The Death of Distance Learning
This morning my three children left the house for their 2nd full week of in-person public school. I’m still pinching myself that this day arrived. It was a long time comin’. We dragged ourselves across the finish line.
I have many thoughts on the past academic year distilling in my mind. I should be able to present them succinctly in a month or so, but I think it’s important to start now. I’d like to know your thoughts and reactions. The comments section is open. Some things I say might anger you, some might make you cheer, some might be dead wrong. I’m still processing what I lived through.
On that first day back at school, April 21, I told my neighbors they would see me dancing down the street; to my surprise, my body was fatigued and didn’t want to dance at all. I felt ill, low energy. It took a bit to realize it was my body letting down and releasing from what it’s been doing on a daily basis for a long time now: keep the kids motivated, keep the kids engaged, keep the kids on schedule, keep the kids on task, keep the kids from zoning out, keep the kids from playing video games all day during class, keep the kids from sitting at their desk all day and becoming a statue, keep the kids from crumbling under the stress of navigating expectations and assignments and testing on laggy devices and faulty platforms, kick the kids out of the house right when school is dismissed and confiscate all technology devices and lock them away. Exhausting!
Their in-person school experience right now is different than what they’re used to, but that isn’t a bad thing! They are each benefitting greatly from the end of distance learning. I hope it is the death of distance learning altogether.
I facetiously called it distance not-learning. Screen + Sedentary + Solitary = not learning for the vast majority of children. Technology made it possible to create a too-good-to-be-true pandemic school solution that was detrimental to children. They were expected to sit in front of a screen for 4.5 hours+ a day, stay engaged, and learn; is that even possible? All to log instructional minutes. It was a disgrace. This is not a critique of the teachers; the teachers have been outstanding and have worked so hard—they have gone above and beyond and worked double duty. The distance learning solution failed the teachers too.
I’m sharing based on my experience in my school district. Each school district put together its own pandemic education plan. My districts’ lacked creativity, flexibility, and common sense. They more-or-less kept the school day as is, time-wise, and made it virtual with added time for breaks. It was most brutal on the elementary school students. One thing I learned through this experience is that school principals weren’t calling the shots, they were told what to do and were executing the plan of the Superintendent and School Board.
What if the pandemic hit in the early 1990’s, when I was my children’s age? I wonder how school leaders would have responded without the option to lean on technology and require an exorbitant amount of time in front of a screen attending virtual class. They would have been forced to find a healthier, more holistic solution to educate the children. Would they have found one?
One of the most absurd images from distance learning is my two middle schoolers attending virtual Physical Education class—a 90-minute long class I tried to get them excused from (the principal excused them 1st semester, then told me they needed to begin attending virtually 2nd semester). The teachers played workout videos that the students were expected to follow. It wasn’t required to have their video cameras turned on, to protect privacy. Of course my children didn’t follow along with the cheesy workout videos! Middle-school Taylor probably would have because I was an over-achieving, insecure adolescent who always went above and beyond in school, defining myself by performance. But these kids of mine, no way, and I wouldn’t force them to, never. I don’t blame the teachers for playing the videos either, what else are you supposed to do during 90-minutes in front of a computer with 30+ students logged in? The system was illogical, it did not serve the children, but it did check off the P.E. box. That’s what the whole plan felt like: checking off boxes on a to-do list to say you did it. But was it done with wisdom and excellence?
During the 1918 Spanish flu that hit the world as well as the Bay Area, most cities simply canceled school. Life was different then: they didn’t depend on schools for childcare in the same way we do now and death was more of an ever-present reality—life expectancy was around 50 years old. The fear of death has certainly been the biggest influencer in how our society has navigated the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interestingly enough, New York and Chicago schools remained open for in-person school during the Spanish flu—even in October 1918, the flu’s deadliest month. They believed it was healthier and safer for children to be in school. Here is a quote from the article:
At the time, New York City’s public school system contained close to 1 million children, and 750,000 of those lived in crowded and often unsanitary tenement homes. In an article headlined “Epidemic Lessons Against Next Time,” published in the New York Times in November 1918, after the worst of the pandemic had passed, Copeland described the advantages in keeping the schools open: “[Children] leave their often unsanitary homes for large, clean, airy school buildings, where there is always a system of inspection and examination enforced,” he said.
I am thankful I wasn’t in charge of deciding how public school would proceed during the current pandemic, I do not envy the leaders in the positions of authority and policy making. Those were very difficult decisions, ones they are accountable for nonetheless. Technology duped us, tricked us into thinking we could continue with curriculum and learning in ways that aren’t possible via the screen. For adults, maybe. For children, no. It was too-good-to-be-true.
Juvenile obesity exploded during Covid-19. I am seeing this firsthand, my children have noticed this at their schools and have mentioned it to me. Adolescent mental health plummeted. I am also witnessing this firsthand. There are mounting stories of local youth suicides. We relied on the computer to be our classroom and this is what we get.
I am so excited that schools are now open. I am eager for all children to be back in school: right now, my children’s schools are at 40-50% capacity and I feel overwhelmingly fortunate that we got seats. The night before school opened, my 6th grader excitedly told me: “Mom, I’m going to meet my teachers!” The simple joys in life. He will be taught by them in-person for the remaining 6 weeks of the school year, a very happy ending indeed!
One of the best stories so far: There is one teacher he really couldn’t stand. He tried hard to get transferred out of her class. First I tried for him; the school said no. Then he tried himself, relentlessly; the school said no. Well, when he got home from his first day of in-person school, he reported with a huge smile that he LIKED the detested teacher. I couldn’t believe it! I thought she might have picked up on how much he disliked her and was playing with him. The second day, he told me that teacher is one of this favorites. She now sits comfortably in the position of his 2nd favorite. Distance learning didn’t do her any favors, but now she has a happy pupil. I’m still in shock! His disdain was real, but virtual.
When I picked up my 4th grader from school the first day back, he spotted a previous classmate on the sidewalk. It took a moment to confirm his identity, with a mask and different hair style. Gus said, “Iker? Hi!” They were excited to reconnect. I asked 10-year old Iker how things went with distance learning. He said:
Bad. It made no sense. Adults always say, “Get off your phone, get off the screen.” Then adults say, “Sit in front of the screen for 6 hours.” It made no sense!
Out of the mouths of babes.
