by Lianne Castelino www.whereparentstalk.com
Is it any wonder that more and more, many parents are choosing to work two jobs, remortgage their homes, live leaner, smaller lives, make hard choices and sacrifices and whatever else it takes to send the kids to private school.
The latest round of fodder for a private school education comes after one school board in Ontario which announced it is getting rid of all of its school libraries. Hardly shocking perhaps for those who have witnessed the rapid deterioriation of school libraries over several years now, however, stunning for those of us who revere books and the place where they are found. I don’t understand it.
Sure, we live in a tech age where books can be purchased, viewed and enjoyed digitally, and yes the whole act of pleasure reading is taking a back seat to electronic gaming, tv watching and other visual entertainment that does not involve words or text.
But how in the world can we not find the need to protect and preserve school libraries. Is it not more important than ever to teach current and future generations about the importance of books? We weren’t all born with e-readers in our little hands were we? Don’t kids of every generation need to
understand the value of books, which are considered gold in some countries, I might add.
How have we disturbed reason so much that we no longer have time within the daily/weekly or monthly school curriculum for library time.
I just don’t understand it.
There are a zillion other parts of a school budget that could likely be revised, revisited, reworked to accommodate library time, librarians and librairies themselves.
Goodness knows if one feels strongly about saving something, the money will be found.
Somehow we find money for smartboards in almost every class. And we can’t scrape up some
funds for the library? And yet it seems like every year the fundraising tactics increase and the school programs get nipped, tucked and slashed.
So ridiculous and frustrating.
Do not get me started on gym class.
