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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 129 253 IR 004 029 AUTHOR Haizlip, Harold Cc. TITLE The Role of the Library or Media Center in Education in the Virgin Islands. INSTITUTION Saint Croix Library Association, Christiansted, Virgin Islands. PUB DATE Jun 73 NOTE 21p.; Paper presented at the St. Croix Library Association Annual Fall Meeting (2nd, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, October 27, 1972); Studies in Virgin Islands Librarianship Wo. 9 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Elementary Education; Instructional Katerials Centers; Librarians; *Library Role; *School Libraries; Secondary Education; Speeches IDENTIFIERS *Virgin Islands ABSTRACT Difficulties specific to the Virgin Islands and the general rapid adwances in technology require the rethinking of the role of libravies. Libraries and media centers should be called "information centers" to reflect the explosion of informgation whict. is outdating the traditional media. Plans are underway in the Virgin islands to develop computer information links with the sainland United States and Puerto Rico. These links would have profound implications for such a geographically remote area. Current problems of librarians in Virgin Islands schools, however, have little to do with computers. The rote-learning curriculum and the frequent use of librarians as babysitters restrict the library's effectiveness. Rates of college failure among graduates of Virgin Islands schools and the high dropout rate reflect the lack of orientation toward individual needs. Students should be liberated to explore and analyze in their own ways. The library can facilitate needed instructional individualization. Appendixes accompanying this speech include a record of the question answer period which followed. (Kb) SRE KERR EREKE EAHA EKER EERE KEE ERE ERE RAE REESE EEE REE EREEEKE RAE EEE * Documents acquired by ERTC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * * responsible for the quality of the criginal document. Reproductions * * * * a supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. SHESEASS SSE SEESSESSEEERESESESAEREREE SS EERAEESEESERERAERESESESEEEEEREEEDED THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY OR MEDIA CENTER IN EDUCATION IN THE VIRGIN ISLANOS (An Address to the St. Croix Library Assoclation) by Harold C. Halzlip, Ed. D. Commissioner of Education U. $. Virgin islands Copyright St. Croix Library Association 1973 Studies in Virgin islands Librarianship No. 9 June 1973 2 St. Croix Library Association Christiansted, St. Croix, V. |. US CEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SOUCATION 6 WELFARE MATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOucation Tet» COCUMENT HAS BEEN B® EP RO- OVCEO EXACTLY aS RECEIVED FaOom Te PERSON OR ORGANIZATION OR 1G N- ATiING 17 POINTS OF VIEW O8 OF INIONS STATEO OO HOT WECESSAQiL.Y REPRE. SENT OF FICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EOUCATION POSITION OF POLICY PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY St. Ceatn Gib racy Atsecra@sron. TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN- STITUTE OF EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO DUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM RE QUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER PREFACE Dr. Harold C. Haizlip, Commissioner of Education for the U.S. Virgin Islands, addressed the St. Croix Library Association at ite second annual fall meeting in St. Croix on October 27, 1972. Thie ie a publica- tion of that address. The Association is grateful to Commissioner Haizlip for taking the time and effort to addrese ite membere. Because of the importance of the information and material in that address, the Association is making tt available to the Virgin Islands. It s\would be noted that the question and anewer por- tion in the appendix has been edited by the Associa- tion ard the remarks, questions and anewere are not necessarily direct quotations. St. Croiz Library Association June 1973 “ee CONTENTS An Address by Dr. Harold C. Haizlip.............. beusees The Introduction of Or. Haizlip by Mary Scott.... Remarks by Robert Vaughn...... oe baccccoesnccbecante oscece Question and Answer Period. 10 12 THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY OR MEDIA CENTER IN EDUCATION IM THE VIRGIN ISLANDS ! appreciate being Invited to participate in this meeting. |! delayed your lunch, so | belive you're due an explanation. The telephone call that caused the delay was from the Office of the Governor. There was a special problem which Is serious, but also humorous. it seems that a group of studerts, from a school that | shall not neme, had been led by a teacher, whom ! shall not name, to Bluebeard's Castle, this morning. Upon arrival, the teacher started banging on various doors shouting obscenities while the students applauded, standing around the doors. And the question was, "Did | think this was grounds for dismissal?" | was assured that. the Assistant Principal had been dispatched to get the children back Into the scnoo;i. Another question was, ‘Who should be dispatched to get the teacher?" This teacher is one who has come to my attention before, for similar creative and unique activities that go beyond the pale of what we look for in cre#i'tvity among teachers. This young man is having serious emotional difficulties and they have now come fully to the fore. So it is serious, but imagine my mental reaction, sitting here chatting with Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Oliver, and others, and suddenly the message | But you get used to it. So many things have happened to me In the last year and two months for which | could never have been prepared by any school or by advice from anyone. And | feel, that these experiences, basically enriching, often humorous, do provide opportunities for doing something really significant. Mr. Vaughn suggested that | address myself briefly to the question or the topic of "The Role of Libraries and Media Centers in Education’’. i'd just like to say, for the record, that whenever I'm given a topic such as ''The Role of Something" which does not now exist, | feel as if | am asked to look into my crystal ball, to antic- ipate the future, to rise above the day-to-day problems that now exist. 1! come orward with a conceptualization of something we think we should be striving to achieve. That's what | would like to talk about today, for you know better than, or certainly as well as |, that there are problems where libraries are being used as classrooms, librarians being used as babysitters, non-existent equipment, and internecine warfare between librarians and principals. I'm not diminishing these considerations, but at this point | would rather talk about something that will cause all of us to stretch a bit, in terms of what we should be doing In our roles here In the Virgin Islands. There have been tremendous advances in educational technology. As a result complex programs involving media, involving library service, Involving the storage and retrieval of information have emerged. It has become obligatory for us to rethink the role of libraries and media centers In the educational process. Coupled with “©. Is the fact that we have with us now, the greater involvement of students in ‘ant study and independent learning; a desire on their part to assume a greater role, to assume greater responsibility in the process of their own learning. And in addition to that, it is my personal conviction that unless we change our basic concept of what a library is, we will never succeed as librarians or media center managers. What |! mean is this. There is something called the information explosion. There is the information, words on paper, or tape, or what have you--- ideas which are being generated on the millisecond, at rates faster than we can anticipate collecting into pages of tcxt, and secondly collecting the texts and housing them in forms we now know as text books, in buildings that are called class- rooms, or rooms that are called libraries. My point is, that there is too much information for storage and retrieval by the old methods. Indeed, the information itself is changing all the time. |! hardly need to tell you, that oftimes before it is put into print, it is out-of-date. This information explosion, of which we are a part, really makes it rather ridiculous that we should think in terms of shelves of books, as libraries---if we are to be adequate in providing information and providing access to information. We have limited resources for the building of structures, and the pace of knowledge is growing zt a rate that exceeds our ability to house paper tound materials in the form of texts. As a matter of fact, it is my opinion that libraries should no longer be called libraries, nor media centers. Those locatioys where we are supposed to be able to gain access to information of any sort should be called, instead, "Information Centers". ‘“'Library'' carries with it a connotation of books, and it is my belief that we really must get away from the notions of books, because they are soon to be outdated. We need to concentrate on the computerizing of information services. In colleges and universities, it is becoming the practice that a student can go to the reference center---and assuming that he knows the access system terminology---can dial-up the information he wants, read it, without putting his hands on it, and copy those sections which are relevant to his needs, in the numbers of copies that he needs without ever touching a-book, by just standing in front of a piece of electronic equipment. 1! was fortunate, while with the Educational Division of Xerox Corporation, to become involved In, on an experimental basis---just this kind -* service. Some of you may now be familiar with it. We organized a dissertation service---Which operates out of one of the Companies that Xerox owns, in the Midwest. ‘What we did was to put on a computer drum all dissertations---classified by subject areas---of ail of the major colleges and universities of the United States for a period of the last twenty five years. We then developed an access system. We also developed what we thought was a workable means of publicizing the availability of this service. It is now operating in most of the colleges and universities on the mainland, as one of the key sources of dissertation research. One can simply Indicate what information he needs---it can ve done by telephone or in writing---and out comes a printout of all the titles of Giasertations, the dates they were done, the universities at which they were done, the major headings within the dissertation down to the individual paragraphs in the document, for all of those that are relevant to the kind of information that he, as @ PhD candidate, is looking for. And you know, those of you who have written graduate level dissertations, spend thousands of dollars and God knows how many hours pouring through boring dissertations, only to find that it Is Irrelevant to your needs. Of course, the college will profit by your enrolling for another semester, because you haven't been able to complete the needed research! We at Xerox were ablc to cut through all of that, and provide information at a per page cost, where one paid for only the material needed, ‘nd some minimal cost for the service which brought that information to him---muci less than he would ever pay, either spending another semester at school, or writing and waiting for individual copies of dissertations (which may not even have the information he needs). Obviously, the computerization of information---to return to my point--- is, essential for information centers. In a recent conversation with Miss Enid Baa, | found that plans are underway to develop computer links of the Virgin Isiands libraries with the Scientific Center in Puerto Rico, The Poughkeepsie Computer Center, the National Library of Agricul- ture in Washington, D. C., as well as the Library of Congress. in addition to that, at the College, there is now established and functional, two computer terminals ---one here in St. Croix, and one in St. Thomas, which can be used, not only for information retrieval purposes, but also for supplemental teaching in basic skills. This is a step forward for us in the Virgin Islands. There are other lesser applica- tions of computer technology for the government and the private section of the Virgin Islands, and there is something called A.C.T here in St. Croix. There is the Virgin Islands Computer Service in St. Thomas and the Department of Finance also has a computer installation. However, these are used for what | would call the first level application, where