Quote:
Originally Posted by Harmon
Anyone who WANTS to read can find books to read.
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Without libraries, this is just not true. There are a ton of preschoolers out there with minimal access to books at home. Preschoolers need multiple picture books read to them each day. In an income below the poverty line, even used books are just not affordable at the rate of reading that needs to take place for literacy development.
Then, schoolchildren. With no school libraries, what are they supposed to read? Photocopied comprehension sheets and nothing else? My kid's school actively does the Lexile programme (along with lots of other reading), and he's been borrowing three Lexile books a week from the school library. Where are these supposed to come from if not from there?
And then, adults. Serious readers read up to 20-30 books per month. Secondhand books are around $2-8 dollars here (more for newer used books). How on earth could someone without money for anything other than rent, bills and food afford that? Even casual but consistent readers on a low income, at 2-4 books a month, would be looking at doing some serious cuts to the food budget. And I'd expect secondhand book prices to rise, and availability to contract, if libraries didn't exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harmon
The problem is that not very many people want to read. And a bigger problem is that our schools seem to have become incapable of teaching people to read.
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Our mileages vary a lot here. I'm wondering how exactly you expect schools to teach reading and adults to want to read if there weren't public lending libraries.