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Comment by Aeolun | Hacker News Reader

Why wouldn’t the dean tell them to go pound sand? Does Pearson do anything for the university except extracting money?

I did more or less. I said I’m the instructor of record I can decide how I take assignments. Next thing was “paperless” complaints. I was “using too much paper.” After a little back and forth they got tired of me, handed me a degree and told me to leave.

I think what really irked them was other students found out and started demanding it from all the real professors and adjuncts and in other contexts. Then I was an actual problem not just a troublemaker.

"Then I was an actual problem not just a troublemaker."

Maybe I'm weird, but this sounds like the highest form of compliment.

Nope. I see it the same way. Perhaps we are both weird then.

This is why we’re on “Hacker” news :)

It's the other 99% that are weird, not us.

Indeed! Well Played.

It’s also a great quote.

Publishers have a sales force that courts and encourages (bribes) academics and administrators. They fund conferences and provide jobs (writing textbooks).

It's a patronage network that exploits young people.

> exploits young people.

And their parents. And the general taxpayer (via student loans).

because that Dean is likely responsible for receiving payments - maybe not personally, but to the school - from that same business.

Or that business simply gives small preferred publishing deals to the Dean's professors. Often these professors have their own books that are required for the class (and nobody else uses these books).

You end up with books that sell < 100 copies a year that would never be published from a market demand perspective but provide extra $ for the professor (which matters to the Dean for retention and salary).

I graduated from a large state university engineering school 20 years ago and this was the case so I'm sure it's only become more "enshittified".

FYI, this has been going on since at least the 70s. Assigned text of sub-standard quality in one of my classes had been recently written by a prof at a neighboring college.

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