it is simply plugging-in information and accessing it out, basic data about salaries, hours, times, dates, names, sick leave, things, like that---or a schedule for a high school, which is really rather simple. But the application of information science is something that is coming. In the Virgin Islands, where we are remote geographically from the information centers that we need, our ability to tie in to computer-based information sources, throughout the Mainland, will, of course, open up vistas that none of us have ever envisioned, without the kinds of expenditures for cither travel vouchers---or for buildings, or for paper; without the delays of shipping, losses at sea, sinking ships and 211 sorts of disasterous things. We will find ourselves much more closely tied 'n to, and much more up to date on, the information business, with increased demands for our services and jobs here in the Virgin Islands. Strangely enough, | learned also from Miss Baa, that the Virgin Islands is running behind Jamaica; where library services have already been computerized in a majority of the area. Well, as 1 see it, the library media center, the information center, should be the frontier for which we should be striving. We've had years of continuous operation of the library and audio-visual programs, but a unification of these media, using the technology that is now available, will put us light years ahead. The information from our point of view, as librarians, has another use. Those of you-~-and {! will presume to consider myself among you~--those of you who are in the 7 library or info: mation business must operate in full understanding of the philosophy of the school or school system in which you are providing a vital and essential service. The philosophy of the school system in large measure refliccts both the support that's provided the library, as well as the functions of the library. Most of us can enumerate in detail, countless abuses of the library, and librarians. | would say that part of the problem which makes these abuses real, on a daily and hourly basis, is that there is virtually no concensus on a philosophy of cducation for the Virgin Islands. And it is as a result of this fact that we find ourselves with students who are underachieving; with contradictory practices as far as grading is concerned; a curriculum which has the same labels, but thereafter, al! similarities cease. Math | in one class is completely different from Math | in another class, to say nothing of another school. So that the abuses you as librarians experience stem from a far more fundamental problem which has tentacles stretching throughout the school system. That is the absence of a defined and agreed upon philosophy. You have to know in your separate libraries, or information centers, the philosophy of the school system, and of the individual school in which you find yourself. it is my hope that we will in the course of the next year or so be able to grapple with the question of philosophy. 1! come to that question, |! can forewarn everyone, with some rather strong, long-held preconceptions. And the library, or information center, is one place where | see my preconception as having a possibility of coming to ful- fillment. 1 feel that in all areas, the first plank of any statement of philosophy should be to prepare and equip children to live in a free socicty. If we are to teach children to live and function in a democratic and free society, my first insistence is that they be provided opportunities appropriate to their age levels but similar In skills and in direction or in difficulties to those kinds of skills that need to be applied by them as adults in the real world. 1! feel, secondly, that students should, as fast and as sw ‘-!y as possible, be removed from any school which adheres to what |! call rote t« ng and iearning. Feeding children knowledge and trying to teach them skills, ©: if they were Pavlov's dogs, should be abandoned. This is especially true If we want to teach children that they have power, that they can cope, that they can analyze problems and devise solutions, and that we, as teacher or educators, will comment on the aptness of their examination or analyses of problems, and upon the effectiveness of the solutions they offer. The student, In other words, as plank one in my philosophy, should be encouraged to take greater responsibility for his own learning; rather than being told ‘Read from Page 7 to Page 11; go to the library and get a copy of TWELFTH NIGHT and read, in whever edition it is, Act One and two pages of Act Two, and so on". This kind of parcelling out of information is as insulting to the students as it is derogotory to th2 professionaiism of teachers. What | want to see is students liberated from the mode that we seem to stick so closely to now in the Virgin Islands. The library, to point out the relevance of what |! have just said, Is---or should become---one place in a school where 2 student may take a problem and obtain infor- mation for its solution. in this Institution he should be able to find out how to get the Information and where to get the information so that he may proceed to its acquisition. The student will then be able to determine if he has obtained the 8 the needed assistance and use it toward the solution of the original problem. ii would seem to me that we should provide both the technology and the approach to self sufficiency. Your first job is to decide what resources are here, including the librarian,or the manager, if you will, of the information center. We are in one small, but important way, preparing students for their own lives. it's this kind of self sufficiency that we must teach. it should, in other words, reflect the philosophy and the instructional program of the school]. More than any other aspect of the school's program, In the library, the information center, there must be primary emphasis on the individual child and the individual child's needs, both educational and personal. The student defines his needs, retrieves and uses information accordingly. The manager >of the informa- tion system, the media specialist, the librarian, whatever label yo. prefer to apply to him, has to be knowledgeable, therefore, about the learning process, about the substance of whet is to be learned in the various grade levels or jroupings of the school in which he or