The last few weeks have been surreal as we learn about the Corona Virus and how to protect ourselves and our neighbors. One of the largest disruptions has been school closings in order to contain the virus. No one knows when schools will reopen.
While Covid-19 is of utmost concern, parents and educators, who’ve worried about the replacement of brick-and-mortar schools and teachers with anytime, anyplace, online instruction, wonder what this pandemic will mean to public education long term. Will this disaster be used to end public schools, replacing instruction with online competency-based learning?
We’re reminded of disaster capitalism, a concept highlighted by Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, how Katrina was used in New Orleans to convert traditional public schools to charter schools. Within nineteen months, with most of the city’s poor residents still in exile, New Orleans’ public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools. (p. 5-6). Who thought that could happen?
The transitioning of technology into public schools, not simply as a supplemental tool for teachers to use at their discretion, but as a transformative means to remove teachers from the equation, has been highlighted with groups like Digital Promise and KnowledgeWorks. Both promote online learning and it’s difficult to find teachers in the mix.
Combining this with the intentional defunding of public schools, shoddy treatment of teachers including the unwillingness to pay them appropriate salaries, inadequate resources and support staff, crumbling buildings, and the destruction of public schooling in America, should we not question what placing students online at this strange time will mean in the future to our schools?
In Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns describes transitioning to online instruction. This threat seems more real.
Something has to give. The old public utility model of public education struggles more each day with what society increasingly asks it to do. Other options on the outside continue to grow in number, as state laws permit public funding to support a widening variety of schools. Technology is also navigating around the traditional model and getting more sophisticated and user-friendly (p.235).
Audrey Watters, who often discusses the tech threat to schools, recently observed how the effects of the Covid-19 crisis were impacting Washington State and Seattle.
I’ve heard lots of local tech workers complain angrily that, in a region that’s home to Microsoft and Amazon, there is really no excuse for schools staying open. Digital learning, they argue, is already preferable. And now, they say, it’s necessary.
But many have never believed, nor is there proof, that digital learning is already preferable.
The Nation Relies On Public Schools
In “Coronavirus Has Shown Us the Vital Role Schools Play, But Will America Listen?” Glenda Cohen outlines how parents and the nation need public schools for survival. I have added some additional services and citations.
- Public schools are on the frontline fighting against childhood hunger. According to a CNBC report: Each day, the National School Lunch Program serves over 30 million children. The fact that many children will go hungry without their public school should give us pause.
- Students rely on school counseling. Students rely on school counselors for support.
- Parents need childcare so they can work. Working parents need schools to take care of their children so they can work. When schools close, parents are unable to do their jobs. This has a negative effect on the overall economy.
- Schools provide homeless children with stability. As Cohen points out, many homeless children rely on public schools. U.S. News and World Report claims 1.36 million students in the 2016-17 school year were homeless.
- Students with disabilities need accommodations and services. Most guidelines indicate that during the Covid-19 crisis, students with disabilities must have access to the same services as students without disabilities, but this leaves out accommodations that address the differences. Here are questions and answers from the Department of Education. How will students with autism, ADHD, and many other disabilities get the services they need?
Shortcomings of Online Instruction
- Many children don’t have access to Broadband. Nearly 12 million children, many living in rural settings, lack access to an Internet connections. While ed-tech enthusiasts will claim it’s a matter of time before everyone has Broadband, looking for funding to do so indicates it will take time for this to occur.
- What happens with student privacy and information? Parents already worry about their child’s online personal identifiable information when they work online at school. How is a student’s online information protected when they work online at home during a public heath crisis? Here’s information about Covid-19 and FERPA.
- Socialization is missing. Speaking to someone on a screen is better than nothing, but it’s still isolating.
- Students work online alone. Many students need guidance and might not be able to focus on screens.
- Children enjoy social gatherings that schools provide. The Covid-19 virus has left students agonizing over the field trips and school social events that they will miss, that cannot take place online.
- How good is the instruction? There’s no research to show that working only online is better than teacher instruction.
