Education vs. learning: How semantics can trigger a mind shift
The word "learning" opens up space for more people, places, and ideas.
06 July, 2020
- The terms 'education' and 'learning' are often used interchangeably, but there is a cultural connotation to the former that can be limiting. Education naturally links to schooling, which is only one form of learning.
- Gregg Behr, founder and co-chair of Remake Learning, believes that this small word shift opens up the possibilities in terms of how and where learning can happen. It also becomes a more inclusive practice, welcoming in a larger, more diverse group of thinkers.
- Post-COVID, the way we think about what learning looks like will inevitably change, so it's crucial to adjust and begin building the necessary support systems today.
<p><em>This video is part of <a href="https://z17.global/" target="_blank">Z 17 Collective</a>'s <a href="https://bigthink.com/future-of-learning/" target="_self">Future of Learning</a> series, which asks education thought leaders what learning can and should look like in the midst and wake of the coronavirus pandemic.</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<a href="https://bigthink.com/future-of-learning/" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM4MjI4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNDYwMTAyNH0.HcyXGsDebKwteIO_Z3ByjC802bN88sPB9pZ3N4AbGcs/img.jpg?width=980" id="716e9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87df982fdc1b016667a0bfb7b65719a3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt=""></a>
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We need highly formal rituals in order to make life more democratic
Comfort has won, and most formality is gone.
19 June, 2020
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Benedictus, Benedicat, per Jesum Christum, Dominum Nostrum. Amen.
Please be seated. It's dinner time in St Paul's College, Sydney, where I'm dean and head of house at Graduate House.
<p> The members of the High Table, wearing academic gowns, have processed into the refectory to a table laden with candelabra and silver accoutrements from the college treasury, each place set with cutlery and glasses. The students, also in gowns, rise from their seats to acknowledge the High Table, and stand until the presider has finished the Latin grace (this is the shorter one – a longer version is kept for feasts). Now that all are seated, a three-course meal is served, accompanied by poetry, music, announcements and general well-dressed merriment. Port is served. A final grace is said after dinner, then all retire to the common room for coffee (or more port) and further conversation. The men wear ties. The women dress up. Diners bow to the High Table when excusing themselves, and the High Table bows back when departing from dinner.</p><p>This is, by no means, an entirely unique ritual. Everywhere the British empire planted its flag, its two great universities of Oxford and Cambridge spread their collegiate model, and so Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States all have their colleges, each with their traditional ways of dining and living. St Paul's is the oldest such college in Australia, but it's different from the others (and from those in Britain) in a significant respect. St Paul's contains two communities – undergraduate and postgraduate – each with their own buildings, dining halls, common rooms, and leadership; each almost a college unto itself, but joined in many endeavours. The undergraduate community was founded in 1856, and Graduate House, which I lead, in 2019. Yet, despite this difference in antiquity, the description above describes dinner in either community, every week.</p>
<p>When I started as dean of Graduate House, there was no Graduate House, only an incomplete construction site and an idea. My brief was to recruit the students and academics, fill the buildings with people, set up student leadership, and design and define the culture and practices of a new college-within-a-college.</p><p>I didn't want for unsolicited advice. The most common sentiments I heard were unsurprising: 'a new college can be modern', 'you don't need gowns', 'you don't need formal dinner', 'graduate students in a new college will want it casual!'</p><p>We wear gowns. To formal dinners. It is not casual. It is not 'modern'.</p><p>I hold an unpopular view. I believe, firmly and invariably, that life in the 21st century is too informal and empty of ritual, and that we should encourage and erect more needless formality. Formality, ritual and ceremony – not casual approachability – are among the most effective ways of making the world and its institutions more inclusive and egalitarian. We all need much more formality in our lives.</p><p>The past century has been a good one for individual freedoms – in almost every respect. This wholesale liberalisation has included the freedom of individuals to dress, dine and discourse how they like it. And how they like it is invariably: 'casual', 'low key', 'without too much fuss', 'not too precious', 'not too pretentious', 'not ostentatious' or, as I heard just the other day, 'not too "bougie"' (<em>qua</em> 'bourgeois')… in short, informal. Comfort is king in the modern world; and comfort is the excuse proffered for the evaporation of formality from daily life.</p>
