http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Catholic+school+libraries+will+retooled+Picard/4799554/story.html#Comments
The Catholic School Board here decided that we don't need libraries in our schools. Just last week, they were claiming that no students used them, so they were being "eliminated" and all of the librarians were bing laid off. Students aren't exactly happy about this, and took to the streets in protest. Multiple high school had protests on the same dreary, rainy day.
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Board+vows+protesting+students+will+face+discipline/4789890/story.html
There have been reports that while enrollment is down (which means funding is down), School Board members have been getting pay raises! At first, Picard (not to be confused with Jean Luc Picard, who would've had Worf kick this Picard's ass faster than you can say "Engage!") claimed that this was all being done in the name of "budget cuts". But NOW, he's claiming that his plan is to "retool" the high school libraries and turn them into "digital hubs", much like the CAW Student Center here at U of W. He will then be taking all the books in the elementary school libraries and distributing them to the individual classrooms by age-appropriateness. This man has gone so far as to piss off 6th graders!
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Parents+threaten+pull+kids+Catholic+schools+over+library+protest/4806162/story.html
Now, there are a few problems with this faux-Picard's plans.
By distributing the elementary school books by "age appropriateness", they are punishing those who are not at the exact, perfect level of education that the board thinks they should be. Classrooms may not have books available for students who have learning disorders, dyslexia, or are just slow readers. On the flip side of this, students who are advanced readers will be punished by not being able to read anything geared to their level. I know that when I was in grade 6, I was borrowing my mother's Stephen King novels, while my best friends were still reading Goosebumps.
When it comes down to research material in grade schools, how do you determine a level of appropriateness? You can't just say "ok, we'll put 1.3 of the books in the grade 6 rooms, 1/3 in grade 7, and 1/3 in grade 8". That means that each grade would only have 1/3 of the materials they need for research purposes, unless they interrupt other grades' class time to borrow books. The only alternative is to separate the books by topic, and give each topic to a different class. But how do you decide which books go where? Can only 8th graders study dinosaurs? Once again, you'll be punishing both those who are ahead of and behind the "appropriateness" level of the class.
I don't think faux-Picard has ever been to the U of W. Yes, we have a Student Center. Yes, I go there and sit on my laptop to get work done. But that's only when I don't have time to take a break to eat. You see, our student center is also basically a cafeteria too. I can eat and work at the same time, and then go over to the library (!!!) where it is nice and quiet and there are BOOKS to use for research. When your students come from their "digital hub" schools and come to University, will they know how to take a book out of the library?
When babies are born, they don't know how to read. They have to learn this in school. THIS involves books! We encourage kids to read books. Lots of books. Books for school. Books for fun. Comic books. Newspapers. You know, the things you can get in a LIBRARY!
Originally this faux-Picard said that he was laying off all these librarians in the name of "budget cuts". Now he's going on about this "digital hub" he wants to create in schools, all thanks to some random girl he saw using a laptop, iPad and cell phone all at once in a Starbucks once. Do you know what it would cost to make new computers and iPads available to all these students? Probably not. This whole "digital hub" bullshit is just to cover his ass after the backlash against the lay-offs.
Have you ever tried to read a very large article on your computer? It freakin hurts! I end up printing out most of the journal articles I have to read, or *gasp* going to the school library and READING A DAMN BOOK!
Faux-Picard is now claiming that teachers will be staffing the "digital hub" on their spare periods, lunch hour, before and after school. Did he bother running this by the teachers? Do you have any idea how long it takes to mark just one essay for spelling, grammar, formatting, citations, content, and originality? Multiply that by 30. Then multiply that by the number of classes a teacher teaches in a day. Do you really think they want to spare the little time they have to sit around in the "digital hub", watching kids mindlessly surf the interweberverse?
So what's the deal Picard? Are you shutting libraries in order to save money, or to "retool"? How are you going to decide who gets to read what books? Have you talked to the teachers about their new roles?
I really don't think Picard has any clue what he's really doing here. His position and arguments here have more flip-flops than Payless Shoes in May.
