The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fault lines in our society, including in public education. Thankfully, nearly all our children and youth have survived, but many went through harrowing experiences, including serious illnesses and deaths of family and friends. Some of our young have prospered, thanks to their parents’ wealth and savvy, but many more have been left out, left behind, and deeply scarred.
Soon almost all our young people will be back in school buildings, for what one might call ‘brick-and-mortar learning.’ What should that look like? What should happen in classrooms? Will there be a mindless rush to measure “learning loss” and then ‘catch up,’ or will the adults in charge recognize the gravity of what most kids have experienced?
I suggest that we think of our children as recently freed Prisoners of War who’ve been kept in isolation for months. They have endured unprecedented and often harrowing experiences, and they’ve also endured endless stretches of boredom. They now need time and space to process what they have been through. They need to learn how to be together. Basically, they need a safe way to re-enter society.
We don’t want to go back to ‘normal,’ not now and not ever! Pre-COVID, most schools were uncomfortable and even unsafe for many youngsters, who were bullied and teased and victimized by their peers, conscious of their place in the dreaded CONTINUE READING: Think of Children as POW’s, and Act Accordingly | The Merrow Report