<p>While formality and its rituals persist in little pockets, they do so only where they are bolstered by elaborate protective struts. In general (though decreasingly), government ceremonies remain somewhat formal. With ever increasing exceptions, weddings and funerals cling to formal traditions. The High Church has positioned itself as the last refuge of formal practice – a claim that would have no teeth had not the Low Church so effectively abolished the bells and smells and hymns and ceremony in favour of appealing to parishioners who want a service that 'isn't too fussy'.</p><p>Comfort has won, and most formality is gone. But the freedom of informality comes at a cost. Formality is the bulwark against some of the nastiest human impulses, and acts as a vaccine against our most dangerous tendency: forming in-groups and out-groups.</p><p>There's nothing you or I or the Pope or the United Nations could do to stop humans from forming clubs, inventing or elevating meaningful markers of difference, and building fences and corrals that keep one's group together while keeping the <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/if-we-love-our-friends-does-that-make-us-hate-our-enemies" target="_blank">'others'</a> out. We are a tribal ape with a brain built to exaggerate our allegiance to our small band while manning the barricades against others distinguished by vanishingly tiny differences. Individuals can, with great effort, consciously <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/why-care-and-the-scare-are-inseparable-when-you-love-someone" target="_blank">suppress</a> this nasty bit of programming, but populations on the whole will <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/does-evolution-explain-the-social-antipathy-to-refugees" target="_blank">fail</a>.</p>
<p>Groups can form around any distinguishing feature, from the harmless, such as sporting teams, schools attended or favourite novels, to the nefarious, such as race, class or sex. Each person can disavow some marks of difference while clinging to others – and no person can disavow them all.</p><p>This mental virus might be incurable, but there is a vaccine: formality. Formality gives us something harmless around which to form an in-group: namely, knowledge of the rules of that particular formality, with its own trials of membership and rules of initiation.</p><p>'Ah yes, the dress code <em>is</em> a bit difficult to understand… You see, it's based on Edwardian standards, of course, so "semiformal" actually means black tie! No, no, don't worry a bit, it <em>is</em> unusual…'</p><p>The opportunity to be a crowing pedant about the rules of formality gives one something to do instead of in-grouping around more exclusionary traits, such as to which expensive school one went. More importantly, the rules of formality are ultimately accessible to all. Anyone can learn the etiquette and wear the tie, and so become part of the ever larger, ever more diverse in-group that practices the formality of the event.</p><p>The livery companies of the City of London are some of the more formal and traditional institutions in the United Kingdom today; formal dinners, ceremonies in Tudor (or mock-Tudor) garb, and incredibly convoluted elections are their standard fare. Despite their finery and antiquity, they aren't – nor have they ever been – aristocratic. More than a century ago, they were already associated with upwardly mobile plebs, so much so that Gilbert and Sullivan poked fun at the House of Lords' collective disdain for the Common Council (composed of many livery company members) in their comic opera <em>Iolanthe</em> (1882)<em>.</em> The companies began as workmen's guilds and preserve those class associations, but they are formal, traditional organisations, because this helps to bind their members together, despite their differences, making them all feel as one.</p>
<p>
This is a common pattern. While the London gentlemen's clubs are well-dressed and traditional, they're largely devoid of ceremony; instead, they're well-appointed places to relax over meals or drinks and sniffingly observe shibboleths of the upper classes, from which syllable to stress in 'patina', to why one ought not to own fish knives. Meanwhile, foundationally working-class clubs, such as the Knights of Columbus or the Freemasons, deck themselves in formal ceremony and ritual. The already powerful can afford not to make too much fuss. For the up-and-coming, or the downtrodden, formality gives an unparalleled sense of membership to a grander body.
