Three Ways to Stop or Reduce the Gatekeeping of Knowledge

Any university or college student who has gone to school in the last five to ten years has probably been at least annoyed, if not financially impacted by the prices of required textbooks for courses. If you are a really cheap student or you have been unable to get textbooks due to the pandemic (like myself), you have probably tried to do your courses without the aid of the textbook or tried to share notes with a classmate. However, this can impact your performance in the course and understanding of the content. 

If you are an avid reader of non-fiction, science, political, or economics, you too have probably been impacted by the prices of some credited pieces you would love to get your hands on. However, at least once, supply and demand was not on your side, and your bank account was screaming at you not to demand it that much.

These are examples of gatekeeping knowledge, and for a long time this has been going on without much resistance. Students in primary and secondary school have to deal with donated or old books that ring in at an age older than their parents. Students and scholars in post-secondary have to pay dearly to find textbooks that are just recently released, meaning that they don’t even have the option of used materials. And recreational readers are sometimes annoyed that the book said to make you into a millionaire costs a fortune on its own right now.

Don’t get me wrong; I hold no ill will toward the authors or the people who work in the publishing process or the retailers. However, it has been known for a long time now that knowledge is becoming a function of disposable income and, really, the presence of any income at all. How can we stop or reduce the gatekeeping of knowledge on academic topics unless one is wealthy, and still get the authors the compensation and credit they deserve? 

I have a few proposals, and then I will outline some potential benefits from these changes, as well as the drawbacks. 

1. Have substantial discounts for students when they prove their status as a current student or when they use the university/college bookstore. Reward the students for spending more money at that institution when they could buy a paperback textbook for only twenty bucks more through online retailers than they could buy a temporary access code for an e-book through their university bookstore (one of my textbooks as an e-book rental was $75 through the bookstore and would only be $100 through eFollet for a paperback). I understand that the reason these prices are so low is probably because of some unethical exploitation of a worker somewhere, but how about the university’s manipulation of those students? They are already paying at least $550 per course for at least two years, and now they have to pay an additional 70, 80, 150 dollars above that per course in order to not fail. This adds stress to their plates, potentially further decreasing their performance in the course, or they will engage in some not-so-ethical activity themselves in order to get a free copy of the textbook online… Most university students know what I am referencing here. So, we could offer group discounts in universities like they do for transportation, and using this group deposit we could offer some free copies for those in need. And, rentals that are also e-books should be noticeably cheaper than the hard copy. They should not say “Well, it’s only forty bucks more to get the physical one, so I might as well save me some eye-strain.” They should be able to say “Wow, that’s a really good deal!” One of the cons of this method would be that the bookstore does not get paid quite as much per year as they do now. Actually, they may even end up making more by improving their sales to hundreds more students each term by making their prices affordable for people who are literally living off of government loans for now. So, really, the only con is that illegal websites may be used less often; that doesn’t concern the bookstores though.
2. Make textbooks more widely available in bookstores, either online such as Kobo or Kindle, or in store such as Chapters. This approach would not only lower the cost of individual textbooks for students, but in doing so it would open the knowledge to the general public. Some people may be thinking that this would make universities go out of business because people could then get the equivalent of a university education for thousands less, but this is actually untrue. It is untrue because with the current requirements for many jobs, people getting an education to fulfill a certain career plan still need that piece of paper at the end of it saying they won’t chop off the wrong leg or something. And, even if that does change in the future, and most people can get jobs they like without going to college, then I would personally count that as a step back in the right direction. University was originally a place to go to learn and explore and enrich your life, but it has become a huge institution whose only purpose is to produce degrees and 9-5 jobs for millions of people in a country. Not to mention, even if universities and colleges do drop in popularity, educators and professors can actually do a lot more to make money and enjoy life. They can do guest lectures that are open to the public, similarly to Ted Talks. Or they could sell their pre-recorded lectures to students and members of the public so they could gain passive income (making money without actively doing any further work). Or they could even write their own books, make them available to the public, and combine all the above avenues into a comfortable retirement plan.
3. Coasting off of the previous point, professors and textbook writers could self-publish their books online, in paperback, or in hard covers. Many authors are now turning to this much cheaper and much more efficient avenue for writing and publishing books. They don’t have to worry about having a publisher that will take a significant portion of the earnings for themselves, nor do they need to get an overly expensive editor. They also would be able to make more decisions about who gets ahold of their book, where it is sold, how it is produced and distributed, as well as the formatting of the book. This is a really good idea if you are a scholar and want your stuff published and have the means to do it, and it is passive income after you publish it either online or in stores. The only continued cost may be having to pay a printer company to make pre-ordered paperbacks, but you could even choose which one to use.

Now, there are a lot of benefits to these avenues.

• Fewer people would need to find illegal ways to obtain materials for school, and copyright violations would not be so common.
• More people in the general public would be able to make informed decisions about their money, their lifestyles, their political decisions, and their careers.
• Individual profits of authors would go up and their quality of life would increase by not having to be away from home all the time.
• The huge dollar amounts in student loans would drop significantly because explorative programs such as Bachelor of Arts would not be necessary to open future avenues.
• Bookstores would open up a whole new demographic of buyers, increasing their sales
• Professors who write their own books would be able to sell to more customers

Some cons may be:

• The decreased need for big publishing companies, in which case publishers could become independent, freelancers, or become writers themselves.
• Bookstores would face the risk of having to find which types of academic books sell best, but they do this frequently so they should survive it.
• Online free book sources may get fewer users because they are no longer needed by the masses of students enrolled each year
• Professors who promote their own textbooks and writings in class will need to also do marketing outside of classrooms
• Universities may become less popular for exploratory programs

These are, of course, only three ways we could increase the knowledge of our society, and only some of the benefits and drawbacks of these three methods. However, these could show substantial increases in both monetary gains and quality of life of both those looking for books and those who sell them. If you think it would work, or if this would benefit you or someone you know, please share!

Until next time, keep thinking outside the box, and keep reading in between!