02-28-2013, 10:59 AM | #136 | |
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But I don't accept the implication that parents just can't do anything about it. I think that they have a choice, and the choice is to let the schools and teachers take care of it all. Nobody forces them to buy televisions rather than books. I read an article recently in which the writer described how his mother, who did not know how to read, made sure her kids did learn to read. And she did this without their ever finding out that she was illiterate. If an illiterate mother can make sure her kids can read, I don't want to hear any excuses from or for anyone else. |
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02-28-2013, 11:54 AM | #137 | ||||||
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By that logic, anyone who wants an education can pay for it; why should the public support all those slackers in high school who're never going to have jobs more complex than janitor or barrista? The U.S. educational system--and libraries are part of that--is built on the premise that we all benefit from open access to knowledge. If libraries aren't being used enough to justify their costs, they need to be adjusted to provide access to the knowledge that most people need now. They may have more computers and fewer books in the future, but that doesn't mean libraries are meaningless in the 21st century. Quote:
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Libraries are not for "free access to books." Libraries are curated repositories of culture; they're a way for communities to share knowledge and the framework of assumptions that make *this* knowledge more important and interesting than *that* knowledge. Libraries have never been about "we shall provide all books everywhere forever;" they're "these books are of interest to our local community," with "local" defined broadly. If "books" are no longer the way most information is shared, then libraries should shift media focus;there's still plenty of need--more, perhaps, than in the past, when community identity was stronger--for the libraries themselves. |
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02-28-2013, 02:29 PM | #138 | |
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Books aren't just words, any more than words are just letters. The reductionism here boggles the mind. |
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02-28-2013, 06:45 PM | #139 |
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I support cramming more reading in. I have to wonder, however, how many books were read, on a daily basis, to toddlers like Socrates, Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, and a whole host of others. Are the products of our more child-centered culture more impressive than those of the past? If some of the reports about the rise of narcissism amongst today's youth are accurate, they probably think so.
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02-28-2013, 06:51 PM | #140 | |
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Last edited by crich70; 02-28-2013 at 08:28 PM. |
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02-28-2013, 08:38 PM | #141 |
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Oh, I suppose we could just sit our kids in front of televisions for 6 hours a day (oh, wait, most people already do that!) and we'll see the obvious effects television has on social behaviors (almost none of it good.) And then we can blame it all on children's books and libraries, because that's so obviously where the problems lie.
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03-01-2013, 08:51 AM | #142 |
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“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” -- Plato
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03-01-2013, 09:36 AM | #143 |
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My $0.02 worth
As a former Public Library Director and a Children's Librarian all I have to say is that the author of the article "Libraries have had their day" is sadly mistaken and shows his ignorance of the purpose of the Public Library.
Andrew Carnegie once famously stated that "The Public Library is the poor man's university" and IMO truer words have never been spoken. Public Libraries exist because not everyone is financially solvent enough to be able to afford to purchase every book that catches their fancy whether it be for the simple pleasure of being transported by the written word or having access to reading material to further their own education. As a poster on the wall of my office states "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no Libraries!" So what if the author only gets 6p every time one of his precious books is borrowed - that is 6p more than he otherwise would have received as it's highly likely that the folks who borrowed his books in the first place most likely wouldn't spend the 30p he gets retail to buy his book. Another factor this shortsighted individual neglects to consider are the number of his books that are sold because an individual was first exposed to his body of work via the Library. Libraries have suffered far greater attacks than the rantings of this fellow and will be around long after his remains have returned to dust! |
03-02-2013, 10:44 AM | #144 |
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Re #142, Plato didn't write that, nor, as far as I can tell, did any other ancient.
See: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/44998/ and http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Youth_nowadays The link above says the quote is a "paraphrase of a quote from Aristophanes' Clouds." However, when I follow the link to the passage from Aristophanes, well, each can judge for themselves, but I think Aristophanes was joking, and his meaning is arguably rather different. |
03-02-2013, 09:31 PM | #145 | |
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03-02-2013, 09:57 PM | #146 | |
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I really should be shaking my fist and yelling to stay off my lawn....and I'm only 35. *facepalm* |
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03-02-2013, 10:01 PM | #147 |
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03-02-2013, 10:11 PM | #148 | |
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I think many of us see it in our own personal lives, I know I do, people who cry poverty, can't/won't pay their bills but they've always got nice ''stuff''. The person I know personally couldn't be bothered to pay car insurance, was always late on rent, still has their mom paying the cell phone bill, even blew off payments to a debt consolidation company but her and her ''baby daddy'' had Xboxes, cable, internet, Hulu, this and that out the bloody wazoo. Like I said, I think there's far more absolute irresponsibility than true poverty in America. |
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03-02-2013, 10:29 PM | #149 |
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No. The post was about how kids have no respect for elders and show contempt for authority now days. If that isn't the fault of the decline of society due to loss of moral background (being taught right from wrong) and inability to give punishment to the kids when they do misbehave then whose fault is it? Granted its connection to reading is tenuous but it ties in with kids being taught to read by involved parents as well I think.
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03-02-2013, 10:33 PM | #150 | |
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