</p><p>
Universities and colleges once knew this well. They remain some of the only institutions still using formality to their advantage, though often grudgingly and falteringly. I lived and worked in a number of colleges in Oxford before moving to Australia, and watched as various members of the leadership tried – sometimes successfully, sometimes not – to strike away little elements of salubrious formality, when they felt the striking was good. And so, dinner's fourth course went, but second dessert was preserved. Another night of the week became informal, but Sunday was still black tie. They chip away at traditions, forgetting that, for students, visiting fellows and new academics, these are the very things that cause rapture and delight.
</p><p>
In 2019, it was an act of fortitude to stand before 100 newly enrolled graduate students – mostly Australian, few with any experience of an ancient college – and insist that in this brand-new, modern building, at our very first dinner, we would wear academic gowns, say grace in Latin, and pass decanters to the left. It was harder still to say the same to a dozen busy and seasoned academics who joined us. But it was the right choice, and the college is better for it. In this modern university, my students and academics come from every political, religious, social and economic background one can imagine; they don't have anything extrinsic in which to believe together. College gives them something to believe in as a whole.
</p><p>
The college needs ritual, tradition, anachronism and whispers of the numinous to bind together this diversity. Not to smooth it out, but to unite it in true engagement. Any apartment building can fill itself with diverse residents who politely acknowledge each other in the hallways, then keep to themselves. It takes a formal, traditional, ritual-filled ancient college to make them all feel as though they're truly of one kind – even if that ancient college is only a year old.
</p><blockquote>
<em>Benedicto, Benedicatur, per Jesum Christum, Dominum Nostrum. Amen.</em>
</blockquote><p>
<em>Postscript: This Idea was conceived and written in early 2020, in a time when COVID-19 was but a suppressed whisper. Reading it now, when ceremony and togetherness are rightly halted for the good of global health, feels like reading a dispatch from a different world. But I do hope this crisis, which is, underneath the medical crisis, a social one, will provide a chance for reflection on how we interact, and that a global community resuming its usual business will embrace the opportunity to repair our broken institutions of formality and ceremony. In short, I hope we all come out of quarantine wearing our Sunday best, ringing bells, lighting candles and burning incense.</em><img src="https://metrics.aeon.co/count/97e9267c-ce38-49a2-9e9d-b714484355e1.gif" alt="Aeon counter – do not remove">
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This article was originally published at <a href="https://aeon.co/?utm_campaign=republished-article" target="_blank">Aeon</a> and has been republished under Creative Commons. Read the <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/we-need-highly-formal-rituals-in-order-to-make-life-more-democratic" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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5 lessons we can all learn from the coronavirus crisis
Sometimes the best way to make changes is when you're in the middle of a challenging time.
30 March, 2020
Photo by Erin Clark for The Boston Globe via Getty Images
- While no one knows the future, implementing lifestyle changes now can prepare you for returning to a post-coronavirus society.
- Boredom has long been a powerful catalyst for creativity and should not be viewed in the negative.
- Spending more time in the kitchen, walking, and being more thoughtful online can be practiced right now.
