Dear Students,
This is your very own free textbook. Use it well.
Why is this online textbook free? I'm glad you asked. Because textbook prices are too high. Duh! But seriously, I have other reasons for making this web-based text on Political Ideologies free to my students. The barriers to higher education are many--cost being a major one--and this is my own small assault on those barriers. Then there's the ethical issue: if I'm forcing you to read something I wrote, it seems ethically suspect of me to also force you to pay for it. While you are taking this course, you are a captive audience, but that doesn't mean I should automatically be able to transfer money from your bank accounts to mine. I also like the ideal that knowledge should be free from commercialization.
Standard textbooks tend to be boring and unnecessarily academic, so I've tried to counter that with a writing style that is down-to-earth and accessible for students who may not know anything about politics. Traditional textbooks also contain way more material that any sane professor can cover in one semester. This text focuses only on the things I think all educated persons should know about the subject, and doesn't waste time shoving every possible concept at you.
I'm saving you a pretty penny because you don't have to buy a textbook for this course. Consider spending some of your savings by taking a loved one to lunch, or donating to a charity, or contributing to your favorite grassroots political organization. Pay it forward.
David Hubert, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Salt Lake Community College
www.davidhubert.weebly.com
This is your very own free textbook. Use it well.
Why is this online textbook free? I'm glad you asked. Because textbook prices are too high. Duh! But seriously, I have other reasons for making this web-based text on Political Ideologies free to my students. The barriers to higher education are many--cost being a major one--and this is my own small assault on those barriers. Then there's the ethical issue: if I'm forcing you to read something I wrote, it seems ethically suspect of me to also force you to pay for it. While you are taking this course, you are a captive audience, but that doesn't mean I should automatically be able to transfer money from your bank accounts to mine. I also like the ideal that knowledge should be free from commercialization.
Standard textbooks tend to be boring and unnecessarily academic, so I've tried to counter that with a writing style that is down-to-earth and accessible for students who may not know anything about politics. Traditional textbooks also contain way more material that any sane professor can cover in one semester. This text focuses only on the things I think all educated persons should know about the subject, and doesn't waste time shoving every possible concept at you.
I'm saving you a pretty penny because you don't have to buy a textbook for this course. Consider spending some of your savings by taking a loved one to lunch, or donating to a charity, or contributing to your favorite grassroots political organization. Pay it forward.
David Hubert, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Salt Lake Community College
www.davidhubert.weebly.com