she is working, and the process that is being undertaken in the school as a whole as well as in the various classrooms. He or she should be able to provide information needed by teachers in helping them update their own programs and thereby utilize the resources of the library. We all know what's happening in the Dark Ages of 1972. The ifbrary is looked upon as the unauthorized locus of baby sitting. it is more often used 'n ways that would ref.ect punitive motivation on the part of teachers who send student's there, or principals who send teachers and their students there, and so on. We have yet a long way to go, and you of course, the keeper of the gate---those of you who have gates---have to bear with some of these problems; meanwhile trying to keep sone perspective on why the problems exist and to hold some hope that changes will be forthcoming. Struggling with all of this, you need also to be able to help teachers. it is un- fortunate that often those of us who purport to be teachers, deport ourselves in the most unprofessional educational ways. ! always find myself chuckling sbout teachers when I'm in the presence of teachers who comment on the necessity of students’ being exposed to cultural and other uplifting arid educational experiences, when | know that the teacher hasn': read a book In the last ten years, hasn't seen a play in the last ten years; spends most of his time on the beach in the sun, and so on. And yet there is this kind of false professionalism which people seem to get a kind of special injection of wien they're coming to my office, in order to say that the problem is not with the teachers, but those who refuse to be taught. And |! chuckle and | think to myself "well, I've heard that before’. And | nevertheless come away from all of these meetings feeling that the students are not the problem. it's we! it's the adults! 1! have yet to see a student or child who is uneducabie, unless he is mentally retarded or has some other kind of brain damage. But we continue to refuse to examine ourselves, our own "up-tight- ness" in approaching students; we refuSe to examine the effects of our own behavior on little people---who, though little, have very sensitive feelings---who often respond first in the affeg§ive domain and secondly in the intellectual one. As long @s we continue to do these things, we are blind to our own Ineffect!iveness---because Page o the kids just shut us out---you know, the eyes go down, head goes up, and with age and independence and know-how, the absenteeism goes up. Then the foul language comes; then the hostility for some students, and so on. And through all of this | don't blame the kids. Had they been given a more exciting program a more responsive one, less repressiveness---yet firm control and direction--- we would see quickly the diminishment of these kinds of problems. Many young people who have dropped-out left in utter frustration and in anger. It was because they sensed that while they had to put in the time, they weren't geting the results. 1! don't exonerate students. But | do believe that the students are wos the problem, certainly not the heart of the problem. We need to be able to assist teachers in broadening the scope of their curriculum, in becoming aware of alternatives in the form of different materizis, different books, different approaches, different records, different movies---al! of which can be used to accomplish the same end, as far as a skill or basic piece of information is concerned---a peice that has to be learned by students. Somehow or another, more often than not, it's the one-shot emulsified injection. If he doesn't get it as presented, we turn around and flunk him this year and give him that same one-shot emuisified injection which didn't take last year. After that we say ‘Well, he's uncooperative, he has failed two years, and he's out"’. In the teacher's bag of tricks,and | do not mean to diminish the teacher's profession, but in the teacher's professional preparation, there must be alternatives, in as much as no two children are alike, nor indeed is the same child the same from minute to minute. So that we must, in our job as information systems managers, find ways of bringing to teachers an awareness which they seem often not to seek themselves; that is, alternative approaches, materials and tools to the teaching and learning of the same set of skills. Now, that's more easily said than done. First, because in the elementary school, teachers barely feel they have time to go to the bathroom, except, thanks to the Union, there is now a preparation period. And even though librarians are called texuchers, and sometimes insultingly treated the same, it is the case that the lack of cime is not the prohibition. There is time available, but whether teachers will use their time to consult with librarians, with people in the information center, is another question. More often than not, you know, you can see---if you could cut off the roof of the school and look down and watch the movement---you would see as teachers are freed of their children they run faster than the children in getting away, Into the teachers’ lounge, out the front door, or wherever, more often than not. So it is easy to say that teachers should, instead of running to the teachers’ lounge, go to the library and investigate with the librarian some ways of reaching a child whom she missed this morning. It's easier to say that, than do it. I! have now learned that, in spite of mandates, behavior often remains unchanged, so that while we can say a teachér will spend one "'prep"’ period per week In the library with the librarian, you will find that there are water on the knees conditions; dental appointments which must be kept between 11:30 and 12:15; husbands who must have bills paid before 2:00; or all sorts of other things which will prevent teachers from 10 being able, in spite of the mandate, or perhaps because of it, to do this. So, there has to be some attraction to the library that comes not out of mandate, but out of a sense that ‘Setween the librarian and the teacher there are mutual concerns which neither ca. ‘ully satisfy without the other. It is that which comes out of a seuse of professionalism and commitment to your job, to your children, which leads you to decide that you missed someone today---maybe it was you, maybe it was |, maybe it was the materials. ‘Let