<p>Speculating on what a post-coronavirus world looks like seems impossible at the moment. This not-knowing is generating personal and economic anxiety around the world. We must grapple with the fact that a one-to-two month timeline <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-social-distancing-over-back-to-normal/608752/" target="_blank">is not feasible</a> and <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-You-Should-Ignore-All-That/248366/" target="_blank">prepare ourselves</a> for what a year or longer looks like.</p><p>Being in the middle of a crisis can be fertile ground for preparing what comes after—or, perhaps more pertinent to this discussion, what comes <em>now</em>. Reaching an existential crossroads is an ideal time for self-reflection. It forces you to confront the solitude we usually avoid by endlessly gazing at our phones. As has long been known, <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/19/adam-phillips-boredom/" target="_blank">boredom is a powerful teacher</a> that should not be overlooked, during this moment, or ever. </p><p>As I <a href="https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/buddhist-wisdom" target="_self">wrote about last week</a>, transience is part of life. This is the first time the entire planet is collectively experiencing a crisis in my 44-year lifetime. Sure, we've witnessed Black Lives Matter, #metoo, and the AIDS epidemic, and there were plenty of people that felt inoculated from those moments. It's easy to ignore or decry movements that don't personally involve you. This moment is different. </p><p>There are dozens if not hundreds of changes we can speculate on. Below are five currently on my mind. </p>
Creative Time Summit | Keynote Presentation: Rebecca Solnit
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="89509df197c02d2eff73af80309383b1"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L9kWI2skHdw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><h3>Value service workers</h3><p>For years, I've done this: When in line and the person in front of me stares at or talks on their phone the entire time the cashier rings them up, I always ask upon reaching my turn, "How does it make you feel when a person ignores you to look at their phone?" Never once—and my anecdotal study has many dozens if not a hundred responses thus far—has someone replied, "I feel great." Answers range from "I'm used to it by now" to "It's like I'm not even a human being." </p><p>Grocery store (among other) workers aren't having a moment right now because they're heroes. The dictates of capitalism demand that they risk getting sick or don't get paid. We shouldn't appreciate service workers now; we should <em>always</em> appreciate them. The grief that retail workers usually receive is a sad reflection of a twisted social hierarchy. And to think, just weeks ago we endured gripes regarding the impossibility of a $15/hour minimum wage. As a society we need to seriously question the value we place on work, and make that value available to everyone. It starts by valuing those that care for you, regardless of your financial or career position.</p><h3>A return to the kitchen</h3><p>With eyes turned on <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/toilet-paper-is-a-giant-waste-of-resources" target="_blank">toilet paper</a> and hand sanitizer, as well as the <a href="https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/calorie-restriction" target="_self">sales surge</a> in pretzels, popcorn, Oreos, and other processed foods, there is good news on the food front: loads of people are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/03/24/people-are-baking-bread-like-crazy-and-now-were-running-out-of-flour-and-yeast/" target="_blank">baking their own bread</a>. I picked up this skill over a decade ago while living in Brooklyn and fell in love with the patience and diligence the process requires. Sure, the fact that flour and yeast are hard to procure is unfortunate. At the same time, it signals an important return to the kitchen. Americans outsource their cooking and food preparation too much as it is. </p><p>In the past week, my wife has experimented with Polish peasant food, pungent Isan soup, and scrumptious butter cookies. We both cook regularly, but given our normally hectic lives, that's usually limited to weekends. Yesterday, she made cultured butter from scratch, which then went into pancakes. (Fortunately, I'm <a href="https://www.derekberes.com/yoga/" target="_blank">live-streaming classes</a> to keep moving after all this home cooking.) I'll return to bread when I can secure flour, but in the meantime I'll be reopening my Hungarian cookbooks to revisit the dishes my grandmother made. </p><h3>Hit the books</h3><p>With Amazon taking up to a month to ship books and local bookstores and libraries closed, there are still plenty of opportunities for reading. (You probably binged "Tiger King" anyway.) Fortunately, ebooks are instantly downloadable. If you're in a financial squeeze, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary" target="_blank">National Emergency Library</a> has made over 1.4 million books available for free, and <a href="http://www.openculture.com/" target="_blank">Open Culture</a> is one of the best resources around for discovering open-source and public domain reading materials. </p><p>Reading <a href="https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/reading-rewires-your-brain-for-more-intelligence-and-empathy" target="_self">bestows numerous benefits</a>, including increasing your intelligence and levels of empathy. This pandemic has thrown many off-guard. Yet disease has long been part of our biological heritage. Humans have endured pandemics with much less up-to-date information. That said, this is the perfect time to study the history of medicine and evolutionary biology. A grasp of the past empowers you with the understanding of how to move through an uncomfortable present. Take advantage of this time to fill your brain with knowledge. </p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkwNDMyOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDQ3MzQ2MH0.tIPTuwJSh_1M_9L1a2VZOkk45HqPhEXrNdjKWOkh0Oc/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C99%2C0%2C11&height=700" id="ecaad" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="62476e833689befb1231d1b15519e2c4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="man reading his book on his window" />
A man reads his book on his window after partial curfew declaration within precautions against coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Tunisia's old city Al Madina al-Kadima on March 27, 2020.
