My son is taking a woodworking class in high school. First week, he came home and I asked him what he was doing in his woodworking class… “Disassembling the library bookcases”. “Why???” “Because they’re getting rid of the library”. Apparently the school board decided to save money by cutting the librarian, and then decided to just move the books out of the school library and into the “nearby” public library. In reali…
Sounds like a reasonable decision to me: let the schools teach and let the city/county maintain the library separately. But disassembling the library bookcases is hardly an appropriate woodworking project.
The woodworking teacher also doesn’t have much funding, and free furniture grade lumber is attractive. I completely understand why the woodworking teacher is doing it, and I have no problems with my son helping in that endeavor… besides the… getting rid of the library thing
My son is taking a woodworking class in high school. First week, he came home and I asked him what he was doing in his woodworking class… “Disassembling the library bookcases”. “Why???” “Because they’re getting rid of the library”. Apparently the school board decided to save money by cutting the librarian, and then decided to just move the books out of the school library and into the “nearby” public library. In reali…
I went to a high school with lots of kids that read and nobody ever checked out a book from the school library. Their interests were specialized and they got their books online or from larger collections not offered at a school. It’s fine - libraries aren’t sacred. If nobody uses them we don’t need them. The joke about football is often made but they pay for it, because people use it. > “Disassembling the library boo…
The woodworking teacher had a source for free furniture grade lumber. Of course he’s going to jump on it. If you demand “proof” (not very HN like), I’m happy to send pics.
I went to a high school with lots of kids that read and nobody ever checked out a book from the school library. Their interests were specialized and they got their books online or from larger collections not offered at a school. It’s fine - libraries aren’t sacred. If nobody uses them we don’t need them. The joke about football is often made but they pay for it, because people use it. > “Disassembling the library boo…
>This is not the subject of wood working Sure it is, it's free wood for the woodshop. Unless the library is very new, those are probably solid planks. No shop teacher is going to say no to free wood. The real mystery is how the woodshop survived longer than the library did. Usually woodshops are the first thing to go.
Wood shops don’t have books in them that have naughty words or share ideas to children contrary to their parent’s conservative beliefs.
I doubt there’s a true budget crisis. It was manufactured to justify getting rid of the books for political reasons.
My son is taking a woodworking class in high school. First week, he came home and I asked him what he was doing in his woodworking class… “Disassembling the library bookcases”. “Why???” “Because they’re getting rid of the library”. Apparently the school board decided to save money by cutting the librarian, and then decided to just move the books out of the school library and into the “nearby” public library. In reali…
[flagged]
When you preface your comment with "Unpopular Opinion", then proceed to make a sweeping assertion like "The purpose of education past 8th grade is to keep young people out of the job market", without any supporting evidence, that's what we call "inflammatory rhetoric". This kind of comment will always attract downvotes and flags. This style of commenting is against the HN guidelines, as is complaining about downvotes.
The correct response to downvotes is to think about how you could express your point in a way that people can connect with. That's the art of a good comment. The best comments on HN are ones that make a point that many in the community may have disagreed with, but it is expressed in a way that creates a pathway for people to see things in a new way, and persuades them to see the issue from the new perspective you're illustrating.
My son is taking a woodworking class in high school. First week, he came home and I asked him what he was doing in his woodworking class… “Disassembling the library bookcases”. “Why???” “Because they’re getting rid of the library”. Apparently the school board decided to save money by cutting the librarian, and then decided to just move the books out of the school library and into the “nearby” public library. In reali…
> which were being questioned by some parents I doubt that: My experience is that people who complain about books don't read them, let alone understand them enough to "question" them. > This society has priorities which aren’t education. Forgive me, but it's your society: You live there. It's that way because of you. I know that sucks to hear; it's not all your fault; it seems like there is a lot of inertia; and you…
I live in a town of over 200k people. When I moved here, it was 12k residents, and dominated by religious conservatives. When I graduated high school, I vowed to never return. My wife however had other ideas, and as soon as my kids were school age, we were back. The town remains politically dominated by the same conservative religious group, even though they’re less than 20% of the population. Could I go to the school board meetings and raise and issue? Sure, but my son, who would be the recipient of any retribution, requested I not. I even offered to pay for private school for him, but he still wasn’t willing. Once he graduates, maybe I’ll spend my time fighting this fight. My peers from high school who weren’t from this religious group fled. None remain to fight. Even if I win a seat on the board, I’d be just one of 7, and nothing would change.
My son is taking a woodworking class in high school. First week, he came home and I asked him what he was doing in his woodworking class… “Disassembling the library bookcases”. “Why???” “Because they’re getting rid of the library”. Apparently the school board decided to save money by cutting the librarian, and then decided to just move the books out of the school library and into the “nearby” public library. In reali…
> which were being questioned by some parents I doubt that: My experience is that people who complain about books don't read them, let alone understand them enough to "question" them. > This society has priorities which aren’t education. Forgive me, but it's your society: You live there. It's that way because of you. I know that sucks to hear; it's not all your fault; it seems like there is a lot of inertia; and you…
As for the books being questioned by other parents - I was only aware of it when I searched for the high school name and library on Twitter. First and only hit was for a parent posting a link to some website that alerts parents for books with questionable content in their children’s libraries. Had they read the books? Of course not, but the web site allows you to read all the questionable passages. The tweet was advocating for the school board to remove the books.
People always want to blame the new thing in culture. Some collective sin if only we had better self control. Every generation has one. Usually it’s just institutional failure at multiple levels and a whole bunch of people who don’t care about the institution’s output sufficiently. Every time I read about new education stories they’re busy trying to solve wider social issues instead of being the best place to get an…
I agree, but it’s tough to see the studies showing average daily screen time of different age groups and not see that as a pretty obvious contributor.
Nothing wrong with a bit of social control if you’re doing it in a controlled measurable way. As long as you’re not just treating it like a boogieman while ignoring how schools are simultaneously becoming less motivating places to learn. Bore a kid to death by not challenging them or holding them accountable then they will 100% default to their phone to escape the tedium.
I challenge you to take a batch of any random 10 8th grade students and have them do any serious work. Would love to see how suitable for work and job markets they are.
Good point. You may have been able to get a 12 year old to operate a loom or dig coal in the 1890s, but those jobs are thin on the ground these days.
>>IQ is highly linked to genetics. Citation desperately needed. How can you prove that empirically? What is your methodology for controlling for environmental factors in making that assertion, including factors associated with access to resources, tutors, having a full belly every morning, and not being constantly flooded with stress hormones as a result of grappling with the daily reality of living in poverty?
Bro. Genetics determines intelligence between a mouse and a human. It’s definitive.
Yet through some black magic that same genetics that allows a person to be taller then another person and that makes a human more intelligent then a fish, this same genetics doesn’t touch intelligence between different humans.
Tell us more about the cultural issue that can be observed by looking at demographics. What specifically stands out to you?
Isn’t it obvious? Children of immigrants do way better. Children of Asian households do way better than other ethnicities, and children in impoverished areas do a lot worse. All of this is cultural and anyone who thought I implied race — which looks like you did — is a moron and a racist. IMHO this whole thing is environmental.
This should be flagged for being a personal insult.
I asked a question for details you failed to provide in your first comment.
> All of this is cultural and anyone who thought I implied race — which looks like you did
There’s no way this can be true because I never think before I comment here.