Overzealous professors waste money

By Melissa Peterson, Opinon Editor

Each quarter, students face the same task: buying books. You trudge down the stairs of the bookstore, search for the required texts and lug the arm-breaking load to the cash register. Most of the time you arrive to the row for a particular class and find a series of books listed as "required" texts.

Why then, have I so often never "required" the use of many books I purchase? At least one course every quarter leaves me with books that have collected dust all quarter. Most of these books will be half-priced or less come sell back time.

Who's to blame for this? The professors, of course. Though it's not quite as simple as that. None of the professors who required the purchase of these texts intentionally conspired to cause unnecessary financial annoyances to his students, I hope. In fact, I'm sure that the cause lies in their overachieving aspirations for what material the course might have time to cover. Either that, or it just comes down to plain miscalculations.

Maybe then this story is under the wrong heading; maybe it should be a "Request of the Week." My most humble request to professors is this: Please, oh please, be prudent when ordering those "required" texts. I thank you in advance for leaving me with an extra $20 in my pocket.

Melissa Peterson is a sophomore political science major.