Photo by Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
<h3>Back to the basics</h3><p>"Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do," writes Rebecca Solnit in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140286012?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">Wanderlust: A History of Walking</a>. "It's best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking." </p><p>Not that walking is nothing. In a sense, it's everything to us bipeds. Still, Solnit make an important point. The most startling revelation of this pandemic is seeing more people casually walking around on sidewalks than on the roads—and one of my cross streets is the perpetually-crowded Venice Blvd. Even the ubiquitous scooters are nowhere in sight. </p><p>We can't expect these practices to sustain at the current level when self-isolation is over. But maybe, just perhaps, more of us will remember the pleasure of walking. As Solnit implies, it is also a wonderful opportunity to work through those thousands of thoughts in your head. Time and space give you perspective. </p><h3>Come together</h3><p>I had, admittedly ignorantly, assumed that a pandemic was one issue that would cut through political polarization. Wow, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157044/republican-plot-save-rich" target="_blank">was I wrong</a>. As mentioned above, this virus transcends race, gender, and class. Yes, it's particularly dangerous for immunodeficient patients, of which there is a class component (due to food availability and exercises opportunities). Overall, no one wants this virus, and everyone can suffer—if not you personally, then a relative or loved one. </p><p>We need to unite and rally around levelheaded science. The growing number of conspiracy theories (5G; bioweapon manufacturing; Advil) potentially hurt others as well. This crisis is often compared to 9/11 where over the months that followed there was fear around New York City. But there was also an overwhelming sense of community. Though I am mostly inside these days, when I do go out for walks, I notice that same sense of "we're in this together." Subtle and simple: people making eye contact and saying hello. That is not the usual exchange in Los Angeles. </p><p>Reading, walking, cooking, appreciating the person ringing up your groceries, all practices that slow us down and bring us back to fundamentals. Humans are social animals, making this an especially difficult period, as we can't <em>touch</em> one another. But we can still effect each other, even if through these screens. On the other side of your posts, human eyes stare back. Keep that in mind the next time you sit down to write or share. People all over the world are suffering right now. We can all play a role in alleviating each other's distress.</p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. His next book is</em> "Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</p>
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Face mask sales are up 319% as Americans ignore CDC calls to stop hoarding them
Hospitals are running out of critical face masks as civilians are panic-buying medical supplies en masse amidst the coronavirus global pandemic.
11 March, 2020
Photo by Jonathan Klein / Getty Images
- Sales of medical masks are up by a whopping 319% as civilians hoard medical supplies to prepare for the coronavirus outbreak.
- The CDC and WHO are urging the public not to buy and wear the masks as some hospitals are now in danger of running out of critical respirator masks.
- At this point, coronavirus has infected at least 1,000 Americans and more than 115,800 people around the world.
