Being a member of the older generation, I remember when schools had libraries rather than media centers. The change came about during the time I was in the classroom, and I remember how long it took before I made the change in my personal vocabulary.

As the years passed, the number of library books declined while internet capacity grew.

That’s not a judgment, just a statement of the obvious.

However, I wonder if a school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, may be going a bit too far.

Cushing Academy is eliminating its 20,000 volume library.

I am the first to admit that access to electronic information is absolutely necessary. It’s a reason I badgered AT&T for over four years to bring DSL capability to rural areas of our county, or at least to my part of that rural area. Used properly, gathering information electronically is a marvelous way to study, do research and expand one’s horizons.

But removing books for electronics is akin, according to one person who disagreed with the headmaster of the Academy, to “a mad scientist removing a patient’s brain and then admiring all the new space within the skull.”

I don’t understand why the headmaster was surprised by his community’s outcry. Reading is THE fundamental intellectual activity. A nation’s educational prowess is often measured by its literacy rate. Granted, the fact that a person can read does not mean that person is an educated individual. But that person will definitely not be an educated individual without the ability to read.

It’s also true that one can read on the screen. I have several friends who no longer use a newspaper but go online for news and information. The decline in newspaper circulation is witness to this fact.

As I mentioned in a column sometime ago, I still like to read the paper.

I also like to read a book. Unfortunately I lost many volumes during several changes of residence. I would love to have many of my lost college textbooks in history, philosophy, and theology.

Thanks to Joyce, I am fortunate to live in a home with shelves of books. It is a rare shopping trip that does not include a stop at a book store.

As I write this, of necessity I look at a screen.

But I’ll take the page of a book anytime.