Newly Revised – the difficulty recycling school books

August 19, 2010

If you don’t qualify for the Back to School allowance you could still save up to 66% off the cost of your children’s school books by buying secondhand where you can.

A recent study by Barnardos has found that the cost of sending a child to school now averages more than €800.

 

I accept the inevitability of new shoes, uniforms and even new school bags in most cases.  Harder to swallow is the costly replacement of newly revised books when my 6 year old and my 4 year old school goers are surrounded by a plethora of cousins happy to pass on their own used books – from just last year. I wouldn’t mind if “newly revised” meant the inclusion of a new revelation or fact or finding, the absence of which would be detrimental to my children’s education.  Revise away, I would say.  Instead, the term frequently means a change in page numbers and other information of little or no consequence – except inconvenience. The proliferation of workbooks- or as I call them, work-once books- and newly revised editions profit the publishing houses most, ensuring a never-ending demand.  

Almost 10million books are in use in the Irish school system.  A paltry 10%, or 1 million are re-used. The website Schoolbookexchange.ie has a campaign to “Freeze School Book Lists”. 91.3% of visitors to its site support its campaign. In the meantime, not all books are automatically revised so checkout their second-hand school book section and save on average 66% off the price of new books. They also have a section where you can list any school books you may wish to sell.  Alternatively, ask your principal about organising a swap day/s in your school.