A Student's Perspective on Open

Open. Access. Two words when strung together produce something beautiful: the cost of my education goes down.

It means I have the choice to pay what I see fit, in most cases, for a textbook that I need for class.

For all of my college career I paid premium prices for textbooks, spending nearly $600 a semester. But did I have a choice? No. Could I do anything about the prices of the books or the format in which I read them? No. Then along came Flat World Knowledge. Discovering them rocked my world, changed my perception on how things are and what they could be.

I was delighted to score an internship with a company that has an upright mission, a truly admirable goal. I never understood how or why something as fundamental as knowledge, which should be guaranteed and accessible to every human being on this planet, would be kept at such a high price and in effect away from the people who need it.

Flat World Knowledge taught me that it’s not necessary to maintain the status-quo. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Just like with every other major turning point in our nation’s history, it begins with someone standing up and saying “No! I won’t take this anymore.” I believe that’s what Flat World Knowledge has done. It’s taken a stand against an industry that wants nothing more than to keep reaping outrageous benefits at the expense of students like me.

Now, more than ever, I believe students need to stand up alongside what is just and right. We don’t have to keep paying this much money for books. We can make sure that future generations have access to knowledge at a reasonable price. Talk to your Professors about the prices of books. Let them know you would like them to take a look at a great alternative. If enough people take a stand, we stand a chance at change. And that was the best lesson I’ve ever learned. Thought I would share it.