Ethics question
 

cliff notes: have to spend 100 bucks on a piece of paper to pass a course, while a good portion of the class does not. Considering stealing said paper. College text book prices bitching/complaining thread.

background:

If you are currently a college student, or have been in the last 20 years or so, you are probably aware of the bs that occurs with new editions of text books. I am in my last year of college and have learned to accept it, until now.

Publishers will make new editions of text books with little to no changes to the material sometimes. The changes are purely cosmetic (cover art, layout etc...) I am not really sure how the business end of it works specifically, but it is my understanding that this is done to balance out the fact that university book stores will buy books back from students, and resell them used, thus cutting into the sales of the publisher.

Now here is my ethics dilema...

I am a Restaurant and Hotel Management major. There is a course this semester that has a lot of people in my major in it, but also some business majors taking it as an elective.

The first day of class, the professor basically states that she will not be using the text book, and you dont have to purchase it, the test material will come 100% from lecture. HOWEVER...if you are a major in this field, there is a certification test at the end of the semester that requires a special red scantron found in the back of the new textbook.

So basically i need to drop $100 + tax for a single sheet of paper, while non majors will get the same educational experience from the class that i will by not buying the text book.

I have never stolen anything before in my life, but i am tempted to go into a book store and just cut a hole in the plastic wrapping of one of these books and grab the scantron. Who will lose money from this? the bookstore will just sell the book used for 75 bucks or so, so a loss of 25.

I have always just dealt with the insanity of book prices before, and accepted it as part of my education expenses, but this for some reason has upset me. I read an article that mentioned that since 1994, student book prices have been increasing at a rate of 4x that of inflation.

So my morals are dropping for this instance, but chances are im too much of a pansy to actually steal this thing. What do you guys think?

Re: Ethics question
 

Yeah, college textbook costs are an insane scam.

That said, you're getting a certification and the business majors are not. Pay the $100 and deal with it.

Re: Ethics question
 

burn the bookstore down, obv.

Re: Ethics question
 

why not just get the sheet from someone in your class who is non major? That being said, if that is not an option I would go ahead and steal it.

Re: Ethics question
 

Buy the Scantron from a non-bellhop major for $10?

Re: Ethics question
 

Or go to a copy machine. If not then I like whorasaurus's answer the best.

Re: Ethics question
 

Maybe research how many corporations are keen on hiring people with an adult record of shoplifting. Ask yourself if it's worth $100 not to take that chance.

At least first try to find someone who purchased the book and doesn't need the scantron. I bet they will take $25 for it.

Re: Ethics question
 

[ QUOTE ]
why not just get the sheet from someone in your class who is non major? That being said, if that is not an option I would go ahead and steal it.

[/ QUOTE ]

non majors wont be buying the book, as the proffesor told us that the book for the course will not be used at all, so there is no reason to buy it. unless you need this sheet of paper...

Re: Ethics question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe research how many corporations are keen on hiring people with an adult record of shoplifting. Ask yourself if it's worth $100 not to take that chance.

At least first try to find someone who purchased the book and doesn't need the scantron. I bet they will take $25 for it.

[/ QUOTE ]

yea thats the main reason i probably wont end up doing it. im probably 95% sure i could pull it off no problem, but it just not worth the risk. they have a few cameras from what i saw, but mainly its just those big circle mirrors that allow you to see around corners.

the book in question is on the bottom shelf, figured if i actually wanted to do it, i could just pull out a few pieces of paper like i was looking at a sylabus for class, put them next to the book and just put the scantron in that. but again, the chance of someone walking past me the second i was doing that and getting nailed just wouldnt be worth it.

Re: Ethics question
 

look on one of those used book websites or craigslist or something and offer somoene money for the sheet. you can do this without spending $100 OR shoplifitn