In My Humble Opinion Bawlin' about books

Author: Daniel Roberts

You know what activity at the beginning of each semester I really like? Going to get books. The walls containing giant, heavy anthologies that you have to buy, even though you know the teacher will only assign a few chapters from them. The long lines snaking out into the hallway, as if there is an exclusive, awesome party going on inside.

Then you get admitted and - surprise! No sweet DJ or beer garden. Instead, this rager is being thrown by the school store. You have a unique privilege: come in, drop a few hundred bones, and leave with a load of books you may not have even wanted.

Buying books becomes a pricier endeavor every semester. How many people that you know made sure to get substantial jobs this summer purely because they were already anticipating the beating their wallets would take once they purchased books? Nobody you know? Your mom pays for all your books?

Well fine, you spoiled brat. Just kidding. Seriously though, the whole ordeal is far from pleasant.

Do you remember how this system worked in high school? We were given the books for each course. It was pretty nice. We would arrive at, say, AP Calc (or in my case, Remedial Addition & Subtraction) and they would simply hand out a copy of the textbook to each kid in the room. Then we would get to fill out those nice slips with the book number (2001-82) and teacher (Longnecker). And yes, by the way, I did have a science teacher named Mr Longnecker. His name provided the only entertainment I ever got out of 8th grade Life Science.

Now, some of you are saying, "Yeah, but the reason you got those books for free was because the taxpayer's dollars were buying them, so they weren't really free."

Okay, genius, but as far as I knew, they were free. The eighty-five dollars for Ecce Romani Level 3 was not coming from my pocket.

So I was remembering those days of innocence fondly as I walked out of the book room with my $376 cardboard box. Later, I noticed a Facebook group about Tax Free Textbooks. With my "exciting" new books already shoved under my bed, I clicked to read that the student council of U Texas would soon pass a "tax free resolution" that covers all student textbooks. Their "campaign" has earned the support of Texas senator Judith Zaffirini, who may try to make this a rule for the entire state.

According to online sources, 15 states offer tax exemption on textbooks. Vermont is not one of them. Why not? The average student spends $900 per school year on books. Why not join U Texas and campaign for the same reform at Midd?

My tax total came to only $22, which may seem insignificant, but that was $22 I could have spent on snacks or "beverages." Or, you know, more books... I guess. All I am suggesting is that this seems like a good idea. If we cannot get tax-free books, couldn't we at least keep more old copies of books in all the classrooms? Whatever.

There's always the option of refusing to buy any books, and just never doing the readings for your classes.

I hear that works really well.