I had hopes that the pandemic might stir up some changes in our country's approach to education. That maybe all the disruption would produce some out-of-the-box experimentation.
I have been disappointed.
In fact, there is little creativity even in addressing the gaping holes in our students' progress, holes produced by entire semesters of so-called "distance learning".
There was plenty of distance and precious little learning. Some students disappeared off the grid. "Playing hooky" had never been easier, and it lasted for weeks and months on end. And apparently, the majority of parents didn't have either the know-how, the time, or the interest to track their kids' "education".
I hear some school districts intentionally forbid their teachers to cover new material during those months online. Review only. Other teachers tried to cover new material but were constantly slowed by all the students who weren't showing up or engaging.
The resulting slow pace meant even the good students tuned out. How boring. How useless.
I know Sarah and Samuel both hated it and felt that they learned nothing.
Now many schools are slowly returning to "normal" and what is being done about the gaps distance learning created - in every subject area?
Some government money has been thrown at it, to hire some extra teachers temporarily. From what I can see, it's a piecemeal attempt to make sure the struggling students at least pass their core classes now that they are back to school.
But mainly, day-to-day, our solution is to pretend it's not a big problem.
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