<p>In the midst of what has officially been declared <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/who-declares-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-global-pandemic.html" target="_blank">a global pandemic</a> caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Americans are frantically hoarding medical masks and other supplies. Compared to last February, health supplies sales have drastically increased as civilians prepare for the novel virus to find its way into local neighborhoods.</p><p>The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is a respiratory disease that comes from a virus named SARS-CoV-2. Illness severity ranges from mild, with some people reporting no symptoms, to severe and even fatal. Serious illness occurs in around 16% of patients. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-11-20-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">At this point</a>, the disease has been found in 35 states plus the District of Columbia and has infected at least 1,000 Americans. So far, it has caused 25 deaths in the United States. Across the globe, COVID-19 has infected more than 115,800 people and killed over 4,200, but these numbers are certain to rise as authorities struggle to contain the rapid spread of the virus. </p><p>According to <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/infographic-americans-are-hoarding-face-masks-2936479" target="_blank">data </a>from the Nielsen Retail Measurement Services, sales of medical masks are up by a whopping 319% while household maintenance masks purchases have gone up by 262%. Additionally, sales of thermometers have increased by 47%, hand sanitizer by 73%, and aerosol disinfectants by 32%. </p>
The danger of hoarding supplies
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3MTc1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Mzk1NTQ2N30.f9Ps6Xa3jdP6RRNC2rA3AspCafsG0PaGVx3_vVbuSTY/img.jpg?width=980" id="9947f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bf23625e8c803d10bf302a9618948881" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Chart showing coronavirus-related product sales" />Photo: Statista / IBT
<p>As cases of coronavirus climb daily, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-n95-face-masks.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesscience" target="_blank"><em>The New York Times</em> reports</a> that several hospitals are in danger of running out of N95 masks, which are tighter and thicker than surgical masks. They are essential for protecting health care workers and controlling the epidemic, but some hospitals are claiming they have hardly more than a month's supply left and that restocking has proven difficult as supplies are being bought out en masse.</p><p>"We can't get any. Everything's back ordered," Dr. Marc Habert, a pediatrician in New York <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-n95-face-masks.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesscience" target="_blank">explained to the <em>Times</em></a>. "I was on a phone call earlier with the local department of health and they basically said the state has supplies, but we need to show we tried to order from three separate places first."</p><p>Health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), are urging the public not to buy and wear the masks to decrease chances of getting infected by the coronavirus. </p>"Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!" <a href="https://twitter.com/Surgeon_General?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1233725785283932160&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2020%2F02%2F29%2Fhealth%2Fface-masks-coronavirus-surgeon-general-trnd%2Findex.html" target="_blank">tweeted Dr. Jerome Adams</a>, the U.S. Surgeon General, on February 29. "They are NOT effective in preventing [the] general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"A smarter way to prepare
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3MTc2My9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTM2MjQ1NX0.te5Elz5ys5OD2OdRE9z2qxb2Mztp6_xFGDOMxk3UZNE/img.gif?width=980" id="8a095" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a7e9cb5ef205db26603baeedbc22d00e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />By Alexander Radtke
Source: FlowingData
<p>So what can you do to protect yourself from the coronavirus outbreak? First, don't completely freak out and <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/03/who-is-getting-sick-and-how-sick-a-breakdown-of-coronavirus-risk-by-demographic-factors/" target="_blank">know if you are at risk</a>. Those who are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html" target="_blank">at higher risk</a> for developing serious COVID-19 illness are older adults and people with severe underlying health conditions — for example, heart disease, lung disease and diabetes. Right now there is no vaccine to protect against COVID-19 and no medications approved to treat it, so the best thing you can do is take precautions against spreading the virus. </p><p>Here are the most effective ways that you can arm yourself against contracting and spreading the coronavirus, without contributing to hospital shortages of critical supplies, as outlined by the CDC: </p><ul><li>Avoid close contact with people who are sick. </li><li>Wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds or longer. (Especially after sneezing, coughing, or being in a public place.) If it isn't possible, use hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol. </li><li>Try to avoid touching high-touch surfaces in public places such as elevator buttons, door handles, and handrails. If you do, wash your hands after. </li><li>Don't touch your face, eyes, and mouth. </li><li>Avoid crowds, especially in poorly ventilated areas. </li><li>Don't shake or hold hands with others. </li><li>Cancel non-essential travel plans, including plane trips. </li><li>Clean and disinfect your home. </li></ul><p>If you do end up getting sick, stay home and call your doctor immediately. Most people will be able to recover from coronavirus at home – <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/steps-when-sick.html" target="_blank">Here's a guide on how</a>. The CDC advises that you plan ahead and have medical supplies to treat the symptoms on hand, such as over-the-counter medicines and tissues, along with groceries and other household items so that you will be prepared to stay at home for a period of time.</p><p>For more information on the best ways to prepare for the coronavirus, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html" target="_blank">see the CDC's recommendations on its website</a>.</p>
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America’s largest public library ditches late fees
With the realization that overdue charges disproportionately affect access for low-income readers, libraries are reconsidering the value of fees.
