Paul Horton: The War on Books II: Certified School Librarians Are the New Disappeared
Guest post by Paul Horton.
I was raised to believe that librarians were my friends and I have never met one who didn't help me in some way. Just like you, I have met my share of shush Nazi's, but the firm "quiet down" was always uttered to create a silence that benefited the thinking of the whole.
Silence created a pathway to something more important than noise--books. These librarians protected worlds of the imagination that I had yet to imagine, wondrous times and places beyond times and places, silences full of wonder.
Librarians are trained to ask great questions, to get to know kids and adults on their own terms to better guide aspiring readers, writers, and researchers to destinations unknown, on the other side of the bogs of doubt, frustration, and cynicism.
They know how to work magic, initiating minds, young and old, into the mysteries of mystery, the recesses of intuited shadows, and the openings of unexplored worlds. They are keepers of exquisite curiosity shops of the soul where algorithms dare not tread.
They understand that to read is to be human and that human potential can be imagined and explored through life-long reading. They are invested in this idea: everything they touch nurtures exploration of other worlds. They are also cultivators; they grow empathy, passion, curiosity, and knowledge.
To cut librarians out of an educational system is the equivalent of pulling up a Redwood by its roots--all great civilizations, or trees, for that matter, collect knowledge. Collection is a very human endeavor, we gather who we become. If we collect information, we will become information.
This is precisely what is being done to our educational system in the name of "reform."
In Chicago, for example, school librarians are increasingly sacrificed at school budget tables along Paul Horton: The War on Books II: Certified School Librarians Are the New Disappeared - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: