eBay prohibits textbooks for homeschool teachers
A new policy by Internet trading behemoth eBay that bans homeschool teachers’ texts from its auctions is prompting a tirade of complaints from the company’s faithful customers.
“Really the homeschooling community is a huge participant in eBay when you get to thinking about it,” said one customer who was identified as ”angels*wings” on an eBay blog. “We buy textbooks naturally but we also purchase items like microscopes, slides, globes, maps, manipulatives, educational games, reading books, supplies for our classrooms … stickers, idea books, folders, sheet protectors, school supplies, software, educational movies, models, post cards … the list is enormous.”
The policy, which is inclusive of all teachers’ texts, was made known recently as those who were auctioning various books watched as their postings were deleted.
Cheating doesn’t help. Three guys cut class. The next day they come to class. The teacher asks where they were. We had a flat tire says one. Fine says the teacher, take your seats. Today we are having a test. Take out your pencils and each of you answer the following question and write down the answer. Which tire was flat? No cheating please!
There’s argument here because people like to disagree and be difficult. The other part is vanity. People like to show how much they know even if they know next to nothing. Making things more confusing and more complicated is fun. That’s how a lot of stuff works. Patch your tire and patch your software and then patch the patches before your operating system crashes. It’s a world of code and it is getting more complicated on the road ahead. Then you blow a tire! Ah fooey.
Uncle Jim
Your statement in #19 is one of the big problems with the education system. Study for the test! Is that is the motto?
No one is say that memory isn’t important but without the ability to apply that information it is worthless!
Memorization also does not lead to new discovery. Understanding said information does.
Good teachers give essay tests. Not multiple choice. Although, not flawless they do tend to weed out who does and does not understand the topic of the test.
I think a good motto is, “always be prepared.”
If you have a garden you learn something new from it every day If you don’t, you’re really not trying. The corn is very educational and the tastes good.
A guy just told me that Ebay is giving Google rights to advertise on sites outside of the U.S.. Why not inside the U.S.? Would that cause problems? I have no details on any of this yet. Make it up as you go along and always be unprepared. Got stuff to do in the U.S., so I gotta go! Good luck sorting it all out.
Sorry, the taste is good. My mistake.
The test is an assessment of how many of the learning objectives were met. The test is not the goal, meeting the course objectives is the goal. Very few of these texts contain final exams, at least among major publishers.
FWIW, as a publisher of said texts, we have been threatened with lawsuits by schools for allowing the sale of teacher editions and instructor materials. Keeping these editions out of the hands of students is absolutely necessary if the school is to maintain ANY credibility.
Unfortunately, home school parents get caught in the crossfire when online sales are restricted. The parents can usually call the publisher and purchase teacher editions. Good luck on the discounts, though.
Considering that you can purchase the teacher’s guide to just about every text book on the market from many other Internet sources, this is a pretty stupid policy other than to make some kind of corporate moral statement.
Uncle Jim
What? Your cute little anecdote is a little ambiguous.
You are right. Learning is the point. Memorization is not learning. You can memorize the formula for the circumference of a circle but unless you can apply it you have learned nothing. example. Most people know the formula E = mc2. But do they even know what it applies too? Do they even know what E, m and c represent? Do they even know what branch of science it comes from? If they don’t all they have is a group of figures memorized in an order that mean nothing.
I would LOVE,
That EACh school system would MAKE their own books…
ADD the history that is needed…
Math dont change, much, until you get to the higher math.
Reading dont change, just the way to teach it.
Writing, and spelling dont change.
90% of teaching dont change, except history and technical/scientific advancements…
It is easy to have it ALL formated and ready to print for EAVERY student, the books they will need and WANT… These books cost ALOT of money even to the schools.
Just make a FEW BIg files on the computer, and SELL the information, and LET THEM PRINT IT OUT, as needed…
Just a little taste of the real world these parents are sheltering their kids from.
I’m sure “Angel Wings” students are getting a great well balanced education.
Home schoolers are freaks anyway.
So screw them/
No! they are not freaks
There’s nothing wrong with home school. If that’s your thing it doesn’t bother me. If the kid is handicapped, going to school could be difficult or impossible so home school is a good way to go. Vic is just attacking for the sake of being mean. Back to the future with textbooks or back to the topic. Ebay is making a huge mistake by doing what they are doing. The good news is that there are ways around Ebay on this and they don’t want the business anyway. Some companies and schools would gladly donate books for the needs of home school teachers. A large online book exchange would allow people to swap unneeded books for books that could be used by others. Shipping via USPS media rate keeps costs down and everybody has an easier time finding books they can use. It seems like a good solution.
Uncle Jim
What? Your cute little anecdote is a little ambiguous.
??? I just thought it was corny.
J. you have posted everything I wished to say. Thank you for doing it so well.
***
Michael O’Conner, once again you are making totally weird, outlandish comments. Could you PLEASE back up any of your blather with some citations?
