"...ceremonial book burning to celebrate the end of the semester..."
Must be nice to be rich, I always tried to sell my books back, I needed the coin. I celebrated, if I passed, by not retaking the class...
The whole lot of books for the semester only sell back for for about $4. Plus, not all of the books we buy can be sold back, because the teachers require the newest edition. For some of the more hated classes, there seemed to be much more value in torching them.