me find out what <clse |! can use, how else ! can approach this chilu'', should be the thought. But that is something which we strive for; and | don't feel, at this point, that it has been uniformly achieved. There are many, many, exceptions. | don't offer this as an afterthought or apology; |! have seen many good teechers in the Virgin islands, but |! have to admit that they are outnumbered. These are additional areas in which the library and media centers play critical parts. As | said earlier, one key area is that of the development of children, a respect for knowledge, the tools of research---even among kindergarteners and first graders. We can inculcate these tools, we can give a sense of self reliance, teach children the Dewey decimal system, and let them then find, according to the numbering of the card catalog, a sense of accomplishment by decoding and applying the system to achieve an end. These things | consider to be critical to the development of children. They don't show up on the report card, but they certainly do show up in the way in which children come back to the library, and even regard the librarian---and indeed, what is more important, regard themselves. So that there is a critical role, in my opinion, to be played by the media center in the development of tne children. There is a role in the consultation with the staff, with department chairmen and individual teachers regarding curriculum. As you know, the unexamined curriculum is dead. it lacks luster, vitality, and | am willing to admit that teachers’ other responsibilities, of management of the class, taking the roll, of preparing the homework assignments, of grading the homework assignment, of preparing their own lesson plans become priorities, and it's my hope that the information center can be that constant nagging form which says, ‘while m.naging, let's provide better substance’. it's not enough to sit down and have a neatly run classroom when the information that is being taught is out of the early part of the 1920's And we often have accepted as good teaching simply effective classroom management. We see the results of that all the time. | see it. 1! see it,and ! am really distressed. | heard it "loud and clear" last Sunday at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the College of the Virgin Islands. In an example of the loss in the well-managed class- room---well run enough---of a selected sample of 193 students who graduated from the public schools of the Virgin Islands last June and entered the College of the Virgin islands» of the 193 selected, 112 failed a basic proficiency test in mathematics--~- where passing wes at the 7th grade level---and in reading, where passing was also at the 7th grade level. That's the distressing feedback. Well managed classrooms, al! the pomp and circumstance of graduation, are really 11 Page & secondary. | am scared that we are not turning out students who are sducated. And this is some of the evidence. We have begun a follow-up of mm: ©° our graduates and we are beginning to find that more than half of those entering coilege on the main- land, after graduating from our public schools, fail .o complete m-;« than one half of the first year. in all of these horrifying statistics, please be reminded | don't blame the students. 1 don’t blame the students, at al], because they don't run the school system. They don't select the books. They don't have control over the decision as to what is to be taught. They don't have control over who Is to be grouped with whom, for what- ever Instructional purposes. So you can't blame them.- You can't say that they were incalcitrant learners, and that the exceptional student succeeded but these in- calcitrant one obviously failed to learn. You cannot blame the students if they spent their lives in a school system which did not recognize its deficiencies, and take action as quickly as possible, to correct them. in a book called, DESIGNING EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE, the authors Jesser and horphet Stated and summarized the gist of my remarks as fol lows: “Instructional equipment and materials must not---and | would add, cannot--- be used to condition learners to live in a world of standardization, con- formity, and alienation. They should serve as s force to move the educational system in the opposite direction, towards freedom, creativity, anc worthwhile sense of one's self." Ladies and gentlemen, | appreciate this opportunity of coming before you because |! feel that you have a critical role in helping all of us to revitalize and improve education in the Virgin islands. Thank you. APPEND IX THE INTRODUCTION OF DR. HAIZLIP BY MARY SCOTT, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ST. CROIX LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Or. Harold C. Halizlip is a native of Washington, 0.C., and a product of its school systems. He received his initial degree cum laude from Amherst College. With a major in the classics to build upon, he moved to Harvard, where as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow he obtained the Master and Doctorate In Education. He wes employed as a high school teacher In Wellesley, Massacnusetts, and later in the Boston school system. But in the Boston schools he was uniquely employed the Ford Foundation. Following the unfortunate route of all outstanding teachers he moved from the classroom to be posit!oned in the Educational Division of the Xerox Corporation, and then to the position for which he has been most noted, Headmaster of the New Lincoln School. But not only is Dr. Haizlip an outstanding educator, teacher, he has distinguished himself in other areas. One of these Is he holds an award of being one of the ten most outstanding young men In Boston---a distinction he shares with the late John F. Kennedy. He is, as well, a member of the Board of the Ameritan Museum of Natural History and the Harvard Graduate School of Educa- tion. His recent position Is most unfortunate. You see, as Virgin Islands Commissioner of Education, he has been called to a climate where he cannot continue nis proficiency as one of the greatest amateur ice-skaters---this compliment was ex- tended to him by his wife. Since he has been here, however, we have noted that the hypothesis in education that once you know a principle of the discipline, it carries over to other areas is