- Parents have to supervise their children. Usually parents have to monitor their student’s work and make sure they stay on task.
Teachers Are Loved and Respected.
A college student whose classes were cancelled and switched to online stated they would miss their teacher who had provided extra help and whose class everyone enjoyed.
Teachers have been the unsung heroes during this Covid-19 crisis. They have struggled the last few weeks to take care of their students, cleaning and disinfecting their classes due to an overwhelmed custodial staff, along with keeping students calm, comforting confused children and teens.
Now they struggle to go online to provide lessons from home. As blogger Nancy Flanagan notes in “Once Again Teachers are First Responders:”
Keeping a functional learning community together is job #1. Meaning: every child, K-12, who is out of school involuntarily, knows for sure that the adults who have been his/her teachers, playground supervisors or joke-around buddies in the hallway, still care. Staying connected and checking in matter much more than reviewing fractions or watching a dissection video.
Online learning can never adequately replace public schools and teachers. In such a desperate time, closing public schools due to this pandemic is showing Americans how reliant we are upon those schools to fulfill, not just an educational purpose, but the real social and emotional needs of children and families.
We’re left with stark revelations about this country’s shortcomings, while at the same time we witness the heroism of teachers and staff who care for all children at this dark time. It is that caring and love that have always been the hallmark of what teaching and public schools have been all about. It is and will continue to be what saves public education and the teaching profession.
This crisis will not throw students into a future of nothing but online learning. It will instead remind parents and students of how much their public schools and teachers mean to them.
Or, as American television producer, television and film writer, and author @shondarhimes lamented on Twitter: been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.
We must have hope for the future, hope for our democracy, and the great and enduring role of teachers and brick-and-mortar schools, which are temporarily closed.
Stay well and take care of yourselves.
References
Christensen, C.M., et al. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York: McGraw Hill.
Klein, N. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. New York: Picador, 2007.
“But many have never believed, nor is there proof, that digital learning is already preferable.” There is actually a body of research that says that learning outcomes between online and brick-and-mortar classrooms are essentially a wash. Naturally it all depends on many control factors, learner readiness, quality of instruction, etc.
I do volunteer advocacy for public schools but I also have a Master’s in Instructional Systems Technology. I realize that I am under suspicion among teachers any time I admit to that. I have a personal opinion that online instruction is especially good for advanced learners who are capable and self-directed. Without the opportunity to learn online, many of us would never be able to participate in earning advanced degrees. It makes me sad that so many teachers patently reject it rather than trying to learn about how to harness it for advantage when appropriate. Even the recent report about negative outcomes in Indiana virtual schools acknowledged some advantage in hybrid instruction.
Transitioning to online learning in a crisis is going to be hard on everyone involved. Nobody should have great expectations about outcomes for this school year. But at least technology makes some prospect of continued learning available. Early learners generally require a lot more scaffolding and the support of the in-person teacher and the surrounding classroom and school environment. That will not change because of the temporary use of online learning. But hopefully teachers and students will learn to be flexible, maybe develop a sense of humor as they wade through new experiences together, and look forward to the time when they will reunite in person.
The threat to public school teachers is real but it has far more to do with the predatory financial sector than technology. I hope that the pivot to online learning is not an overwhelming burden for teachers and that it will enable them to continue to support and console their students as they struggle with this very frightening public health crisis.
Hi Laurie, Thank you for your comment. I would be interested in any research that says it’s a wash. If handy, could you send me a link or a title?
Congrats on your degree!
I would be a hypocrite if I ruled out technology as a useful tool, and I’d also be backwards. I, like many parents, recognize technology is important for almost any career. I use it everyday, and I even like FB and Twitter! I’ve connected with some wonderful people.
Somewhere in the past, I’ve also encouraged teaching young children coding. I know some may differ with me, but I think they could pick it up easily, like a foreign language. As long as they weren’t pushed to do if they disliked it. I think it could be fun. A little of course goes a long way. Young children need to play, play, play.
