Houstons largest school district announces that all school libraries to close and be replaced by disciplinary centres.

[Goonie]

Houston school district to turn libraries into disciplinary centers

Critics condemn superintendent Mike Miles’s ‘new education system’ that removes students’ access to books

www.theguardian.com

Seriously? Talk about a society losing it, i thought Running Man was a fun B movie, not a documentary.

 

[comana]

What could possibly go wrong with associating libraries with punishment.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Do they have a lot of bad kids in Texas?

 

[Goonie]

Do they have a lot of bad kids in Texas?

Well going by Ted Cruz yes.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Basically they are getting rid of libraries in schools. And replacing them with discipline centers. It would be better to keep the libraries and encourage all students, especially the bad students to read more libraries books. It looks like Texas want students and grown ups to be uneducated. Sad!

 

[Goonie]

Basically they are getting rid of libraries in schools. And replacing them with discipline centers. It would be better to keep the libraries and encourage all students, especially the bad students to read more libraries books. It looks like Texas want students and grown ups to be uneducated. Sad!

Well how else do you get people to vote republican or not at all! Doh!

 

[public hermit]

I get it. It's hard to maintain a narrow, stifling ideology when you've got a room full of books that could expose the lie. Good for them. Blessed tyranny will follow close behind.

 

[Nithavela]

Apparently not all libraries are nixed, only those in selected schools.

Anyone want to guess which criteria the selection is based upon?

 

[keith99]

Apparently not all libraries are nixed, only those in selected schools.

Anyone want to guess which criteria the selection is based upon?

What color the kids are?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Sounds like (based on the article) the school district was taken over by the state due to poor academic performance, so it doesn't sound like a lot of time was being spent in the library in the first place.

I hate to sound "harsh", but aren't the concept of libraries kind of obsolete now anyway? Just about any book someone could want it right at their fingertips with the internet. I have access to more content than my local library could ever have room for in my pocket. It'd be kind of like fretting over a store closing it's CD section whenever everyone has Pandora or Spotify.

The part of the story that this article isn't mentioning (but that other outlets have acknowledged, even left leaning ones like the Daily Beast) "The libraries’ books will remain on the shelves, and available for students to take out", so the physical copies of books will still be there if someone wants to read them.


Is there a remote possibility that due to partisan politics, Texas is getting bashed for something simply because they're Texas?

Given that New York and California have both had school districts replace their physical libraries with digital and e-book systems and use the physical building space for something else (and nobody said a peep), I'm guessing that we already know the answer to that question.

 

[keith99]

Sounds like (based on the article) the school district was taken over by the state due to poor academic performance, so it doesn't sound like a lot of time was being spent in the library in the first place.

I hate to sound "harsh", but aren't the concept of libraries kind of obsolete now anyway? Just about any book someone could want it right at their fingertips with the internet. I have access to more content than my local library could ever have room for in my pocket. It'd be kind of like fretting over a store closing it's CD section whenever everyone has Pandora or Spotify.

The part of the story that this article isn't mentioning (but that other outlets have acknowledged, even left leaning ones like the Daily Beast) "The libraries’ books will remain on the shelves, and available for students to take out", so the physical copies of books will still be there if someone wants to read them.


Is there a remote possibility that due to partisan politics, Texas is getting bashed for something simply because they're Texas?

Given that New York and California have both had school districts replace their physical libraries with digital and e-book systems and use the physical building space for something else (and nobody said a peep), I'm guessing that we already know the answer to that question.

You do realize they are also getting rid of the librarians at those schools, or do you? You know the people who help a student find what they are looking for, the ones who not only deliver a book but also deliver a book that the kid might actually enjoy reading. Having lots of books, but no way to find the one you want is enough to discourage most adults. It is also enough to keep a kid in a disadvantaged neighborhood from reading at all.

 

[FireDragon76]

Sounds like (based on the article) the school district was taken over by the state due to poor academic performance, so it doesn't sound like a lot of time was being spent in the library in the first place.

I hate to sound "harsh", but aren't the concept of libraries kind of obsolete now anyway? Just about any book someone could want it right at their fingertips with the internet.

Not really, no. Alot of those books, if they are on the internet, are behind paywalls.

 

[FireDragon76]

Houston school district to turn libraries into disciplinary centers

Critics condemn superintendent Mike Miles’s ‘new education system’ that removes students’ access to books

www.theguardian.com

Seriously? Talk about a society losing it, i thought Running Man was a fun B movie, not a documentary.

You aren't wrong. America is becoming like an 80's cyberpunk dystopia. In fact it has been for some time.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Not really, no. Alot of those books, if they are on the internet, are behind paywalls.

...but that's somewhat moot considering the daily beast article said the books will remain on shelves for kids to take out. So any physical book available to them before will still be available.

Plus, much like many New York systems have done, Houston's school district actually has a rather robust e-book system

Library Services / HPL Learning Link

www.houstonisd.org

• More than one million books, e‐books, magazines, and research materials
• Free Wi‐Fi and computer access at all 43 HPL locations

So regardless, it sounds like people are making a mountain out of a molehill because of the state this happens to be occurring in.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

You do realize they are also getting rid of the librarians at those schools, or do you? You know the people who help a student find what they are looking for, the ones who not only deliver a book but also deliver a book that the kid might actually enjoy reading. Having lots of books, but no way to find the one you want is enough to discourage most adults. It is also enough to keep a kid in a disadvantaged neighborhood from reading at all.

Yes, just like the aforementioned Cali and NY schools have done.
(and for the record, the e-learning systems and search capabilities in them can help a person find a book as well)

Just one point of reference:
60% of (the 1800) schools in NYC don't have a librarian, and 40% don't have a physical room on-prem that serves as a library (and has been replaced with e-book systems much like the one Houston has)


For California (per their own DOE site)
Only 9% of their schools have a librarian on staff, and 16% of their schools don't have a physical space designated as a library.


Despite those surprising numbers (when considering they're blue states), both NY and Cali rank in the top 3rd for public education systems.


The irony in this is, Texas actually has the highest number of school librarians as of 2019

And in terms of "librarian:student" ratios, Texas is actually doing way better than California, Illinois, and Oregon.

So California is woefully understaffed in terms of librarians, and 60% of NYC schools don't have a librarian (and 40% of their schools don't have a library)... you don't hear much about it. Texas (who already has ratios that superior to that of many blue states) is cutting 28 of their 4,000+ librarians, and it's front page news across a variety of news sites.