19 December, 2019
Image source: Kunal Mehta/Shutterstock
- The Chicago Public Library found that a third of their economically disadvantaged members had been denied borrowing privileges due to overdue books.
- Overdue fines account for a tiny fraction of library funding, so the ramifications of ending them are more social than financial.
- Though 92% of U.S. libraries still charge late fees, the number is shrinking.
<p>Whether we're out to quench a thirst for information or lose ourselves in story, checking out a book from a public library may start the first tick of a worrisome clock. It's the time interval in which the book has to be read and returned before the imposition of a rapidly accumulating late-return fee begins. Though the fees are generally fairly small, the threat of them does introduce a measure of pressure that can be just enough to make some — especially those stretching each dollar — decide not to bother in the first place. This is especially true for people who would also have to lay out money to get themselves to the library in the first place.</p><p>Late fees conflict with the reason we have public libraries as stated at the opening of the first public library in the U.S.:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>"Above all…the first regard should be shown…to the wants of those, who can, in no other way supply themselves with the interesting and healthy reading necessary for their farther education."</em></p><p>With wealth inequality continuing to accelerate in the U.S., more and more libraries <a href="https://www.urbanlibraries.org/member-resources/fine-free-map" target="_blank">around the country</a> are reconsidering the negative effect of late fees. In October, the largest public library in the U.S., the Chicago Public Library, announced they were doing away with them. (<a href="https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=doing-fines-fines-fees" target="_blank">92%</a> of U.S. libraries still have late fees.)</p>
The purpose and history of public libraries
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5NDA3OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTg5NjcyM30.idbDE5QsU-0a6CuB8_4JH3IlfJy2cuXm1-PXVqO5tsg/img.jpg?width=980" id="da9d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38e8716e68bd4b592813725a62bebe29" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The Boston Public Library
Image source: Mark Zhu/Shutterstock
<p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>"Of all the human arts, that of writing, as it was one of the earliest invented, is also one of the most important. Perhaps it would be safe to pronounce it, without exception, the most useful and important. It is the great medium of communication between mind and mind, as respects different individuals, countries, and periods of time. We know from history that only those portions of the human family have made any considerable and permanent progress in civilization, which have possessed and used this great instrument of improvement." — First </em><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951000831516z&view=1up&seq=1" target="_blank"><em>trustees report</em></a><em>, Boston Public Library, 1854.</em></p><p>The <a href="https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2236/how-did-public-libraries-get-started/" target="_blank">first public library</a> in the U.S. was the Boston Public library, and the quote immediately above laying out its purpose — as well as the quote in the previous section — were written in its report to library trustees as the library opened its doors to the general population in 1854.</p><p>Prior to this, libraries were mostly personal book collections, at best available only to an owner's family, friends, and associates.</p><p>Benjamin Franklin owned over 4,000 books, and in 1731 created the first subscription library, or "social library," as a means of exchanging books within Philadelphia's literary society. In 1762, William Rind in Annapolis, Maryland, opened the first circulation library, an innovation that saw print shops and bookstores renting out books. School libraries provided reading materials to their students.</p><p>In 1833, the first organization we might recognize as a public library was started in Peterborough, New Hampshire, as the result of an unexpected windfall. New Hampshire had raised tax money for a state college that never made it off the ground and had to find something education-related to do with the money — they disbursed it to towns around the state. Peterborough used its share for a library for its citizens. It was a well-received idea, and in 1849, the state became the first to enact a law empowering municipalities to raise tax money for libraries.</p><p>Just five years later the first truly public library opened in Boston.</p>Chicago Public Library’s announcement
