“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said headmaster James Tracy.
“We see the gain as greater than the loss,’’ said Gisele Zangari, chairwoman of the math department, who like other teachers has plans for all her students to do their class reading on electronic books by next year. “This is the start of a new era.’’The director of the American Library Association dissented:
“Unless every student has a Kindle and an unlimited budget, I don’t see how that need is going to be met,’’ Fiels said. “Books are not a waste of space, and they won’t be until a digital book can tolerate as much sand, survive a coffee spill, and have unlimited power. When that happens, there will be next to no difference between that and a book.’’
William Powers, author of a forthcoming book based on a paper he published at Harvard called “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal,’’ called the changes at Cushing “radical’’ and “a tremendous loss for students.’’Not to mention, Engadget makes a good point...
So, excuse us for our cynicism, but unless there are only 18 students at Cushing Academy, we're pretty sure the e-reader supply is going to come up short.I'm concerned about the future of our schools, as this trend takes hold. I'm ok with adding e-readers. But abandoning books is to me an irresponsible transition to a virtual, electricity-dependant scheme. "Sorry, I can't do my homework. My kindle died." And don't get me wrong- I love reading books on my Apple iTouch. But this isn't like trading out the 8-track for the cd player. There's a feeling that only physical texts can deliver... Taking a leather-bound novel from my dad's Franklin Mint collection was a special thing. They require no power, no charging, no tapping the screen. You can accidentally discover a book while searching those old, analog shelves. And you don't need to rely on the upload of "what others are reading" to do it.
Studies show our constant multitasking has created a population more fragmented in its thinking, less accurate in the tasks that ARE accomplished, and less able to stop and focus on one thing (I notice this in myself all the time). I hope other schools show more reasoning when looking for extra space, but I'm not hopeful.
I wonder what archeologists in 2,000 years will think of our society. I can only imagine it as another gap in history, largely unexplained, with significantly fewer tangible artifacts to show for our pursuits.
Horrifying, shortsighted, just plain wrong. And how would one amuse oneself during a longterm power outage? Kindle by candlelight just doesn't evoke the right image!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that it's much harder (possible, yes, but not the same) to write marginalia, to dog-ear pages with a particularly meaningful passage...
ReplyDeleteWhat will future archaeologists think? Possibly that we didn't read at all, if the technology to use kindles and nooks and all that doesn't survive.
oh, and thanks for the shout-out. I plan on keeping my books, thanks. I rather like them.
I'm generally against clutter...and my recent travels have really given me a new eye on "stuff". But a quality book collection, well read and well loved, is a valuable thing indeed.
ReplyDeleteBooks are never clutter. Books are necessary!
ReplyDeleteI just had dinner with my friend, who is an elementary school librarian, and she is "sick" over the attitude the kids have over reading books.She says they hate to read. In the"no child left behind program" it seems you just get "points etc". There is no longer the nurturing joy of reading. Sad, books have always been my "best of friends". A generational switch- something like a conversation from two "old people" in a past century- "I like getting on my horse and now you need a "key" to start the "iron horse thing called a car"- one can't relate to a car like one does to a horse...this new generation is really missing something.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that it's not just that schools are de-emphasizing the pleasures of reading. It feels sometimes like fewer of my friends are reading for pleasure, either - even those who used to read on the train to and from work are becoming able to use Wi-Fi or their cell phones on their commutes. After work, it's TV and the internet. I know I'm oversimplifying, but still - if I'm noticing it, I'm sure that the children of these households are as well. And if we adults don't model reading for pleasure, what right have we to expect that our children will discover it on their own?
ReplyDeleteWe need to set the example of an adult reading for pleasure, and set the tone by reading to the child/children even before they can truly be thought to understand
ReplyDeleteI agree. The allure of dad's gold-paged, leather-bound books always held a sense of awe to me, as did the other special books in the house. I've grown out of many of them, but I hope to have a collection like this of my own- fully read and appreciated by me and my kids. There's a reason I keep my "choose your own adventure" books!!
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