11/19/07 Mojitos in the Mezzanine

We spend countless hours educating our grade school and Jr high kids to say no to addictive substances, and then when they reach high school we entice them to use the library with highly addictive caffeine. Getting the video generation interested in the library has proved difficult, so some high schools like Centennial High in Franklin Tennessee have turned their libraries into quasi Barns and Noble cafes where students can comfortably enjoy a fancy latte or gourmet chocolate drink concocted by marketing club students. From the school's standpoint it has been a win win, the cafe nets about $10,000 a year, while attracting students who typically wouldn't set foot in a staid library. The food police, groups like Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are appalled not only that the library is promoting coffee drinking but the added calories at a time when many teens struggle with obesity. Who knows what lengths we should go to to keep kids interested in school, in the 70's my high school had a designated smoking area; soon they might be serving mojitos in the mezzanine