-"Are these absolutely necessary?"
-"Yes they are"
-"Well what about last year's algebra 2 students? They seemed perfectly fine without them"
-"It's a new curriculum this year"
-"Oh."
That was the first conversation I had with my math teacher this year.
So New Trier thought it would be a great idea to make every student buy a spankin' brand new calculator called the TI-nspire. Now it's a pretty catchy name, I'll admit, but New Trier left out one tiny detail: they're $160. When I heard this, I was outraged. $160 just for a calculator? I have a TI-83 that's in perfect condition and is only three years old. It works fine and I've never had any trouble with it in the entire three years.
And what about families who have more than one child? I have a brother who is a sophomore so my parents ended up spending $300 dollars on just the calculators. We haven't even gotten to the textbook bill. Just because we live in the North Shore, it doesn't mean that we're all made of money and can just drop a couple hundred dollars on a calculator that we'll probably never use again after high school. Not to mention the fact that it hasn't even been approved for the ACT test yet, so I won't even get to use this fancy schmancy, uber expensive calculator on probably the most important test I'll ever take in my life. Furthermore, from my conversation with my math teacher, not only is the school requiring us to buy the calculator, but apparently if you don't buy the calculator, you can't adequately participate in the class because they've changed the curriculum!
Now most people think I'm crazy and that I'm overreacting and just blowing the whole situation way out of proportion. And maybe I am. But personally, I think the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, and just another example of how New Trier is pinching every last penny out of us. I often claim my dad is a penny pincher, but after this whole fiasco, maybe there's some truth to his anxiety. If you don't watch out, New Trier may get ya. They're sneaky.
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I totally agree that the need for new calculators and new textbooks is ridiculous, but I think that New Trier is not entirely to blame. I am more concerned about textbooks than calculators, but I was equally appalled when there were no used books to be had because the publishers came out with a new edition.
ReplyDeleteI figured out that the way the system works is that publishers stop printing the current edition of their book. This requires New Trier to stop using the textbooks because there are not enough available for students to buy. Then, the publisher comes out with the new edition which has the same content (so teachers feel compelled to use it), but different page numbers (so you can't use the old book). Finally, publishers rake in profits because they can sell new books without having to pay more authors and editors.
This strategy is pure genius for textbook makers, and it is a difficult to come up with a solution. My only idea is that New Trier buys one set of textbooks (with some extras) for each subject and loans them out each year until there are real improvements. The taxpayers would end up paying for the books, but it would be far less than the current system. The problem is that New Trier makes money renting out space to the bookstore and it doesn't want that to end.
That's my best shot. Does anyone else have some ideas?
I agree that the constant new additions may be purely the publishers idea, but there are ways to get around different students having different editions. It is not that hard to, in the case of large textbooks, assign different page numbers to read based of which edition the student has; all the teachers would need to do is keep track of reading assignments from previous years. I don't think that is all that hard, except for the exceptionally disorganized.
ReplyDeleteWith a relatively simple alternative solution available, I cannot help but think New Trier changes the required editions of textbooks for its own profit. In my family's experience, my older brother would get a new edition of a textbook and I would need, two years later, a newer edition. It is possible that New Trier tries to change editions to fit the approximate average age difference between siblings, usually 2 or 3 years.
I may be overly cynical, however, and I would actually be quite happy if someone could prove my theory completely false.
it's not nt, it's the publishers.
ReplyDeletesometimes, you can use the older editions. if you can't, buy your books on amazon or an upperclassmen, you'll save hundreds.
the whole thing just bothers me. I had some of the same issues with my textbooks too. Last year almost every single one of my teachers decided to use a newer edition or a completely different book for their curriculum this year so I ended up not being able to sell back more than half my books. I like Kevin's idea, where NT could just buy one set of books and then loan them out to students every year. That is much more cost effective for everyone that way.
ReplyDeleteI am also annoyed by these new calculators. The part of your post that caught my eye was the conversation with your teacher. So it may or may not be the teacher's faults or New Trier's or whatever but this "new curriculum" per-say can't be too advanced for other calculators as I am allowed to use the TI-89.
ReplyDeleteMath teachers at the same levels teach the same curriculum and some require this nspire like yours yet mine does not. The TI-89 is still an expensive calculator and I still love my TI-84 but it's still much less expensive. I am very thankful I am allowed to use it but my question is, if the 89 still apparently works why get this new mini computer? People spend too much money on books already so why waste time in class? We have personally spent every single day so far learning how to use the new calculator. Why not spend less time in class on an easier calculator that does the same things and is less expensive? That's MY question.
So pretty much I agree.
My opinion is: what?
ReplyDeleteNow, I understand the dislike of spending the money, but pinching pennies from you?
Let me put it this way: I have a friend who worked in the NT bookstore this summer just as the person who rings things up, and she had parent after parent calling her a crook for supposedly trying to squeeze money from people. Fact is, New Trier didn't really profit from those calculators, they were market price, only sold at the school so students would be sure to buy the CAS version and prevent confusion.
I actually like the TInspire. The darn thing is actually intuitive, I figured out how to do all of the things my teacher had us do with instructional booklets without having to read the directions, and the instructions are clear.
While I find it unusual we all have to buy an expensive calculator that we can't even use on the ACT, I like the idea of getting the up to date technology. No longer do I actually skip math problems on my homework just because I detest my calculator, I actually find this one useful for checking my rather miserable algebra.
I agree with you about how unnecesary these new calculators are. They are much to expensive, as everything you can do on the N-Spire, you can do on an 89 by adding applications. Not only that, but its almost like they are making math incredibly easy. Why solve an equation by hand when you can type in s-o-l-v-e (equation), and perhaps these new calculators aren't going to help us learn as much.
ReplyDelete