By Nathan Moulton
I was with a friend at the BYU Bookstore last week. She was participating in one of the most depressing, upsetting, heart-wrenching activities in which any college student could ever be involved: buying textbooks.
I had gone up to the textbook section a few minutes earlier and looked at some of the books that I needed to purchase. Seeing the prices and the line, which stretched around the perimeter of the large room, I decided to leave and return later (or not at all). I come to this same conclusion every semester when I go to buy books.
Several minutes after I left the Bookstore, my friend called me and told me she was up in the textbook section. She wondered if I could meet up with her. I said I would.
I now wish I never would have done so.
When I saw her, she was looking at a small red book called, 'The Critic''s Canon.' It was only about 150 pages thick. The paper was ordinary, filled only with text. The cover was solid red, without any fancy graphics in the title. The little book cost more than $100.
When my friend told me the price, I asked if she was kidding.
She wasn''t.
'You can''t buy that book,' I said. 'You shouldn''t! How can they charge that much for a book like that? How could your teacher make you get a book that costs that much and feel good about herself? That''s just ridiculous!'
My blood was boiling. My head was spinning. Then my friend picked up a BYU-produced packet for the same class. It was more than $40. That made my mood even worse.
I wanted to climb to the top of the shelves and yell to the other customers, 'Hey, you people, stop blowing your money at this despicable establishment! How can you allow this royal ripping off to continue? Sure, your teachers may tell you that you have to buy these over-priced textbooks, but you don''t! The Bookstore is just taking advantage of you! We have the power to change all this!'
But nobody seemed to be as furious as I was, so I just clenched my teeth, let my blood boil and kept it to myself (besides a few snide remarks to my friend, which I''m sure she greatly appreciated).
After we found all the books she needed, we began the search for the start of the line. It took us a little while, but we eventually found it and fell in with the rest of the mindless masses, moving toward that great money-sucking black hole where students enter with little money and escape with nothing.
While in line, a friendly Bookstore employee came over the loud speaker and sang, 'If you''re happy and you know it stomp your feet.'
Oh what fun! We all smiled and stomped our feet.
But then I snapped back into my cynical reality.
'How dare they,' I thought. 'How dare they patronize us like that!'
It''s as if they were saying, 'We know we''re stealing from you, but we''re going to make you forget about it through participating in silly songs that pre-schoolers sing. We can do that, because we have complete control over you. You need the books today and we have them. We can make you pay any price, because your education is priceless, and you must have textbooks or you will fail. You can''t fail. That would be the end of the world! So sing this happy little song and you will forget that we are ruthlessly taking advantage of your pitiful situation.'
By the time we reached the checkout counter, my friend had decided to find 'The Critic''s Canon' on the Internet, a decision that saved her about $50.
I left campus that day determined to never again buy any textbooks from the BYU Bookstore. I resolved to stick it to the man and buck the system. So far, I''m doing quite well. But (to further illustrate the control they have over students) I know that I will have to go in soon and purchase one of those BYU-produced packets for a class. I''m putting it off until I absolutely know I''ll need it.
Textbook prices seem higher than ever this year. Even used ones are extremely overpriced. And it''s not just the bookstore here at BYU. Even new textbooks from Internet companies are way too expensive (though the used ones are still quite inexpensive).
Something needs to be done. Couldn''t the federal government put regulations on the prices of textbooks, especially after cutting so much federal student aid money? Can''t professors do a little more research and not make their students buy those books that are way overpriced?
Frankly, my college education is not priceless. So I''m not going to buy textbooks unless I absolutely need them. And if I do, it won''t be from the Bookstore.