Musing Monday...Near and Dear to My Heart.

What is this week's question for the desk of MizB over at  Should Be Reading ...

This week’s musing asks… 

The local Catholic school board is closing its school libraries, and parents and teachers –and even the students– are in an uproar. Budget cuts demanded that the board choose something to get rid of… they choose libraries. As such, many librarians have lost their jobs. And, the board is moving the books to the classrooms, instead. They feel that it is a good solution. 

What do you think? Should the schools be without an actual “library” room? Is this a good solution?

This question raises two points I have strong positive feelings about...libraries and Catholic schools. Both have played an important part in my life. And the idea that a school would have to close it's school library is terrible. But...
Let's be clear here. Your local Catholic school is paid for by the parents of the students who attend it in the form of tuition, sometimes with a contribution from the parishioners of the local parishes. So on top of the local taxes that they pay to sent the kids of other people to the local public school, they paid this addition fee, which is often a great sacrifice. Money is always an issue. And yet, spending a great deal less per student than public schools, Catholic schools in the US consistently turn in higher test scores and a higher graduation rate. Costs all around us go up all the time. What can they do? Raise tuition and price out more parents, especially in urban schools? Pay teachers, who are already working for less than public school teachers, less? Turn the heat off? Remember, they are not getting paid for by tax dollars but supporting themselves privately...like from Mom and Dad and what money the school can raise. When something has to give, what do you pick?
These decisions are not easy.

Now, to tell you the truth, I do not think my grammar school had a library. If it did, I did not spend much time there. I remember going often to my local public library, often, but one in my school...no. So if they had one and had done away with it, it would not have effected my reading. I received a very good, basic education in that grammar school and a strong moral background, but I am not sure my experiences there were the basic for my love of books. And it certainly was not the source of my reading material.

In my Catholic high school, there was a library, but most of the time I spent there was in "study time", not so much reading or doing research. Again, I did spend a lot of time in the local public library and that is where I was getting my reading material, as well as doing research for school project in those pre-Internet days. And I feel very lucky that I grew up in a city that, for all it's many faults, still had a good library system. But  most of all, I realize that i am very lucky that I grew up in an atmosphere that so strongly encouraged reading and a love of books!

Now when they start closing the public libraries, I think we should take up the pitchforks. But even here I think the future is questionable. The internet...e-books...if less people use their actual physical library in the future, will the cost become harder to defend? You have to wonder. That, I think, would be a truly terrible thing!