No More Teachers, No More Books?
The planning that should have begun in February is suddenly management-by-crisis. No, in person school is not going to begin in a few weeks (or probably not even a few months.) Tens of thousands of parents across the nation are suddenly faced with choices. For the vast majority of families, public school will occur through online systems and the parents themselves will be responsible for supervision and support.
One problem is, for twenty years we have used online as the neglected step-child of our educational system. There are some excellent systems and creative approaches on the web, but the vast majority of the programs that are available to schools and parents are simply worksheets without ink; low level rote learning that does not use the potential of the web. Teachers in general have been reluctant to give up the personal touch, and there have been very few actual evaluations of what truly creative online platforms can do.
Now teachers all over the country have to suddenly learn an entire new set of methods, almost overnight. And administrators who never have much excess funding are bargain shopping without any real background in how to spend wisely. While this may not seem like a political problem, turns out it is. The implications for both education and equity are enormous.
A second problem is the general disdain among the general public for education in general. That, of course, has been deliberate since Reagan. An educated pubic is harder to gaslight. A school system is like a small city; the number of employees responsible for food, cleaning, maintenance, transportation and finance is always greater than the number of teachers. When the GOP first started that “Nothing to see here, move along now” approach, my first thought was about busses. To separate kids you can only load ¼ of them and will need to exit the kids out a side or back door. Between runs, the busses will have to be cleaned. In my district, we wouldn’t get the last kid to school until afternoon on that system. Then there are bathrooms—gang! Do the kids flush while others are in there? Do they wash the handles of the faucets, or touch the door as they exit? (That’s just the beginning.) I could go on and on.
So in the interest of public service, here are a few observations for parents and administrators to help them make fast and wise choices. Pass them on to someone whose head is exploding this week.
First. online education is NOT about worksheets on a screen. It should be highly interactive with a teacher present real time, a given subject schedule, group work (like on Zoom’s breakout rooms), and a clear agenda. At home, if parents work, there might be an arrangement where a very few families share a supervisor. But remember if even one of those families has a child who plays unmasked, the system is gone. Districts might also reassign staff that might otherwise be unemployed (like playground aids) to supervise small groups online to help teachers.
The President has outdone himself with the latest social medium claim that children are immune. In that Georgia summer camp, some staff member infected almost 300. (No, given the timeline, it could not have been child to child.) A cleaner moving toothbrushes, a cook mixing soft drinks, a registrar greeting students or someone singing at a religious service could do it. Now, all those children go home (like Tulsa rally attendees) and the race is on.
No, school districts, most of you won’t be normal any time soon. And you cannot simply ask teachers to make something up, or mail some worksheets home. Children need structure (time and curriculum), and need a mixture of group and individual work. They need a teacher or guide over their shoulder all that time (Zooming if necessary.) And they need 21st Century schooling.
There are a number of online curricula that are outstanding, better than brick-and-mortar. I’ll describe just one (no, I do not get a commission) because I know its components, with the understanding that there are many others. JASON Learning (from Bob Ballard) has a flexible learning platform, activities with minimal equipment for students and groups, journaling, bilingual reading, arts connections, and real time interviews with real scientists and engineers. There are challenges for individuals and groups that students can share in the platform. (In normal times, also an opportunity for students to meet and work with these scientists.) It is available for entire school districts, for teachers and really cheap for individual families. This is one of many. If your school district is going to start online they should NOT be expecting inexperienced teachers to “wing it.” They should be paying teachers in August to research, learn and plan. Call and find out what they are doing. Demand that they do it right, and not make dumb assumptions (like “We will be back by October.)
The current issue of Chronicle of Higher Education ridicules the last minute/no planning approach for universities that is even worse. If your young college students goes off to school, chances are they will return with a little learning and a lot of virus. If they are sick they cannot stay in the dorm, so your family will have to take them back with little chance of protecting others.
What began as my intent to just offer people tips to consider in this high angst week has ended up pretty political indeed. The far right psychosis that “ the Rapture is coming so don’t worry” has caught way too many.
Give teachers a little support, and a bit of cash, and they will find good options. Give them time to learn new tricks; they are lifetime learners. And use common sense. This virus is vicious communicable; it cannot be allowed to attend school.
