The giant lumbering beast known as the US Economy–akin to a conveyor belt with countless moving parts–wants public schools to reopen. The beast needs workers, but right now too many adults are at home, supervising their children’s ‘remote learning.’ Open the schools, and the adults can go to work: it’s that simple….
But of course it isn’t simple. Putting kids back in schools will allow adults to work, and that’s important, but it is what happens inside schools that matters more.
A quick history lesson: We’ve always sent our children to school for three reasons: 1) Acquisition of knowledge, 2) Socialization, and 3) Custodial care. The internet has turned that upside down because it puts infinite information at everyone’s fingertips wherever they happen to be and because thousands of apps allow for ‘socialization’ with anyone and everyone. That left only custodial care as a vital school function, until the pandemic made even that impossible.
However, students swimming in a sea of infinite information need guidance, because ‘information’ is not knowledge. It takes a certain skill set to distinguish between CONTINUE READING: The False Narrative of “Needy Kids vs Selfish Teacher Unions” | The Merrow Report