not true. For although he glosses over the ice, he does not appear as one who glosses over his work. The man, HWaizlip, is a most appropriate speaker for the St. Croix Library Association, because the library is a force for educational excellence, and since he has attained excellence in education, he cannot help but be aware of the Importance of the library in the school. Aware of some of his successes, we are now ready to hear Or. Halizlip. APPEND IX REMARKS BY ROBERT V. VAUGHN, PRESIDENT OF T4E ST. CROIX LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AFTER DR. HAIZLIP'S ADDRESS i'm certoin Or. Halzlip's remarks will make each of us take a new look at our own role in Education. Perhaps we sometimes feel a little bit like a target sitting still in the library---a target for people to take pot-shots at. There Is a Puerto Rican say!ng which has an influence on our role in education: A man must do three things during his life---nlant trees---write books--- and have sons. Louls Munoz Marin said---! wish they would plant more trees and write more books. The expanding population does affect our role in education. Let's take a look at our role In education, realistically. Let's look at, among other things, the important matter of library standards. You may wonder why |, a private school IIibrarlan, would be concerned about Standards for libraries. If you are a part of a public school system, you have the same problems | have. My school is designed with a low teacher/pup!i! ratio. As a result, all classrooms are used throughout the academic day. Well, what do kids do when they're not in the classrooms? The sun Is bright. We don't have any extra class- rooms. We don't have groves of trees for shade. Obviously the kids come into the library. So you see, we all have the same basic problem, the problem of what to do with all the students who are not in a classroom. We all want to do a job---to give service to these young people. We want them to be able to come up to us and tell us what they want and need. We want thelr teachers to be able to tell us what they want us to do. But, how many times do we actually have teachers coming in to us, teachers who are doing research for their own classes. Obviously rarely. Now, I'm not saying it's all the teachers'fault. Very often, | have a feeling thet wien a teacher comes Into the library, because of pressing duties, too many children, etc., that Individually you and ! might not have a very pleasant look on our faces. If you see a batch of kids---20 kids coming Into the library all at once---perhaps unannounced or unanticipated---!'l! bet | would see the same expression on anyones face. Perhaps---just perhaps---a little better attitude on our part might help a little bit. These kids need solid help---solid help they're not generally getting nov. Some of this solid help is going to come about throught the establishment and impiementation of some very realistic standards for our school libraries. 14 Page i] it's fine to talk about 1960, 1969, and just as Dr. Haizlip has indicated, we should really be planning for a period of time ahead of these years, not to mention today. Well, wa're here now, we have to live with it. Could we have some questions which you librarians would tike to ask Dr. Haizlip, concerning standards or any other problem? i'm sorry !'m making a target of ‘ou, Or. Halzlip. APPEND 1X THE QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD FOLLOWING DR. HAIZLIP'S ADDRESS * Patricia Oliver (Central High School): Or. Halzlip, ! agree with your philosophy, but what can we do in our library when we start off with 150% capacity of the library. They are not there because they come to use the iibrary, in all cases. We do try to make it a friendly place. Students want to use the library, but there is no place for them to come In to use the meterials avallable,primarily because too many students belng there for other reasons. c If students could find the materials themselves, | could work myself out of a job. But | can't even get the student there to explain to him how to use the Dewey decimal system. The question is, because of over population In the library, when will the students be allowéd to use the materials? Or. Haliziip: There are all kinds of problems which have in turn caused you your unique problem---most of which have been resolved (but not fully)---classes with two teachers and few students for three perlods a day. We have begun eliminating the inequities represented by some teachers teaching four classes, or three, and others teaching five, so that more teachers and students are in class. Also we tried to fill up classes to the desirable limit. Now this Is not something | am proud of, but It Is a necessity that we use the bullding effectively and well. We still have some problems in scheduling. ! am not sure haw or how soon we are going to be able to ss!vc the problems at Central. We have solved many of them, but clearly we are not at an optimal state at this point. Coacerning libraries, | don't agree with an ostrich approach. The problems ‘n the library have to do with things outside the library itself. Your problem Is 150% occupancy and this endless stream of kids who make it Impossible---even with any degree of self-respect---to call yourself a librarian. 1! don't question for a moment that you should be outraged. Concerning occupancy, the question Is where are we going to put them? There are answers. We have accomplished a great deal. There Is logic in a solution to the problem, But the simple logic does not always seem to be applied, without some pressure from the outside. The solutions Iie In that we need more effective use of the existing piznt and that would partially take the pressure off librarians. Whether our solutions will have stopped the steady flow of abusers Into your Ilbrary, 8 can’? saye--but we will certainly try. This is not limited to Central by any @sens. There are different problems in different schools, but the effects are ® Motes The questions and answers have been edited, and are not necessarily direct quotations. 