Textbook

A textbook is a special form of a tangible book, which is used due to its didactically prepared teaching materials and materials for the classroom. If included textbooks scientifically not yet conclusively clarified questions or more opinions regarding an issue in dispute is in some disciplines between the ruling doctrine or teaching and ruling minority views, or other views differentiated ( for example, when historians' dispute ). Aims textbook repetition of the subject matter, it is called a revision course. The textbooks in schools are called school books; concise textbooks are also referred to as a compendium or demolition.

Germany

Suitable textbooks for courses at universities may set itself the Lecturers (university teachers and assistants) in the context of academic freedom.

University libraries can hold textbooks for introductory courses in special textbook collections.

USA

Market situation

In American colleges, the textbooks are usually selected by the teacher. In most K-12 schools - including elementary school and high school - a local committee decides about which teaching aid packages to be purchased from the selection approved by the state Department of Education. This is of current concern because conservative creationists attempt to keep teaching materials with reference to the theory of evolution in public schools. There may also hostility from liberals - as if African-Americans or the Indians are neglected in the presentation. In several states, there are public hearings, at which the publisher must answer criticism from the local population.

The American textbook market fixates on a few key states: Florida, Texas and California. They are among the 22 states in the USA, which buy teaching materials centrally; but because of their wealth, population, these three countries account for over a quarter of the total U.S. annual sales of teaching materials, which amounts to approximately 3.6 billion dollars. Publishers can directly contact for purchases in all other 28 states with the school authorities.

If a textbook of a publisher approved by one of these three states and also purchased, then this automatically means high volume and high income; the book is then virtually as an American standard teaching tool. This dynamic has led to the textbook market in the U.S. is highly competitive and that there is a certain simplicity among the textbooks. There are four teaching aids giants ( Pearson, Vivendi International, Reed Elsevier and McGraw -Hill ); the development of a teaching aid package - such as " Basic Reading" for the first few years of school - can cost up to 60 million dollars.

Because of this competition every textbook publisher has to adapt its products to the customers. If the state wishes to include certain topics in the scope of the textbook from or that publishers are willing to compromise the quality of the book. Content deficiencies are therefore not rare in U.S. textbooks. To overcome all these shortcomings, critics demand that every school could choose their teaching material itself and that States could ask for at least some textbooks instead of comprehensive packages. This would also be small niche players on the teaching materials market a chance.

The American Physics Nobel laureate Richard Feynman " Surely You're joking, Mr. Feynman! " In a chapter of his well-known book his experience that he once made ​​a member of a selection committee for natural history books described. He threw Miscellaneous ago - by abstruse content ( " blue stars have a temperature of x degrees C; Red one of y Karl observed three blue and one red star How hot are all together. .? " ) To obvious persuasion and bribery on the part of publishers. For this was the incompetence of Commissioners talk - a publishing sent due to time constraints, a preliminary version of a book, which consisted of the book covers, as well as blank pages. Half of the Commission made this book a thoroughly benevolent criticism from; while Feynman took the time to read each of the books.

Costs and Copyright

Many students complain about the high prices of textbooks, which sometimes exceed $ 100. They often claim that this is usury on the part of the publisher. Furthermore, they say that publishers would print new editions in an unnecessarily high speed - with the goal of making older editions obsolete. This had the effect that the used book market - in which the publisher eventually earn nothing - will dry.

The publishers explain, however, that the prices of the textbooks correspond to the actual costs. Textbooks have a limited market (students, which the book often require only a single lecture), and their production would be unprofitable if the price would be lower. Textbooks are to often thick, printed on high quality paper and colors - so factors that drive up the price.

An important additional factor is that license fees for copyrighted material, such as photographs, already published articles and chapters as well as other works, which are needed for comprehensive and current textbooks. These costs would easily be overlooked, because it is spiritual and not material values ​​. Because addressed by these license fees after the print run, is a publication on the Internet - where no printing costs incurred - not feasible. For exactly these reasons, there are license textbooks, which are specifically tailored to the United States. For example, there is the standard work " Biology" ( Campbell / Reece ) whose " international version " may not be sold in the United States.

High School

In recent years, the textbooks of high school came under growing criticism. Authors such as Howard Zinn ("A People's History of the United States " ) and James W. Loewen ( "Lies my Teacher told me" ) claim that the history textbooks on U.S. history cultivate mythical untruths and that even by omission, a more sympathetic image American history is drawn. This leads to the fact that the image of the country that are taught at the high school, greatly differs from that in the university history lectures. The selective portrayal of history, whether through textbooks or other literature, has been practiced in many societies - from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union.

For this purpose, the content of high school history textbooks is not subject to scientific peer review. Also, the previous writing of a high school textbook is not helpful to be hired as a history professor at a university. Because of these reasons, in fact any person may issue such a textbook, the control over the content of history textbooks is political forces and certain other ideological groupings.

Colleges are a kind of precursor of the universities and therefore have a more rigorous examination of the textbooks. Even historical facts are taught objectively.