![]() She provides detailed accounts of the lives of three teachers working in various regions of the country over a period of a school year. New to Smiley Library is “The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession,” a new bestseller by investigative journalist and substitute teacher Alexandra Robbins. To gain some insight into what these heroes go through, we return to the library for a tool of learning. As most are preparing now or have already begun teaching school for the 2023-24 year, we really must honor them, (thank you, teachers!) for it is an unenviable task, and a gift, to be able to pull out of each of us individual thinkers our own unique vision and voice. ![]() Of course, our society relies heavily on professional teachers who take on that burden of creating critical thinkers of us. “Critical thinking” is defined as “disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.” With such discipline, we can teach ourselves and create that needed “vision.” Libraries are tool shops of critical-thinking implements for the self-examination that we need to survive. If we study with these tools, we can learn from our ancient friends. We can probably find some ancient Roman writings, or some historical analyses of ancient Rome right inside that building. In a sense, we can do just that - by crossing the street to A.K. ![]() Hmm … too bad we can’t “phone a friend” from ancient Rome. Does it mean that failing to examine ourselves, our culture, and the possibilities of our future, will lead to our downfall? Walking through the Redlands Bowl amphitheater today I read the inscription engraved over the stage, “Without vision, a people perish.” I pondered the meaning of the biblical verse.
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