1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

[Houston Press] Lamar High School Replaces Library with Coffee Shop

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Jeff, Nov 23, 2010.

  1. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    22,412
    Likes Received:
    361
    Seriously?

    http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/11/lamar_highs_library_ousts_book.php

    Just adding a coffee shop to a neighborhood library so people can feel like they're in Starbucks and ultra hip was apparently too passe a trend for Principal James McSwain of Lamar High School.

    Finishing up a week ago, McSwain has thrown out nearly all the books and filled the space they were unnecessarily taking up with couches and coffee and food and told his students that they can access the exciting world of reading through e-books! And if they don't have a laptop of their own and Internet access to do so, they can use one of the laptop computers in the library coffeeshop!

    He's even expanded the library coffeeshop hours to 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. which works great if you're one of those kids with your own transportation and not one who is too young, too poor or with rotten parents who won't let you drive to school yourself rather than riding the bus.

    And he's bought 35 new laptops! For a Houston ISD flagship school with more than 3,000 students in it.

    A veteran educator who visited the school a few weeks ago said most of the books were already gone by then. "There were a few down one side. They assured me they're getting rid of those as soon as they could. The plan is to turn the whole space into a coffee shop run by students."

    Students will be able to access places online such as Questia,
    an online resource facility where you can get articles about anything that you want, she told Hair Balls. There's books online, too, but as she put it, the selections are limited. Her reaction:

    "I was appalled. I was stunned by the whole thing I can't imagine what he was thinking. I'm assured this is old school thinking and we should just appreciate that they're not old school thinkers."

    The change, she said, was "designed to impress the new superintendent [Terry Grier] with the forward thinking nature of that particular principal at that particular school. "

    She said she was told one teacher who had kids after school working on their volunteer hours was asked to send them to the library to "get rid of the books." She said he asked what they meant and "They said they didn't care; just get them out of here."

    "He couldn't bring himself to throw away books. He said it didn't seem like a good thing for the kids to do. They got somebody [else]. My impression was that most of the books were thrown away. Some of them may have been donated."

    Hair Balls tried to reach McSwain; he would only speak to us through HISD Sarah Greer Osborne. This is what she told us:

    "The school library has been updated. It's got a lot of new electronic equipment. Most of it's e-books and new laptops and they're putting their money, instead of into paper, they're putting it into electronic resources.
    Yes, there are still books there but most of it is now e-books where the kids can check out the book and as long as they have Internet access they can read the book. The library is now open from 6:30 to 6:30, a.m. to p.m., and he says the kids are eating it up; they have never seen so many kids in the library before. They only did this a week ago and he says the number of e-books being checked out is through the roof.

    He says the kids love it. They did put coffee and food in there so the kids when they're staying after school and before the kids can have a little coffee, read a book it's just like Starbucks. Except they're providing the books as well. The kids are eating it up that's what they want. They want the e-books."

    The veteran teacher wasn't as excited. "It's just stupid. It just boggles the mind. I'm sure there's more to the story and I'm sure that they can make it sound better than I'm making it sound to you but in the end it's a terrible story. There's no way in my mind that you can gloss this story and make it seem like a good idea.

    "There's no way to get hold of a book on the campus to read for pleasure or to use to write a paper. If you don't have access to a computer of your own then you have to compete for one of the computers that are in the coffee shop. And you have to find a way to get it done during the time the coffee shop is open."

    The teacher said the whole thing breaks her heart; but she can walk away from it. At least she's not the Lamar High librarian, whose library has been "repurposed" (a favorite educator buzzword these days), presiding over a coffee shop with all those swell couches.
     
  2. Jontro

    Jontro Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2010
    Messages:
    34,299
    Likes Received:
    22,001
    Holy **** that James McSwine have outdone himself now.

    I'm glad I graduated from there in 03 because that school went on a steep downhill the year after that. There are so many bad things about that man, I'm surprised he's still in charge at that place.