16 often the same. Libraries are probably the most abused areas in most schools In the Virgin Islands at this time. Christiane Moravia (Grove Place School): Do you think the problems In St. Croix are more important at the high school level than they are at the elementary level? Or. Haiziip: No, | don't. In some ways, If |! had to make choices, they would be at the secondary level---but only as a result of time. For example, we are now analyzing all the test results in math and English (where tests are administered) of our seniors in the high schools of the Virgin Islands. Whet we have decided to do for those students who are functioning at or below the ninth grade level (or its equivalent level) in each of those two subject areas, we are going to Institute a mandatory supportive tutorial program---on top of the regular level. ! can't honestly sit here and call myself Commissioner of Education, and sign my name to a high school diploma, when the student is, In fact, functioning below the high school level. ! am just that much of a professional. So, I've made a choice. Although |! would quickly say that while doing this with this year's seniors, we are also planning now for the next year's seniors, next year's tenth grade, ninth grade, seventh grade, sixth grade, right down to kinder- garden. |! want to take care of this problem first, because, come June, these kids will be gone! Moravia: But, | think it's better to prevent these problems than to have remedial programs. We can do It by starting at the kindergarden level. Dr. Halzlip: | would like to do everything at the same time, but it Is easier sald than done. We have to admit that for as long as the present trend continues, we will have as many new students In the system as we have old. We are getting almost as many students from other places as we are promoting. It is my feeling that a rather drastic and fundamental snd total re-organization of the entire system Is necessery. There are some special problems to which we have to address ourselves, as long as we expect this Inflow to continue, and as long as we still have our own high reten- tion rate. We have age increasing, achieving remaining constant (or decreasing), and we have students coming In who have already been out of school for several years---and even at the time they left they were significantly below grade level. So, for example, you have ‘ourteen year olds who are non-readers. We had more than 100 such children come Into the Virgin Islands public schools this year---fifteen year olds with reading and math scores on the first and second grade levels! This sets up problems that ere difficult to cope with.. . Gage 14 Looking very closely at the placement decisions that are bein, made at individual schools by guidance counsellors proves to be an unsatisfactory compromise in every instance. What happens is that because of the child's size, if not age, a child who is fourteen but tested at the first grade level is perkaps placed at the sixth grade level. it's like guaranteeing that the child will not get instruction at the level needed by him. Instead, it is an accomodation. | think we've reached the point where we cannot accomodate anymore. Mary Scott (St. Peters School): You're familiar with the Harvard Report which stated that equal education does not necessarily mean identical education. Even though we have ostensibly gone to the non-graded system, | find the 1920 attitude of the teachers being king in his classroom prevails, and the librarian is treated as though he was still hired by the public library and is not allowed to infringe upon the kingdom of the teacher. My question is, when you speak of the librarian serving as curriculum consultant, what method do you plan to institute that's going to make people accept the fact that the librarian is no longera little old lady, with a bun on the back of her head, who has nothing else to do with her days and really who has gone through all these changes. Then, you have some idea what It's like when you decide you're going to be a librarian. How are you going to get the teachers to understand that we're really not there to serve as curator of materials or order-keepers of children? The only way a librarian gets a "'prep'period is if she leaves the library, which most of us don't want to do. You know, we are not accepted. It's like the stuff that you bring up, and raise hell about, and all this kind of stuff, they say, ‘Yes, Baby,'' and that's all! Just as if they figure you're some kind of a put to want to sit in there with books. Hortense Darrin (Concordia School): You know, | would like a copy of your speech. | want It because you are the first person in five years who stood up fn a group like this talked with us and made this more real than it's ever been! The class- room teachers view you on only the TV panel, and the opening day of school. They don't hear this. This is our subject, and I'd like every teacher in my school to hear it, even if | have to stand and read it to them individually. Or. Haiziip: I! would just like to say, ''Thank you."' But let's return to Mrs. Scott's comments . | don't think there's a rat formula for converting principals and teachers to a greater appreciation of the library, the librarian, and library service. The ques- tions you raise are really in the area of how to change the attitudes of teachers and principals. There's no formula for that, because for every change that you pro- pose, there is a very active, sometimes subconscious, reinforcement against the suggestion that you're making. Scott: Well, you're talking about going from tradition to innovation. Or. Halzlip: Yes, | know, and | believe it is possible to do just that. But, wnat I'm saying is that neither reading my speech to them nor telling them that ycu're not some kind of ''kook'' for liking books to sit in a room with them, Is going to change ei<%er the!: perception of themselves, or of you. 1 think there is another kind of approach that is generally necessary. I often ask myself, ‘Why do some principals and teachers in their image, treat their responsibilities as if they were externai statements of themselves?" Probably what we need to do is to begin building within our principals and teachers confidence In themselves, performing---If you will---as "information agents" for children---not jailkeepers. We provide a service and there's nothing more rewarding for us than a well-educated and well-adjusted child. When | talk to principals, |! often feel that problems in schools first represent problems between teachers and principals. Those problems can take the form of personal security, whether on the part of the teachers or on the part of principals. Personal security can be related in terms of your feeling of being adequate to your job, your feelings that you are perceived either to be, or not to be, adcquate in the performance of your job by your subordinates. To be adequate we should relax a little bit, accept criticism (as well as praise). Accept the limitations that all of us have; accept it without feeling that by accepting it, we will somehc or another be struck from our jobs. The pressures of remaining iin the job sometimes can have an adverse effect on one's willingness to be honest about himself. 