Schools, not Students, should be 'Booked!'

Being an academician who teaches business and takes ethics seriously, I read with dismay the article "As Textbooks Go 'Custom,' Students Pay" in the WSJ. According to this report some professors are creating "custom" textbooks for their courses. Students cannot buy these books the used book market, and usually cannot sell them after completion of the course. The 'bottom line' is that academic departments get a 'kickback' from the publishers in the form of royalties.

I have used custom books for my graduate courses and for some advanced undergraduate courses, using services like Xanedu or University Readers. For the advanced courses, there is often no appropriate text, and the reading materials I prescribe include chapters from different texts, case studies, journal articles and other material. I don't expect a student to resell this book, so the resale value is irrelevant to me. However, I don't take any royalties or bribes, even if it goes to the department.

Some departments have argued that these royalties from publishers help subsidize other valuable areas. It is precisely this type of argument that guts the development of a sound ethical base in students. And then folks wonder why there is widespread cheating in every sphere of life. The recent story involving GMAT takers and the website Scoretop- GMAC and FBI expose test cheats, should be reminder to all those in academia to practice ethics first and then to enforce them ruthlessly.