    His son (step son, but whatever) tried to sell me drugs right OUTSIDE the door of my English class... but I digress.
     
  3. ind0fo0

    ind0fo0 Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2006
    Messages:
    1,818
    Likes Received:
    35
  4. rtsy

    rtsy Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2010
    Messages:
    979
    Likes Received:
    50
    Please tell me that they still have periodicals on microfiche.
     
  5. VanityHalfBlack

    Joined:
    May 7, 2009
    Messages:
    18,087
    Likes Received:
    3,726
    What's wrong with having a freaking coffee shop??? It's coffee it's a stimulant that gets you hyped up like crack, is that a bad thing?? Screw books!!!
     
  6. ChievousFTFace

    ChievousFTFace Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2010
    Messages:
    2,794
    Likes Received:
    560
    [​IMG]
     
  7. finalsbound

    finalsbound Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Messages:
    12,328
    Likes Received:
    901
    How is this possibly happening?
     
  8. jo mama

    jo mama Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2002
    Messages:
    13,335
    Likes Received:
    7,406
    that piece reads like an onion article.
     
  9. rhadamanthus

    rhadamanthus Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2002
    Messages:
    14,304
    Likes Received:
    596
    There has never really been an actual desire to educate children in the US, just to indoctrinate them as needed. Of course, teaching them to be apathetic and complacent is just as good.
     
  10. Air Langhi

    Air Langhi Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2000
    Messages:
    21,617
    Likes Received:
    6,244
    While most of you laugh, this is the future. Libraries will go the way of the video store. EBooks are so much more convenient. The are lighter you can search through them. Can't really lose them.
     
  11. rtsy

    rtsy Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2010
    Messages:
    979
    Likes Received:
    50
    It would be silly to expect anything more from government schools, they should be abolished:

    Teacher's unions in Bridgewater and Raynham is planning to file a labor grievance that could block volunteers from keeping the school district’s libraries open. And as word of the work action spreads, it is stirring up outrage in the two towns. http://www.boston.com/yourtown/budgetblues/2010/10/who_is_against_library_volunte.html?p1=News_links

    Petaluma school union tries to stop parent volunteers http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/20...school-union-tries-to-stop-parent-volunteers/

    Now the government schools are sending home "fat letters" telling them their children are overweight or obese. Lori-Ann Sumner says she was warned her daughter Shelby is "borderline overweight." Shelby, 9, is just over 4 foot 9 inches tall and weighs 90 pounds. http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/features/x41620280/Mixed-views-on-tracking-students-BMI

    Officials at Ohio's Cardinal High School suspended cheerleader Bree Vargo for two games after they found a Facebook photograph of her holding a beer bottle at a family wedding. Bree's mother says she wasn't drinking beer, but school officials say that doesn't matter, even holding a beer violates the school's no-alcohol policy. http://news-herald.com/articles/2010/10/21/news/doc4cc09d1fc1e42993728243.txt
     
  12. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2007
    Messages:
    7,641
    Likes Received:
    6,390
    I went to Lamar High School, too and am not surprised, at all with McSwain's decision here. The place was always the home of misplaced priorities at the expense of education.

    That being said, I was part of the IB program and can't recall ever utilizing the library. We were never encouraged to use it in our classes and, given the realities of the school, there was really never any time to do so. Passing periods are very short and lunch is also fleeting.

    Of course, walking around campus during class was treated as the highest of crimes and I'm sure that no "administrator" would have taken "I'm going to the library" as an excuse. With <30 minute lunches and <10 minute passing periods, kids were discouraged from being anywhere but in their seats at Lamar.

    However, just go look at the nice new parking lot! Look at the new athletic area in the back! The new auditorium! It doesn't matter that the arts programs are suffering there and can't fill up the auditorium. McSwain's whole tenure has been about showing off what he thinks a school in the heart of River Oaks should look like.
     
