The Cost To Learn

While looking at the Chicago Tribune website, I came across an article talking about New Trier's textbook prices, and how expensive it is to rent textbooks every year for school.


At New Trier, sports teams are free for anyone who joins. However, this may not be the case in the upcoming years. As a way to lower the prices of textbooks, they are thinking of charging for sports teams, so it's not one huge payment at once.


The argument against that, however, states that different sports teams require different amounts of equipment, so they shouldn't all be the same price. For example, football or lacrosse have a lot more equipment needed than track and field or basketball. I don't think this is the best idea, because while some people play 3 sports during the school year, some people don't play any, so it is cheaper for them.


I think overall textbooks could be much cheaper, or some not even used at all, and that would solve a lot of these problems. For example, last year in my chemistry class, i used my textbook once for a homework assignment. My teacher could have very well gone without doing that one homework assignment, to save us all from buying that expensive book.


There are so many books students buy every year that barely ever get used, so what should they have to buy them? Families with multiple kids going through high school spend thousands of dollars at the New Trier bookstore to buy their kids the textbooks they need, which maybe not every family can afford.


Article: http://triblocal.com/winnetka-northfield/2011/10/05/new-trier-to-discuss-athletics-fees-to-subsidize-textbook-costs/