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Comment by lordleft | Hacker News Reader

I think that high textbook prices is one of the many little signals we sent young people, for the last 3-5 decades, that we are not interested in creating a better world for them. Isn’t it interesting how little effort has been invested in mitigating the runaway cost of higher education? That we enabled college administrators to turn up the cost dial without speed bumps? No wonder why young people have become cynical: we exploit them at every turn.

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Yes - why do students feel fine pirating text books? Because it’s blatantly obvious to even the most doe-eyed freshman that they’re being fucked by the textbook company and that the administrators and professors are at best complicit. Welcome to the university, now ignore all that crap on the marketing material and open your wallet - no, the 17th edition of “discrete math” isn’t acceptable, you need the 18th.

Especially because there's no way undergraduate discrete math has changed significantly since last year - the only difference is going to be shuffling the page and problem numbers around so you can't get away with using the older textbook.

Yeah it seems to be a very prevalent thing in the world.

We exploit 20 something year olds new found freedom and cashflows. This is the first time they are making money and are looking to be independent and "grown up" or "find themselves" so the market says "hey, I'll help you find yourself if you give me money."

Young people have a natural sense of invisibility. "I can do anything I set my mind to" has been burned into their brains since grade school. The market turns this into "I can buy anything I want to."

It's like society says "Look, you're grown up now so you need to participate in the economy. Not only do you need to make money, but what's more important is you need to spend money so I can have it."

This is done around all key stages of life where insecurities can be exploited.

The wedding industry from wedding rings to venues, new babies, even interviewing for white collar jobs used to be accompanied with the need for a new suit.

Once it can be established something is important and to be revered, rent seeking knows no bounds.

All true and don't forget that even death you're not safe (the funeral industry is one of the worst offenders).

The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death

The world burns hotter and more apparent everyday to the younger generation, those of us that survive are going to be extremely cynical for the rest of our lives.

Goal misalignment - education vs profit, and similarly health vs profit. Both discriminate against poor people by making their services too expensive to reach.

Absolutely. My entire university experience confirmed this: Structurally, the place didn't give a shit. Individuals in the system were great, but the system itself was primarily set up to extract from students while they are too naive to resist it, and indebt them to the financial system.

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