1! think teachers are as responsible for the difficulties we now have, as are principals and supervisors. But, if you have In any school--- and this Is a personal >2lief---a group of angry upset teachers, the kids have had it! And so you can share with me my concern about the ager, the hostility, and so on, that seems to be prevalent in so many of our schools. 1 think a lot of this problem could be resolved if we as professionals could accept that we have these problems arid avoid any labelling, and that we have our separate and joint roles in eliminating them. There's no formula for it. You really have to take little steps at a time. it's professional humility and security which +511 allow us to admit making a mistake without it's appearing cn the front page of one of our newspapers. Marjorie Masters (College of the V.1., St. C->ix Campus): Dr. Haizlip, | am wonder- ng many teachers come into the librarias to make themselves more aware of the resources there for students in their clesses, so that when they bring or send their students to the library, that they can better use the facilities and materials there---rather than just occupying the chairs. |! am wondering if any of them really try to learn what is in their own libraries. 19 Dr. Haizlip: 1! can't answer the question as to how many do, or don't. I feel all should---but it's like sprinkling water in the rain, you just don't know. Masters: If they do not, then there is a need for better orientation of teachers. Dr. Haizlip: Not only orientation. It is my contention that upon the opening of school, it is necessary for a teacher to come to school more than two hours before the school opens, in order to prepare. Masters: Or. Haizlip, in the College here in St. Croix, there are many teacher trainees currently in the program. They come and ask me for some sort of library training, because they themselves do not know how to use either the College library or the school library. They do not know how to use the school library to further their own class needs. This results because there is no other Instruction given--- only on an individual basis. They ask for it, repeatedly. And until these teacher trainees are allowed to have some sort of a library program within the scope of their education, then we are gcing to turn out, again, into the local schools, teachers who are perpetuating the problems. Darrin: 1 would like to say something about teacher trainees. 1! have invited them, and begged, pleaded and cajoled. I! have a few coming in. However, | think that something should be done on this teacher training program from the top down, because | can't tell a teacher trainee, ''You should come."' | can invite them. 1 can show them. 1! do get a certain percentage, but | can't get all of them. Or. Haizlip: twill have Mr. Oliver make plans to meet with Mr. Austin Donovan and the College. | assumed they did have in thelr program of study at least one unit on the contents, organization and use of the library. 1! find the people at the College to be very willing and excited to help us. In areas such as reading, library services, tutorial services, and curriculum consultation, and so on, they are very much interested. Oliver: There was a question of personnel in the budget. Or. Haizlip: Concerning the budget, we often find ourselves going through the process of specifying what we want, specifying first what we have. On the personnel budget slone, you must specify every single person working In the Department of Education, making up a report when he was employed, in what department, at what salary, at what raises per year. Now you know some people have been here for forty years! Then, you have to put beside this information,on all new positions, where the money is to come from. Then, sometimes there's a three word pronouncement "no new positions," which makes it all just a wasted effort. 20 > 1 also must say | don't have sole control over the budget for the Department. 1! do once we get it, but | don't in terms of getting it. We compete with all other departments, and it's up to the government to decide which priorities come first. So, as an example, while | put im enough In our capital budget for a gymnasium at Central High School, at Wayne Aspinall, and Nazareth, the fact is a decision is made, notice there is no agent, a decision is made to use the funds for other purposes. And then | don't have any money to build a gymnasium, and I'm asked why it hasn't been built. Moravia: 1! would like to descrite my library, because no words can explain the Situation. Since 1970,! have on my desk a shoebox and my shelves are made up of concrete block and pieces of wood, even though they are setting up shelves all over the school, and | am told I'll have to wait. 1! wish you would visit Grove Place. Or. Haizlip: Concerning this shoebox, it sounds a little bit humorous, but in a way that makes us want to cry rather than laugh. But, |! have {+ say that | believe in the "squeaking wheel'' philosophy. If you don't make any noise, often you don't get ary change. Moravia: Oh, |! make noise. Edwin Golden (Lew Muckle School): 1! have been at the Lew Muckel school since its opening, and up to now | don't have furniture. Or. Haizlip: 1'11 look Into it and find out what happened. What Is it really that you are lacking? Golden: Well, we are lacking chairs, tables, all these things. We do not have an adequate number of chairs and tables. 1 borrow some chairs from the lunch room and whatever desks are not teing used in classrooms, so that we'll have some place for the kids to sit. Or. Haizlip: 1! don't know the full story---nor any part of it---but | will next week. 1 am afraid | had a three o'clock appointment. ! had better run. Once again, though, 1 do thank you very very much for inviting me. It's been my pleasure.