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5NDA4MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Mjg5Nzc1Mn0.pIOoUgXMx2-R0Lvo8LzJK4t4p27kWx58WK4YrUc0X1E/img.jpg?width=980" id="49f8d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="274af2a3a54fe667ef1cb8e0617c463b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Mural on Chicago's South Side
Image source: Terence Faircloth/Flickr
<p>Chicago Public Library Commissioner Andrea Telli told the <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/9/30/20890138/chicago-public-library-eliminate-late-fees-fines" target="_blank"><em>Chicago Sun-Times</em></a>, "I think our staff members are going to be practically jumping over their circulation desks to tell people that fines have been eliminated."</p><p>They'll also want to get word out to the 343,208 former patrons who've lost their library privileges to overdue fines. Data recently collected by the library reveals that one in three cardholders in the city's low-income South District is among that number. One in five of those is under 14, children who would benefit from access to the library's books. In more affluent areas, by contrast, just one in six cardholders has been penalized.</p><p>Eliminating the fines aims to return the library system to those most in need of it. Telli said, "We're removing one of the most important barriers."</p><p>Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who supports the change, said in a <a href="https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2019/september/EliminateLibraryLateFees.html?fbclid=IwAR0Sk3G4LDXFSHtFhkQxGjGXSIL3D3WGF2aWw8_R6lxrzI2qgCcqamUR6yo" target="_blank">statement</a>, "Like too many Chicagoans, I know what it is like to grow up in financially challenging circumstances and understand what it is like to be just one bill or one mistake away from crushing debt."</p><p>Chicago is not alone in finding late fees disproportionately affecting its less-monied cardholders. In San Francisco, whose own San Francisco Public Library got rid of late fees last month, 5% of members could no longer borrow, with the majority of them living in low-income communities, African-American communities, and areas with fewer college graduates. Each of those who'd lost library privileges, on average, owed about $24 in late fees.</p><p>Curtis Rogers of the Urban Libraries Council told <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/10/public-library-late-fees-chicago-san-francisco-equity-access/599194/" target="_blank">CityLab's</a> <a href="https://www.citylab.com/authors/linda-poon/" target="_blank">Linda Poon</a>, "Overdue fines are not distinguishing between people who are responsible and who are not. They're distinguishing between people who can and cannot use money to overcome a common oversight."</p>Why bother charging late fees anyway?
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE5NDA4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTc1OTkxMn0.POcCL7iVBkqzzLg4mdDXEP0kS1yQLIlg7dsDwJEY0zw/img.jpg?width=980" id="7f34e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1240f6efbf284100505ba1b1bb6c7b69" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Image source: Thought Catalog/Unsplash
<p>Libraries cost money. Books must be purchased, facilities paid for, and staff compensated. Nonetheless, late fees constitute just a tiny fraction of a library's budget. As a big library system, the Chicago Public Library collects nearly a million dollars each year through fines, but that represents less than 1% of their annual budget. Rogers says the impact of fees' elimination has proven negligible for other libraries, and may even save them money since personnel and time no longer need to be allocated to collecting them.</p><p>Some consider overdue fees a form of discipline that can reduce the number of books lost to people who never return them, though a 1983 study found that this <a href="https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/removingbarrierstoaccess" target="_blank">isn't so</a> over time. And, in any event, says <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/dawn_wacek_a_librarian_s_case_against_overdue_book_fines" target="_blank">Dawn Wacekof</a> of La Crosse Public Library in Wisconsin, "I don't think it's our task, or that it's mission-centric, any more than teaching people manners is. Our role is to provide access to information."</p>
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