  13. gifford1967

    gifford1967 Contributing Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2003
    Messages:
    7,993
    Likes Received:
    3,806
    Jesus. I graduated from Lamar in '86. This is an awful idea. Of course it would have been a great idea to keep the books and add some more electronic resources, and make the library more inviting with coffee and couches.

    As people in the article point out, it's much too soon to be converting fully to on-line resources and e-books. There are many students who can't take advantage of that and they don't have enough loaner equipment to meet their needs.
     
  14. DrLudicrous

    DrLudicrous Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2002
    Messages:
    3,936
    Likes Received:
    203
    I don't the the problem is adding e-books, the problem is throwing away the paper books to make room for a coffee shop.
     
  15. van chief

    van chief Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2009
    Messages:
    598
    Likes Received:
    29
    We dont need kinds to read! We need them to learn how to run coffee shops and serve the man coffee!
     
  16. Jontro

    Jontro Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2010
    Messages:
    34,299
    Likes Received:
    22,001
    This is true. Out of my whole high school career at Lamar, I only recall ever using their library once. I think my Government class was sent there during class time to check out some info about the executive branch or something and all the kids were either chilling or looking up whitehouse dot com. Having said that, I still don't think throwing away books in the name of e-books is the right thing to do.

    Btw they have a new parking garage now?? I just googled it and if the pic I saw was indeed the new garage, then that's about time. I'm also interested in seeing the new auditorium. I remember one time Jesse James came my senior year and I was ashamed that he had to come give a talk in front of broken down chairs and stuff.

    Have you seen his office? I heard his office was like a 5 star hotel. I wonder where the funds came from for his office and side projects. Kids back then were saying that he'd get most of the money from all the magnet kids he took in (which I'm convinced required no testing or standards at all).

    Do they still have uniforms there and have to go through metal detectors and clear backpacks? I think they implemented that rule in 04-05. What a shame.
     
  17. eric.81

    eric.81 Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2002
    Messages:
    2,820
    Likes Received:
    1,488
    Although this feels like the beginning of the end of American innovation, I don't think this is as "crazy" as it sounds.

    I took AP classes when I was in high school in the late 90's. I rarely, if ever used the school library. If a book was assigned by a class, chances are by the time you got to the library to check it out, it had already been checked out by someone else. As for research, what does a high school library really provide other than a few sets of encyclopedias. For me, the public library and the library at the local Community college was utilized much more often for research projects and secondary sources.

    If you want to read a book for pleasure, yes it sucks that you can't run down to the HS library and pick that book up. But within 10 minutes of that campus there are at least 3 great public libraries that can be utilized for free. With interlibrary loan programs, pretty much any book you would ever need would be available to you. And with Rice U so close, you can research primary sources.

    For all of you born in the late 70's or later, think to yourself, how many times did you actually utilize your high school library?
     
  18. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2001
    Messages:
    37,617
    Likes Received:
    1,448
    Yes, 'cuz high school kids need more coffee...? :confused:
     
  19. Rocketboi

    Rocketboi Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2008
    Messages:
    1,267
    Likes Received:
    160
    WTF!! i graduated from there last year!!!!! i had to go across the street to the beinget place to get me some coffee. booo!!!!
    haha, but seriously, this is some bs.
     
  20. Depressio

    Depressio Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2009
    Messages:
    6,416
    Likes Received:
    366
    I went to Lamar from 1997 to 2001 and thought McSwain was a fat idiot who did nothing but waddle around the cafeteria surveying his domain.

    But I actually like this idea. A lot. It's very forward-thinking and could actually get more students into the coffee shop rather than over on Bamel smoking pot and cigarettes. It sounds like it's really popular, something you can't really say about the old library (which I was in, like, once my entire time there). Also, chances are that the e-book library is significantly bigger than the library they had.

    My initial reaction was revulsion as well, but so long as the books are donated, I think it's a pretty cool idea.
     
    #20 Depressio, Nov 23, 2010
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2010

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now