I also hope it will be helpful for students at this time. I agree with you there. But those who want to make a profit off schools, who have for years worked to undermine public ed. in favor of privatization, are not supportive of public school teachers and brick-and-mortar schools. There is an effort to transition to all tech anyplace, anytime. I don’t believe that’s truly hybrid.
I believe students need schools and teachers along with technology for a well-rounded education.
The comments quoted from Clayton Christensen are chilling. Certainly technology has much to offer students, but only if teachers have the autonomy to choose what and how to utilize it. Nancy, you have given me hope that when parents see for themselves the shoddy nature of digital modules, and realize what their children are missing by not having their children in the care and guidance of compassionate and perceptive teachers, they will not stand for an edtech, isolating experience as the norm. The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy has excellent advice for parents regarding concerns about online learning for both their privacy and their health in this post: https://www.studentprivacymatters.org/advice-to-parents-whose-childrens-schools-are-being-closed/?link_id=1&can_id=e825f22ca56802e27b7cc4b6af1d371d&source=email-advice-to-parents-if-your-childs-school-is-now-closed&email_referrer=email_751139&email_subject=advice-to-parents-if-your-childs-school-is-now-closed&fbclid=IwAR2_mLRaHwgg_MkAfp0xmuo0m-WB0KKa07gOly8s8bGeGT5GU5EYUZgWnr4
Thanks for sharing, Sheila. It’s an important link with valuable information.
Hi, Nancy. From across ‘the pond’ the picture is not dissimilar regarding the virus and education. First let me say, I agree wholeheartedly with Sheila, you have made an incredibly powerful case for securing and maintaining public education now and in the future. There are also elements of Laurie’s response to your article that make sound sense. There is a place in educating young people for teachers to work with the new technologies coming forward. I am total agreement with Sheila when she acknowledges that teachers working in publicly owned schools need to employ tech in learning, “but only if teachers have the autonomy to choose what and how to utilize it.”
The government in the UK is in utter disarray over the management of the virus. They would strenuously deny this but the most compelling evidence in support of my assertion is the decision taken only yesterday by the Prime Minister to ‘advise’ people not to go into the office, theatres and so on but NOT to announce the closure of our schools. I leave your readers to come to their own conclusions over the ‘thinking’ behind that choice.
I’m sure you will agree, we are all in this together. However, the role that world leaders have to play in ensuring this pandemic can be defeated, rests largely in their hands. Their wisdom, calming influence and balanced approach to exercising the power vested in them in a state of crisis has never been needed more. My thoughts and good wishes are with you, your nation and ALL the peoples of our one world.
Thank you, John. My thoughts and good wishes are with you all as well. I hope that this illness is conquered quickly for everyone’s sake, and that our schools rebound better than ever!
Well, since so many schools are closed right now, teachers at least have some time to keep an eye out for those with designs on our public schools. Dr. Denisha Jones, from the organization Defending the Early Years, has taken this look at the tech companies’ vulture-like approach to their role in the the lives of children
https://www.badassteacher.org/bats-blog/disaster-capitalismiskocking-on-the-door-of-public-education
This is a great article, Christine. I’m a big fan of Dr. Denisha Jones and her work with early childhood education and Defending the Early Years. I see she is concerned about this issue, and I like the way she suggests an even better school system in the long term. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Nancy. I am among the connectivity-deprived. I used almost a fifth of my monthly allotment of data yesterday just trying to get started doing some things online. Rural places feel divorced from the rest of the country because the main means of communication, the Internet, has been rationed. Pockets of the country where connecting is expensive also have presidential and representative votes that are worth a lot. We went through rural electrification in the 40s. Time for rural internetification? Who will pay?
Meanwhile, those like your first commentator who believe the learning that takes place over the Internet is so wonderful (and it is) need to recall that they learned most of what they know drinking coffee in the grill at college. Was it not Oppenheimer who famously suggested that great physics discovery happen over coffee?
Good points. Thank you, Roy.