As for the quality of public vs private schools? This study found public schools better in math at grades 4 and 8.
http://tinyurl.com/q9wjl
What is a comdom? Did you mean condom? And what the hell is wrong with advising children to use condoms if they have sex. When contraception use (especially prophylactic devices) is strongly encouraged along with abstinence, the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancies are much lower.
http://tinyurl.com/muu8h
So for said family why can they not do home schooling and why are they being discrimintated against.
It is very simple. As a society, we all have a vested interest in the children growing up educated. If the children are taught by parents as poorly educated as you suggest, the children will end up just as stupid. Children are not property, owned by the parents. Children are the ones that choose which nursing home to put you in.
Michael, first, get a life, then get laid. You will feel much better about yourself later.
Back in high school, we found a teacher’s edition of our math textbook in the library and my friend checked it out. She would’ve gotten away with it if she didn’t run out of renewals. Once the librarian had to generate the renewal notice, and looked at the title, the gig was up.
Even though my friend swears she only used it to check her answers, she got in trouble for it and the book was pulled from student circulation.
I can quite understand disallowing teachers’ editions of textbooks from eBay for just that reason.
eBay can do what it wants…..thats it’s right as a private company. If the home school teachers(which should be parents) wish these materials, they are available on many sites at as good a price as eBay.
When my Mother started home schooling my oldest brother, he’s 38 now, it was not the best of times for homeschooling and getting books and materials was very tough. Most school districts refused to help you with anything. You were literally on your own. But she did it and did it well, none of us(there are 4 boys) have ever had our options limited by being home schooled. In fact, home schooling is what prepared me for University in England, where self- study and analytical ability is essential for students…..something lacking in most American students from public schools.
#8….J…….there are many studies that have been done on home schooled versus public school compareing the quality of the education both get. Even some done by the teachers unions that they weren’t happy to get the results of, as it showed that home schooled was as well and usually better educated.
Several univerities around the world and here in the U.S. welcome home schooled with open arms. I attend the most prestigious University in the world and it only took me 2 years after *graduating* from Mom’s home school to be accepted into it, in one of the most difficult degree programs they offer. My oldest brother has an MBA from the University of Arizona and runs a multi-million dollar agri- business, my next oldest brother has his MBA from Harvard and runs his own multi-million dollar brokerage firm, my brother just above me in age has his MD from University of Arizona and his PhD in Genetic Research from Stanford University, and I graduated from Oxford University with my law degree and am able to practice law in the U.K. and will be attending Oxford again this October for my advanced degree in Enviromental law and animal habitat……we are not social misfits….but we are all home schooled.
Oh…..and there are now over 1 million home schooled children in the U.S. alone, thats 2.2% of all school age,…..thats a lot of business for ebay to just toss off……it’s their right, but methinks it’s a very foolish move on their part.
And for *j*….this is the satistics from 2003 on home schooling versus public schooling.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Academic findings
The academic effectiveness of home education is largely a settled issue. Numerous studies have confirmed the academic integrity of home education programs, demonstrating that on average, home-educated students outperform their publicly-run school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects. Moreover, the performance gaps between minorities and gender that plague publicly-run schools are virtually non-existent amongst home-educated students.[13]
Some critics argue that while home-educated students generally do extremely well on standardized tests[14], such students are a self-selected group whose parents care strongly about their education and would also do well in a conventional school environment.
Some opponents argue that parents with little training in education are less effective in teaching. However, some studies do indicate that parental income and education level affect home-educated student performance on standardized tests very little.
Home-educated student curricula often include many subjects not included in traditional curricula. Some colleges find this an advantage in creating a more academically diverse student body, and proponents argue this creates a more well-rounded and self-sufficient adult. Increasingly, colleges are recruiting home-educated students; many colleges accept equivalency diplomas as well as parent statements and portfolios of student work as admission criteria; others also require SATs or other standardized tests. Some opponents argue that home education curricula often exclude critical subjects and isolate the student from the rest of society, or presents them with their parents’ ideological world views – especially religious ones – rather than the worldviews (characterised as secular humanism) sanctioned to be taught at state schools.
The results of home education with gifted and learning-disabled children have not been as thoroughly studied.
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any textbook publisher in America will sell anyone the teachers edition…what’s the big deal here?
But, back in MY DAY…we just would steal them off the teachers desk. Sheesh!
Ebays reasoning is not as bad as the headline makes it seem. Still, it seems like a non-solution to the problem of cheating which hurts a lot of people and doesn’t really solve anything.
How many students buy teachers editions to cheat? Very few, I’m guessing. Very very few.
The teachers editions that I remember seeing (they were not guarded in my public school) were not the same as leaked tests or term-papers for sale.
I do remember example tests in the teacher’s edition but I don’t think our teachers used those. (if they did, they’re bad teachers.)