Teaching Kids At The Mall
Post written by: beagooddad
I was wandering around one of the nearby malls on Saturday. There were tons of kids everywhere. At first I thought there was some holiday I had forgotten about, but apparently teens spend Saturday night roaming around the mall.
During my wanderings, I noticed that the bookstore in the mall had closed down and was replaced with a Disney store where you can plan your Disney vacations. So this huge mall with thousands of kids wandering around it does not even have a book store.
I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if every mall had a library in it. Since that is where the kids hang out, what a great chance to get them reading. The city could require all mall developers to provide a section of their mall for a small library in exchange for actually being allowed to build the mall and collect the revenue that malls generate.
It is very common around here for the large developers to be required to build a grade school or public park, etc. when they get the approval to build a new subdivision. So why not require libraries in the mall.
Just when I was starting to think I was really crazy, I read this article about why Finnish kids seem to be performing so well in school with nowhere near the crazy pressure and rules that we have in America. One of the things that I noticed is that they have libraries in their malls.
The article also has a ton of interesting information on the education system in Finland which you should go read. They talk about lack of dress codes, empowering teachers to teach the kids and encouraging parents to let the kids just learn instead of worrying about which Ivy League college they are planning on attending.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
This is a great idea. My wife and I spend enormous amounts of time at the library. I can’t believe how much knowledge is there at our fingertips.
Hey, I mentioned you in a blog this morning. I was hoping you might be willing to contribute to the discussion.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
That was a pretty impressive article. Thanks for pointing it out. Our local mall has two book stores and no Disney store. I’m guessing this has more to do with being near a college campus than anything. Our family often spends time in the bookstore just reading.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:24 am
What a great idea! Of course, I could spend hours in a library or a bookstore. I think this idea is great because sadly, I think there are some kids that have parents that will drop them off at a mall, but never take them to a library. I was lucky, my parents always took us to the library every week (usually more than once a week). And as an adult, I’ve continued that habit. I think that putting a library in malls would introduce lots of people to that habit.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
It makes total sense. I wonder if many mall management companies would be willing to work with local governments to provide this service in the states for a reasonable price. Our town is getting a new library built for about $12 million from the county (it’s a new regional branch), and it’s being built from the ground up. I wonder with so many “anchor” locations struggling to stay open at malls, if they would consider something different like a library. Thanks for the lead. -Jeremy @ Discovering Dad
March 7th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I think the whole concept of integrating the fun of social hangouts like the mall with the potential education of something like a library is just such an perfect concept. Especially these days when most parents are afraid to let their kids cross the street without permission.