school that gives her an idea of where the students are, wrt competency.

The kid had been studying at least algebra at home, but the test was just full of simple addition and subtraction problems.

When I was in 2nd grade, I was reading at a 4th grade level. When we had reading time, the teacher would have me and this other kid sit outside the classroom in the hall and read more advanced books.

I already knew that. Putting kids together by age group and teaching to the middle read as the bottom rather than grouping kids by ability has led to our laughable education system.
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JE19426 posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

electronic books are considerably less expensive because you pay hardly nothing for the physical medium. it's all paying for the intellectual property.

edit: turns out printing is only ~8% of the cost of publishing a book. not as much as i thought

How much are transport costs?

good point. transportation/shipping and inventory management all have an overhead that i don't think would be associated with e-books.
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The shipping/physical medium cost doesn't matter, because the publisher inflates the price to keep the profits. This is the same reason buying a new release of a AAA game is $60 whether it's digital or physical.

Bottom line is that if the school can't afford to replace physical text books within a decade window, it's not going to have money for updated eBooks either.
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Is that a piss stain on the floor in the third pic?
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Twin3Turbo posted...

Is that a piss stain on the floor in the third pic?

No, it's water from a leak in the building that has been known about for the past 5 years, apparently. The caption:

Donna Pritchett, a librarian at Lincoln Elementary School in Pryor, Oklahoma, said her school's library has leaked int he same spots for more than five years. Every time it rains, she shuffles around bookshelves, to try to save what books are still free from water stains.
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pegusus123456 posted...

That's fucking ridiculous. What is the state government doing?

making sure teachers have guns
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Twin3Turbo posted...

Is that a piss stain on the floor in the third pic?

That looks like water damage. The water damage on the bookshelf beside the stain is consistent with the librarians account that this has been an ongoing issue.
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Come to Louisiana. We have low pay, no supplies, AND crappy football stadiums!
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The football stadium probably makes a lot of money, so without it the school would be worse.
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The football stadium comparison is always dumb because the stadiums are generally profitable, as in they bring in more money than they cost creating a long-term revenue stream for the school. They're also often provided via grants and private donors and don't dig into the cost of books. Any time it's brought up, it only highlights that either the person bringing it up is woefully uneducated on the subject or actively trying to manipulate people through dramatic imagery.

The schools need new books, but the case shouldn't have to be made using shitty arguments

http://www.wsfa.com/story/13061712/high-school-football-a-big-money-maker-for-schools
https://www.cnbc.com/id/100001024
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2012/08/13/why-allen-texas-built-a-60-million-high-school-football-stadium/#30bf313d6e71
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

I feel like if they're using books held together with thread and prayer, they probably aren't paying for personal iPads for every students.

CableZL posted...

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

Serious question: I've been out of high school for 15 years. Do they even use books anymore? I thought it was all digital and IPads now. Or at least on the way towards that.

Oklahoma is the key word here

I get that, but if they are saying "hey we aren't buying anyone new books for the next 5 years and at that time we will have enough money for iPads for students" it's more understandable.

It's 2018, the little shits probably have smartphones that can read PDFs
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The Admiral posted...

Bottom line is that if the school can't afford to replace physical text books within a decade window, it's not going to have money for updated eBooks either.

bottom line: the schools are broke

Damn_Underscore posted...

The football stadium probably makes a lot of money, so without it the school would be worse.

thought you were DE for a second there
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