Letters
to the editor
Former
students can beat post-graduation blues
I’ve
been mentoring college students for more
than 20 years. My mother’s death
served as my motivation for giving back
to the community. She sacrificed her
life for our family and inspired me to
help others. By sharing her wisdom and
time-tested values I’ve been able
to keep her memory alive.
I’ve worked with students from UCLA, USC, San Diego State and Cal State
Long Beach, to name a few. My vision is to enable students to make the difficult
transition from college to the working world. It’s been a rewarding experience.
I hope my students have benefited from my efforts.
Lately, I’ve focused on CSULB. I live in Long Beach and don’t like
traffic so it made sense to offer myself to the university. I sit on the Mentoring
Business Program’s Advisory Board. I’ve noticed many of my mentees
are burned out.
They graduate from college, party for a month or so and start their careers.
A few months later I hear from them via e-mail. They talk about being overwhelmed
and depressed about working full-time or find it very frustrating to land a
job they enjoy.
Welcome to the real world, kids. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. I tell them
to review the things they learned from me. I wasn’t blowing smoke. Developing
leadership skills is the key to their survival.
You have to have a plan or you’ll be just another candle blowing in the
wind. The only way to cut through the confusion is to be proactive.
This isn’t theory. This is practical application. My goal is to help
them believe in themselves. Self-confidence is extremely important. If you
don’t believe in yourself why should others believe in you? Shake the
blues off and go for it!
— Tony Rodriguez,
CSULB alumnus
Textbook
prices article misses the point
The
Daily Forty-Niner’s Aug. 29 article, “Bundling
leads to high textbook prices,” missed
the critical facts about the value of textbooks
to students, why instructors choose one
textbook over another and the hundreds
of choices publishers make available
to instructors and students.
Recent misstatements have led to misunderstandings about the role of faculty
in the textbook buying process, book costs and the value of supplemental instructional
materials to student success. After all, faculty are among the best educated
and most sophisticated consumers in the world.
The article misses several important facts:
• Seventy-five percent of instructors require or recommend their students
use supplementary books or digital materials, according to a Zogby International
survey.
• That same survey established 80 percent of professors say it is important
that the material in texts used for their courses be as current as possible,
and 62 percent prefer to order texts with the most recent copyright date.
• Publishers’ revision cycles have been steady for the last 10 years,
averaging four years between editions from 1996 to 2004.
• The vast majority of costs needed to develop a single textbook, which
can total more than $1 million, are intellectual costs: authors, editors, reviewers
and designers; paper, ink and cardboard are incidental when compared to the cost
of content. A textbook is more than just ink on paper.
• Publishers have responded to price concerns by expanding their lower-cost
options, and the average price of a new textbook is $52.36, according to the
National Association of College Stores.
GAO’s report says, “the college textbook has evolved … to
enhance the educational experience for instructors and students.” The
focus of publishers is to continue to provide a broad range of materials at
the best possible price.
— Stacy Scarazzo
assistant director for higher education, Washington D.C. |
