These Aren't the Same People We Sent Home Last Spring
A few weeks ago, a father whose daughter is currently in kindergarten told me that he wasn't in favor of the schools re-opening any time soon. "It's not that I'm worried about Covid so much. It's that my poor girl has finally adjusted to online classes." Months ago he told me about how much the girl had struggled with sitting in front of a computer screen, how she missed her friends, how she missed her teacher. For a time, she had cried every day, begging to be allowed to do anything other than "go to school." He told me back then that he worried that his child was learning to hate school, to hate learning, but now, many months have passed. Things have changed.
Like most of us, his daughter suffered a loss. This pandemic took something she loved away from her. Naturally, she mourned the loss, but as Iris Murdoch wrote, "In order to survive a terrible loss one has to become another person," which is what has happened. All of our children, all of us, have suffered losses. I imagine some of us are still grieving, maybe most of us, but some, like this kindergartener have been transformed into someone new.
This isn't the only story like this I've heard from parents. Last CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: These Aren't the Same People We Sent Home Last Spring