Cornwall ON – The Cornwall Public Library is hosting a Meet the Municipal Candidates Event with a focus on Arts and Culture on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.
All candidates will be given two minutes to present their general platform and an additional minute to answer a prepared question, drawn at random, from Cornwall’s arts, culture and community service sector.
The event will be held in the Library’s Kinsmen Reading Room on the main floor. Everyone is welcome to attend.
You know, that is a perfect venue to discuss whether property taxes should go up $20.00 a year in order to provide every student in Cornwall with a Kindle. That action would provide every student with every book in the public domain at my personal cost of twenty dollars. It’s going to happen over time anyway. Why not give our kids an advantage this time by getting slightly ahead of the curve? This is not socialism. This is the wealth of nations. The capitalist action of raising taxes to buy goods to further the potential of a generation is good economics and good community health. There would have to be massive and powerful arguments against this to not do it. I wait to be clobbered by the moral, intellectual and economic reasons to not do so. Make me blush.
I liked the idea of every adult in town knowing that they paid $20 so every single student in town had every book in the public domain. That’s community without selectivity. The idea was to put zero barriers between all students and all books all the time anywhere. Zero barriers. Million books. No hoops to jump through. It’s automatic. Just one more real thing Cornwall offers. What would it cost, a million and a half? Do it next week.
All the feedback I have received on this has been most fruitful and welcome and with insight. I do think that there is some misunderstanding though.
The idea was not to give the library power and control over the flow of information or to give the school board power and control over the flow of information. The idea was for everyone to know for certain, at a very low cost, that every student had every book in the public domain and that it was given to them by the CITY. In particular, the students who couldn’t care less and wouldn’t choose to own one would have one and everyone would know that. No one needs permission to read. Take a risk that’s the price of a fancy swimming pool. Whether text books or current books are available is not so important as all the books in the public domain. What’s it to you?
I’m generations from being under 18 and have no idea at all what they think on the subject but I’ll speak for them regardless of the echo.