The Canon Store at the Ewha Campus Complex does not copy entire books for students, but they do bind photocopied books for them.
Copy businesses outside of school do illegal reproduction and sale of text books without question. This not only takes place at Ewha, but at other Korean universities as well.
“As photocopying books is so much cheaper, it is definitely appealing for students,” said Choi Ji-won (Yonsei University, 3).
Choi took a Christianity class in her freshmen year where students used illegal copied books.
“Almost veryone was illegally copying the textbook anyway so I just went with the flow,” she said.
There are clearly many reasons why this illegal copying occurs.
Some students don’t like buying textbooks they won’t entirely use.
“I do not see the point in buying an expensive textbook for class, when you can buy one that is at about half-price at copy places,” Kim Hyo (Media Studies, 1) said. “It is a bit of a rip-off, because it is not as if the professor will cover the entire book anyway.”
Others complain about the limited supply of foreign textbooks as the reason so many resort finding photocopied versions — some may only be found in special book stores in Korea. Students have no choice but to buy illegally copied versions of these textbooks.
Illegal copying may have benefits
“Some may only be
found in special book stores in Korea. Students have
no choice but to buy illegally copied versions
of these textbooks.”
for both students and copy shops that earn profits, but Professor Namkung Gon (Political Science) still questions the practice.
“I can understand why students wish to illegally copy textbooks because of their high price range, but I do believe that students should still buy the original copies of these textbooks,” he said.
“If students think about this problem in a broader sense, this is a bad image for the universities themselves as well as our country,” Namkung said. “It is a negative portrayal of Koreans themselves, almost as if they are cheating their way into society.”