a worthy rebellion

I was shocked and appalled a few weeks ago to read about the Catholic School Board in Windsor Ontario cutting school libraries to save money.

As one protesting parent remarked. "We have chapels in the Schools because we believe that is important. We have gymnasiums because we want children to learn the value of physical fitness. What does eliminating the libraries say about our priorities?"

Despite their original intransigence, I was heartened to read that the board has responded to pressure and backed down. The whole story brought back bad memories of Mike Harris and his omnibus bill which closed a number of Public Libraries and was pitched by a politician at the time explaining - "we have to be tough, ...we may even have to close a swimming pool or two" implying that the library closures were perfectly acceptable.

So Bravo to the protesting students, and parents! Libraries are key to the development of research skills, critical thinking, and in schools they may prompt students to a life long love of reading. They are also environmental models of sharing and re-using resources.

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