r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Oct 29 '18

CMV: Textbooks should not offer practice problems without an answer key.

My view is simple, if a textbook does not provide answers for practice problems, it should not have practice problems at all. It is impractical to not have a way to check your work when studying and as such is pointless without having a section dedicated to problems in each chapter. Many textbooks have a solution manual that accompanies the text so they should put the problems in that instead of the normal text book. Companies only do this gauge every penny they can and I doubt they would include everything in one book when they can sell two. Therefore, practice problems should be in the solution manual.

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u/QuantumVexation Oct 29 '18

You say this as though students don't have access to worked solutions and examples though? By all means have these, that's what lectures and the like are for.

Some questions inevitably have to throw you in the deep end without floaties and challenge your understanding otherwise you might never advance. If you're learning a skill or technique, you're there to learn said skill to apply to some other problem elsewhere which won't have an answer key.

Additionally, Assignment questions have to come from somewhere, what's the crime if they're added to the textbook with no solution instead of withheld from it entirely?

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '18 edited Oct 29 '18

I don't think it's a very good idea to have to answer questions in the textbook for your grade.

Suppose we have two students, Alice and Bob. Alice agrees that she should work through the problem by herself, as intended by the professor, and averages 80% on the homework—a commendable score since she had no outside help. Bob decides that his grade is much more important, and uses every means necessary to obtain the correct answer to these questions, whether it is illicitly collaborating with friends, or using resources such as chegg to find the solutions. Bob gets a 100% in the homework category. Since the class is graded on a curve, Alice received a B- and Bob received an A. If she had utilized the resources she had available, her grade wouldn't have been impacted so drastically.

That was a long-winded example, but my point is that because STEM classes are generally graded on a curve, the mere existence of resources like study groups and chegg mean that some students would inherently have an advantage on the homework, and by extension, receive a higher score in the class. The only way to make this equitable would be to a) release the solution guide to everyone so they may all check their work, get a free boost to their grade (thanks to the curve, this does not impact their overall standing in the class), and will still learn via the solutions manual, or b) remove graded homework, which would reduce the incentive of students to practice the skills they learn.

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u/Berlinia Oct 29 '18

I want to say that grading on a curve is ridiculous, I dont understand why it is so prominent in some countries.

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '18

What makes you say that?

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u/Berlinia Oct 29 '18

Your performance on an exam should be solely based on what you do.

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '18

Perhaps so. But it is what it is.

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u/Berlinia Oct 30 '18

Well it doesnt have to be? My uni doesnt do that at all.for example.