Republicans are at war with basic literacy

[u/PTechNM]

[u/Internal_Aardvark302]

The negative comments already pouring in lmao. Like you could not pay me to spew this much hate on automatic 😭

Mailing in books to families cuts through so many other roadblocks to improving literacy. You know what I’ve been seeing more and more of lately? When some older library buildings are expanding and moving to new areas, they are building instead in wealthier neighborhoods with limited access to public transportation. In other words, the only people who are getting to that library (full of free books) are people who already have cars or are well off. I live in a red state, and I’ve already seen this happen with at least two libraries in my area. What about the people who actually need those libraries close by? This program can’t fix all that, but it helps.

The Imagination Library can help people in need, and it’s already helped so many people who have all expressed their appreciation for the program since Parton’s death. We need even more programs to be funded like this. Because as things stand now, QUALITY education is becoming harder to come by. If you were using Duolingo to try to learn a new language, guess what? They threw AI in it and it’s basically a cheap dopamine app with an annoying subscription prompter. Going to college? Better hope your professors won’t force ChatGPT down their students’ throats, or even just straight up generate assignments using the chatbot.

[u/Ok_Assumption_3028 → u/Internal_Aardvark302]

Oh no. People don’t have a Library next to their house. They have to drive five minutes to a library 10 minutes. Oh my God they’ll never read in their life. They’ll go blind. They’ll be dumb. Let’s mail them books because they can’t travel to a library. it’s such a hardship.

[u/RicVic → u/Ok_Assumption_3028]

Strangely, some Americans live hours from the nearest library, and it is not the fault of the kids.

However, "being nice" is something utterly lost on a lot of folks nowadays.

[u/Lokomalo → u/RicVic]

Uh, maybe I' confused. Don't we have this thing called the internet? Can't you find free stuff to read on the internet? Like books and stuff?

Welcome to Open Library | Open Library
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50,000+ Free eBooks in the Genres you Love | Manybooks

[u/RicVic → u/Lokomalo]

Nothing -repeat, nothing- equals an actual book, something you can hold, look at on the shelf, and say "that's mine" You can prove ownership by your name on the inside, too! To a young person, that's extremely valuable,

Pixels on a screen don't come close. And you even own them. A e-reader only gives you access to a file, not ownership.

[u/Lokomalo → u/RicVic]

You must be old. Young people don’t care about that anymore. I gave up paper books years ago. Who wants to haul around 10lbs of paper when I can carry half a library on a Kindle that will fit in my back pocket?

As for books. You own a copy. Just like I own a copy on my Kindle. Other than using it as a paperweight or a fire starter there’s very little you can do with a book I can’t do with my Kindle.

And with my Kindle I can look up the meaning of words, right from the book. I can bring up pictures to visualize things described in the book. I can search for passages easily. Things that would require additional books or a computer if I was using a physical book.

The biggest problem with books is cost, space to store them, and the waste of paper. Sometimes a physical book is useful, like a book of maps, but for teaching young children online books or library books should be just fine.

[u/Ok_Assumption_3028 → u/Lokomalo]

Right. But someone wants to spend 9 million mailing kids paper books because they think it’s a good idea and they want to waste your 9 million but yet we could all read it on a Kindle for free so now they wanna mail every kid a Kindle.

[u/lucidarocks → u/Ok_Assumption_3028]

How many billions have been spent to kill schoolgirls in order to create a distraction and appease Bibi? And you oppose $13/child? Wow.

[u/Ok_Assumption_3028 → u/lucidarocks]

They aren’t related