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monkeyelite

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 bookcases”

I am skeptical. This is not the subject of wood working. And why would the school entangle students with a task to be performed by professional vendors.

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> The joke about football is often made but they pay for it, because people use it.

This is not a joke. At all. There are a LOT of high schools that actively prioritize football facilities over education. I grew up in one. It's very frustrating, and that's coming from someone who DID play football.

At my school the kids asked for donations to fund their equipment and they brought in money on the games for their budget.

But once again… students and community use football. They do not use high school libraries.

What is your point? One of education’s primary goals is / were to help learning to enjoy the “right” things. Football field or library are not “good” in themselves, people learn to enjoy reading books and playing football via guidance.

My point is you don’t need to spend money on high school libraries if nobody uses them. You can even just buy students books.

> students and community use football. They do not use high school libraries.

That's literally the problem being presented, the "joke" as you called it. This isn't something to be weirdly proud about. This is something to be extremely concerned about. Prioritizing football over education in a place dedicated to the latter is absurd. Like, Idiocracy-levels absurd.

How has it gone so far over your head?

So which is worse? - funding something people benefit from but is not part of your mission - funding something which is in your mission, but nobody uses?

The former is questionable. The latter is a just a waste.

Do you care about education outcomes? Or do you care about 90s symbols of education, like libraries.

Which is worse, buying Marlboros for the students, or buying books for the library?

You got me. Especially with the edit from heroin.

funding something ... but is not part of your mission

That is worse. It's education, not a startup in need of a pivot.

Most Americans disagree and see athletics as an integral part of a rounded education.

You're the one who drew the contrast in the first place!

You characterized it as outside the mission and now you're trying to say it's part of the mission. Come on.

I think the point is that the average person in a community cares more about football than education. There are place where they really do. You think that is idiotic and absurd -- I don't disagree. But we live in a democracy. You can't force people to care about what you think they should care about.

Let's do away with the blackboards, school books, pencils, pens, and edutech. Replace all of them with tablets loaded with TikTok, Youtube, Instagram, Minecraft, Roblox. I'm sure they'll see much more use than what they're replacing. Such efficiency!

Who said anything about replacing school time?

I agree - having an after school video game time would be a better use of resources than an unused library.

The the big ironies of North Texas school districts — taxpayers foot the bill for those multimillion-dollar stadiums, turf fields, courts, and gyms, but the second class is out, the gates get locked like it’s Fort Knox. Meanwhile, kids are dodging cars in the street because they can’t set foot on the pristine facilities their parents literally paid for.

It’s not even just a summer thing — a lot of districts have blanket “no public use” policies year-round. They’ll cite liability, vandalism, or “preservation of facilities” as the reason, but the result is the same: empty fields, fenced-off courts, and taxpayers staring at what they bought but can’t touch.

>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.

> Usually woodshops are the first thing to go.

Perhaps your experience is with states whose legislatures are dominated by trial lawyers, who can hope to retire on one really good, fat personal injury judgment?

Mine is, but I hope that's not the case everywhere.

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.

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.

> why would the school entangle students with a task to be performed by professional vendors.

Why pay a vendor to do it when you can get the students to do it for free?

Because of legal problems if the job is performed improperly or someone is injured. This is basic administration.

Also once again, this sounds like what someone would imagine they did in wood shop if they never took wood shop.

maybe they used the wood to make something else

At my HS in the 90s students were frequently used to do stuff like this. Ex: this ravine/brush area we want to clean it out and chop some stuff down to make it a "nature center".

Similar in woodshop and metal working - doing stuff to fix the schools infra/bldg.

It's actually the basis of community building. The students take some ownership of the area they work/live in by fixing/building for others.

Wonderful idea.

> Because of legal problems if the job is performed improperly or someone is injured. This is basic administration.

You do know what goes on in wood shop class right? Some light demolition is nothing compared to the power tools they'll be using soon.

Well, this is what they did in wood shop. Happy to send proof. My son documented the full process.

Yeah please share his documentation.

Libraries are more than checking out books, but your point is well made. I prefer printed books, but absolutely use e-books when they're more convenient. I still think it's useful to have a librarian AT THE SCHOOL to help students with all the things libraries do that aren't related to circulation or lending. Having the librarian at the point of use increases the chance that students, faculty and administration will make best use of the library's services.

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