Are books needed in schools?

James Tracy, the headmaster of Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Connecticut, told the Boston Globe that “the last thing a school library needs these days is books. What it really needs is a good cappuccino machine.” This, as you could imagine, is stirring up a lot of controversy among parents of the New England prep school.

Administrators at the prep school have given away many of the library’s collection of classic novels, popular poetry books, and several reference books. They are trashing the books and purchasing a $500,000 digital learning center. The digital learning center will include flat screen TV’s, cubbies for laptops and a small coffee shop with a $12,000 cappuccino machine. For those of you that don’t know what a digital learning center is, it is over 10,000 novels in a 5 pound lap top form folder. The librarian who has been at the prep school for over 17 years told the Globe she will miss the books that have been a part of her life for over the past decade. She says “there’s a sensual side to them - - the smell, feel. The physicality of a book is something really special.”

Here at Applebatch.com, we feel that it is imperative to utilize diverse learning platforms and channels. We believe in books, online learning and other innovative methods because different people are better at learning through different methods. The question that have been crossing the minds of parents is, will schools pay for their child’s glasses when they are staring at these “digital learning” screens all day? And the question raised for the Teacher Community is when a student is doing research and the computers are backed up by other students - -what then?

Applebatch is a professional network for educators of all ages and grades to come together and share their opinion on subjects such as this one. Teachers all over the nation are coming together and joining in our Teacher Network. Here teachers can not only discuss subjects such as this one, but also find a variety of networking tools to help in their job search or assist in the classroom.