This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
The important thing you need a librarian for is choosing the books to go in the library, not working with the kids. Unfortunately, library science programs are just leftist indoctrination nowadays, so having a librarian is actively harmful if you don't want to further leftist indoctrination.
I have to disagree there, because the results of our school being part of a specific project to get a library with a dedicated librarian, for disadvantaged schools, really did make a huge difference. Yes, choosing the books is important, but it was about working with the kids as well: finding magazines and books that boys (in particular) would read, the kind of boys who hate reading, struggle with school textbooks, have little to no support for education at home, and are in danger of falling behind in literacy. The kids who would leave school not knowing how to read beyond a very basic level, if at all.
Working with teachers and parents. Planning and holding events (e.g. getting a writer of YA fiction to come give a talk, the Darren Shan books if anyone knows them). Making the library a place the kids wanted to use. A ton of other things beside which honestly did make a huge difference.
If it's the kind of "let's pack the shelves with books about how it's okay to be a sex worker to pay for your trans hormones" librarian activism, I totally agree. But if you get a properly trained school librarian who knows about working with kids in disadvantaged schools, it really is a benefit and a resource for the school.
Do you really need a degree in 'library science' to achieve this?
It seems like the activities you're describing have little to do with the library themselves and could be performed by anyone with pedagogical experience (or any other 'social' type work with kids) and not necessarily a 'proper' librarian with a degree in 'library science' (this is your tiny school library, not the Library of Congress). Of course, modern pedagogy has also been overrun with woke ideology but that's a discussion for another time.
More options
Context Copy link
Are there very many of those, and do school districts have a way to hire them?
School district hiring policies are set by the sorts of people who go into education policy admin, who are incapable on a fundamental level of understanding the concept of non-classroom qualifications, let alone how they work on a basic level. And it would shock me if ‘ability to work with disadvantaged boys’ could be taught in schools- certainly a library science degree is not going to teach it, and educational pedagogy studies or whatever is fan fiction of reality on a good day. The population that is able to motivate disadvantaged boys has better things to do with its time than work in school libraries, mostly does not have degrees, and there’s probably no way to consistently identify these people anyways.
You lucked out and got one. Good. But why should we expect we can replicate it? Short of sending army sergeants or juvenile prison wardens to take over school libraries, I don’t think we can.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Does this have to be done at each library? Can't there be a standardized compiled list of books for a school. It hardly seems reasonable that each school needs a book procurer.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link