tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post7031949670585817130..comments2023-11-03T14:59:31.910+00:00Comments on The Growlery: The library thing*Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-33839946550632339552012-06-22T00:42:23.394+00:002012-06-22T00:42:23.394+00:00Interesting commentary on libraries in England:
h...Interesting commentary on libraries in England:<br /><br />http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/north-west-london-blues/<br /><br />subscription only, unfortunately but interesting.Dr. Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06255898610620668624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-31205456607339434652012-06-22T00:40:44.809+00:002012-06-22T00:40:44.809+00:00Interesting article about libraries in England:
...Interesting article about libraries in England: <br /><br />http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/north-west-london-blues/<br /><br />Unfortunately subscription only.Dr. Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06255898610620668624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-15343383179827417662012-06-13T22:04:59.300+00:002012-06-13T22:04:59.300+00:00You can't influence my final grade?? I take it...You can't influence my final grade?? I take it all back then. ;)<br /><br />I would stick my tongue out at you but I'm afraid I might end up getting the same treatment as Julie, and wind up stapled.Jasminenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-62385262392220632482012-06-13T20:45:18.018+00:002012-06-13T20:45:18.018+00:00Jasmine: agreed with everything you said as well (...Jasmine: agreed with everything you said as well (but have to point out that, while your second to last sentence is worth a fiver, I have no influence over your assignment grade! [grin])Felixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13179787011325615414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-65922773543786810812012-06-13T20:43:08.473+00:002012-06-13T20:43:08.473+00:00Ray (sorry - Mr Girvan!): agree with everything yo...Ray (sorry - <i>Mr Girvan</i>!): agree with everything you've said ... and would add that a teacher who requires blind acceptance (oh dear, I had several of them) is as bad as no teacher at all.Felixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13179787011325615414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-66949608509465241782012-06-13T20:40:57.024+00:002012-06-13T20:40:57.024+00:00Julie ... after much thought, I have to cautiously...Julie ... after much thought, I have to cautiously ask ... why have you put a Band Aid on your stapler??<br /><br />Be careful to keep the tongue lashing moist, or it will lose its suppleness and not do it's job come that crucial moment when you need to lash a tongue to ... ummm ... whatever one lashes tongues to ... the mainmast, perhaps?Felixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13179787011325615414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-27490790317567545452012-06-13T19:27:05.838+00:002012-06-13T19:27:05.838+00:00Attention is bad?
Thank you for the tongue lashi...Attention is bad?<br /><br /><br />Thank you for the tongue lashing. I've put a Band-Aid on it (mine, not yours; it wouldn't stick so I used a stapler).Julie Heywardhttp://unrealnature.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-33583848243009980812012-06-13T16:17:03.290+00:002012-06-13T16:17:03.290+00:00Julie: stop making your tongue bleed ... it's ...Julie: stop making your tongue bleed ... it's not funny and it's not clever, it's just attention seeking. Now ... have you not heard of <i>A turtle called Touchstone</i>?Felixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13179787011325615414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-18385338602012077152012-06-13T12:28:14.421+00:002012-06-13T12:28:14.421+00:00Felix, I can't help it, I've been biting m...Felix, I can't help it, I've been biting my tongue since you posted this topic ... <br /><br /><br />This, <b>"fixed touchstones"</b> ... [<i>shaking my head it total dismay</i>] ...<br /><br /><br />How <i>could</i> you? Turtles, turtles, down, and down; as far as the eye can see.<br /><br />Turtles, Gödels, the book and The Book; teachers and preachers ...Julie Heywardhttp://unrealnature.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-89889569367574924112012-06-13T10:37:17.358+00:002012-06-13T10:37:17.358+00:00@Jasmin: But it's an essential lesson that all...@Jasmin: <i>But it's an essential lesson that all too often seems to be missed.</i><br /><br />It's interesting that it's taken the Internet - where the need for that kind of critical assessment is more urgent - to get the concept properly on the table in schools.<br /><br />It should've always been.Ray Girvanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05556764642402680159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-51587098975539676552012-06-12T21:05:12.102+00:002012-06-12T21:05:12.102+00:00I view libraries as an essential part of every com...I view libraries as an essential part of every community which enhance self education and give the opportunity to explore different areas and works that might otherwise not be available.<br /><br />My parents had a vast collection of books as I was growing up, and frequently encouraged me to look up answers to questions I had about life, the universe and everything. (while I suspect that this may have been a way to keep me quiet and occupied for half an hour, a by-product was a curious nature, a love of books and the skills to hunt down the answers I wanted).<br /><br />However I agree with Mr Girvan that I needed formal education to teach me critical thinking skills. We're raised to listen, accept and obey, and I remember finding it a revelation to be taught to question the source, even teachers! But it's an essential lesson that all too often seems to be missed.<br /><br />I see Bradbury's point about being forced to read books you might not enjoy while at school, but then again I was 'forced' to read Flowers for Algernon while at school and it had a huge impact on me. Now back in higher education I was 'forced' to read Kate Chopin and discovered a writer I'd never heard of before, but whose work I now seek out. <br /><br />I adore the line Felix wrote about his own education: "but was from time to time shot through with occasional transcendent meteor streaks which always trailed a particularly good teacher"<br /><br />I have been fortunate enough to have known a few teachers like this. Felix himself is one of these meteors, who is able to inspire a student such as myself to not only participate but actively enjoy a subject they would otherwise avoid at all costs. The value of this kind of inspiration is beyond measure.Jasminenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-50550539903127299962012-06-11T10:12:44.038+00:002012-06-11T10:12:44.038+00:00@Felix: And there are perils to self education.
Y...@Felix: <i>And there are perils to self education.</i><br /><br />Yes, and one of them is crankery, and I go with your assessment of needing some kind of guiding influence at some point.<br /><br />In my early teens, I devoured the library, but among good stuff (SF, any kind of technical/historical) I read and believed a large amount of - to a geeky early teenager - plausible bollocks: Von Däniken style mysteries, ley lines, Lethbridge pendulums, dubious 'unlocking your inner powers' books, Colin Wilson's more flaky output, etc.<br /><br />I only got off that track through Mr Wistance (sp?) who taught Humanities (the watered-down ecumenical RE we had in the later years of the school I went to). He was very strong on critical thinking, and introduced me to the radical idea that something being stated in an authoritative tone in a well-produced book doesn't make it an established fact. "What counts as evidence?" "What are the criteria for trusting or mistrusting a source?"<br /><br />I don't recall anyone else ever explicitly stating such issues. School science never raised the possibility of uncertainty. We learned what we were told, and experiments were about getting the expected result.Ray Girvanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05556764642402680159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14600985.post-83010844461742195942012-06-10T17:06:36.269+00:002012-06-10T17:06:36.269+00:00"I went to the Whiteness Manor School for Cri..."I went to the Whiteness Manor School for Crippled Boys and a college for disabled ex-servicemen at the age of 16. I learned nothing other than how to be a mindless bookkeeper and what my mother had taught me - I could read, write and do arithmetic very well by the age of 3.<br />Later in life when I realised that " I know nothing " I learned by using libraries. My best teacher was John Moruzzi, a local cafe owner who taught me that " Intelligence is the application of knowledge." I know and have known a lot of well educated people who cannot apply their selves to living.<br />Now at the age of an "old fart|" - I was called that some years ago now - I realise how little I do know. Yet it is all I need to know and is what I have chosen to know. I do still add to my knowledge though more via the internet as books are far too expensive for me to buy and our local library, closed for refurbishment, doesn't carry much in the way of educational books.Geoff Powellnoreply@blogger.com