(no subject)
Boy, I sure hate it when parents come into the used textbook store to "help" their children buy books. Now, I've seen some pretty brain dead kids come in there - the anti-bridge student, for one - but no matter how dumb they are, they'll figure it out. And most of the kids that come in there know what classes they're taking, and can keep track of what books they've bought and haven't bought without their parents dictating EXACTLY which symbol to put beside the books they have ("NO! DON'T PUT AN X! PUT A CHECKMARK! THERE! RIGHT THERE, ON THAT SIDE!") They can usually decide whether they want to pay $2 more for a book without highlighting in it without their parents weighing in haughtily (you wouldn't believe how much store some of these parents put in the condition of the textbooks - "Oh, you don't want a book with UNDERLINING in it, we'll just go get it NEW if we have to *haughty sniff*!") And believe it or not, the kids can decide for themselves if I know what I"m talking about when I say we don't have a book in stock. ("Dad, they don't have it, let's go. Dad, no, she said she's sure! DAD, SHE KNOWS WHAT AN ISBN IS, THEY REALLY DON'T HAVE IT.")
Hope to god I won't be a parent like that. I'm going to send my kid off to the bookstore with a decently loaded debit card and let them have at it. Of course I'll check up on book prices ahead of time to make sure I know what it will cost... but I'm not going to hover. If they want to buy a crappy copy and spend the rest on beer soda-pop that's their decision.
Hope to god I won't be a parent like that. I'm going to send my kid off to the bookstore with a decently loaded debit card and let them have at it. Of course I'll check up on book prices ahead of time to make sure I know what it will cost... but I'm not going to hover. If they want to buy a crappy copy and spend the rest on beer soda-pop that's their decision.