A Skimpy Little Text Book

We are well into our third spring and I had to kick myself for forgetting my camera today when I was driving around. The rushing brown water was pretty spectacular in the swollen rivers. The school is again not going skiing and I suppose if Mike had to pick a season to break his collar bone, this ski season was the one. Believe it or not, even though the mountain is closed today, they are reopening tomorrow and there are no bare spots listed in the ski report.

Daniel is doing the lifeguard course at the local YMCA and has two weekends to go. We have a summer recreation program in our town that provides entertainment for the younger kids and employment for the students 14 and older. They are always in need of lifeguards and only two are chosen for the free 3 weekend course from each township. Otherwise it's $300 for the course. Fortunately Dan was one of the two from our area chosen as he desperately wants to work and he will not be driving until August. The counselors and life guards take the bus to the pool with the kids so there is no need for transportation. After the qualifying swimming test last Thursday, Dan was told he would need $48 for the course book. Ok, I thought, it must be a pretty nice book. Well I took one look at that "book" and was pretty horrified at what $48 had just bought me. This book is barely a quarter of an inch thick and only 200 pages including the index. They did give out free bic pens though. Wow!



Now c'mon folks, what the heck? Why are prices jacked up any time an education label is put on a book? It's the same for college books. They are outrageous. My question is why? Shouldn't these books cost the least?