On-line learning proponents still don’t understand the countless intangible benefits of the K to 12 public school experience. This crisis forcing an unscheduled time out will prove them all dead wrong. Their software will stand no chance against MS and HS students who see this as nothing more than a bogus substitute to be taken advantage of. Finally, the very best teachers almost never rely on canned crapola, beyond maybe just a seed of an idea. These software programs may not even provide that.
I agree. Thanks, Rick.
My thanks to Diane Ravitch.
https://dianeravitch.net/2020/03/18/nancy-bailey-online-learning-can-never-replace-human-teachers/
So called “social justice warriors” and “progresives” do not seem to care about disabled children (except for their tolken members in a wheelchair) because their favored governors overreact to a virus that has thus far only killed a few elderly and these disabled children are out of schools missing their IEP goals because of this gross over-reaction. I imagine similar situations in other states and countries. Sadly many “liberals” and “progressives” are obssessed with computer technology’s supposed benefits without thinking of the social justice related consequences like job loss due to automation or privacy concerns due to hacking or even enabing bigots through th thousands of online extremist chatrooms.
I wanted to attend an adult school in the Los Angeles area but they are closed due to this exaggerated outbreak.
My mother is a substitute teacher who is on temporary disability from an injury which happened weeks before the school closures. I am trying to convience her to ind another jobs but she refuses. Another district laid her off possibley because she works at wealthy districts and they want substitutues that are enrolled in a teaching credential program. I am afraid when she returns after this virus panic she will be laid off because of the rules some district to the benefit of that districts disabled students. Poor districts do not have that luxury of forcing hired substituutes to enroll in a teaching credential program instead mke use of poor quality charter schools and online learning to save money issues talked about elsewhere on this website.
The issue here is the list of what schools do… Public education was not designed to be daycare, social work, mental health counseling, or a food pantry. Not one function of public schools listed is implementing instruction. Yes, I understand the hierarchy of needs, but it is not within our power or ability to meet every need of every student every day.
This sounds harsh, but the reason why teachers are seen as babysitters and society’s fixers is because that’s what we do while trying to squeeze in academic learning. Then we are scrutinized based on student test scores and the school grade. Should we be testing students’ abilities to eat well, cope with mental health issues, their level of stability, and how much their parents work because that’s what you listed as public education’s role to society?
Don’t get me wrong, I know the struggles. I have always worked in Title 1 schools, but it’s a broken system because we teachers have all the expectations and no boundaries for what is expected of us.
What the quarantine has done is expose the issues that are breaking down the schools; everyone already knows what teachers are willing to do and what they have been doing because they rely on it, expect it, and feel entitled to it.
Technology allows the issues you listed to be dealt with by someone other than teachers. When we are removed from the physical classroom, our jobs are streamlined to instructing and assessing students in a specific subject matter. Our job descriptions are to teach a subject area with expertise and foster learning. You can do that online or in the classroom, but you can’t do that and be a social worker, parent, charity organizer, counselor, and day care worker. It isn’t sustainable… no matter how much you love those children. Believe me. I know this.
Public education needs to be broken down to the essentials and reworked with sole mission to educate as the focus — not solve all of society’s issues.
The other major issue is the financial and political agenda which has completely taken over curriculum and assessments. These changes everyone sees happening in the future as a result of this break in normalcy, if they even happen, need to eradicate non-educators from the equation, and teachers need to make professional boundaries. When teachers act like and demand to be treated as professionals, then they will get it. For now, we will still operate as babysitters for working families and social workers for the needy.
I know I’m going to catch heat for this comment because it is so anti-martyr, which has become the teacher’s way of life, but changes have to be made or schools, as we know them, will cease to exist. At this time, they are much like a snake eating itself. It can’t be sustained.
I think schools and teachers do provide a lot, and teachers don’t only teach. But unless you fix the poverty they will continue to be needed for more than academics.
Even without the poverty, schools can play an important role as hub of the community. They bring people together.
But teachers primarily teach and families who are struggling help their children work online are missing that right now.
Thanks. I do see your point.