Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post provides some article excerpts and comments about schools post-Covid-19.
Additional pancocojams posts about this topic will be published periodically.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and health education purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/04/shouldnt-discouraging-hand-shakes-also.html for the April 2020 pancocojams post entitled "Shouldn't Discouraging Hand Shakes Also Mean Discouraging Children's Hand Holding & Hand Clapping Games?" That post is Part III of a pancocojams series about probable changes in children's recreational activities post Covid-19.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS AND COMMENTS
(Numbered for referencing purposes only)
Excerpt #1
From https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/18/1938397/-What-will-things-look-like-when-COVID-19-is-no-longer-the-biggest-story-in-the-news-every-day
You'll never go back to your office chair: Life in a post-coronavirus world
(by) Mark Sumner
Daily Kos Staff
2020/04/18 · 14:15
a. Mephie
Apr 18, 2020 at 02:59:45 PM
"As a teacher, I am seeing that some kids do way BETTER in online school and some kids are totally lost. The kids who are lost are the same kids that needed substantial support in the classroom that is difficult to provide with 28 kids in the room.
I could see a blend of online/in-person schooling becoming a model for the future. Not total online school like the failing online charter schools in my state, but staggered day in-person attendance (with take home meals available for at risk kids, or meal drop-off by bus drivers like we’re doing now) that would fix some of the differentiation and class size issues we deal with now. Self-starters would be able to blaze ahead into enrichment and there would more time and space to remediate the kids who need it.
For reference, I teach 8th grade."
**
b. Mark Sumner reply to Mephie
Apr 18, 2020 at 03:05:12 PM
"Yeah, I do not think that regular schools as we know them are going to be overtaken by remote learning any time soon. As you said, it works for some kids, and maybe that hybrid model can be used to reduce the number of kids in physical classrooms while still offering some chances for everyone to come together for sports / social events.
I could see a situation were some kids were in school five days a week, some three, some even less. But boy … the logistics of it all would really take work."
**
c. Mephie reply to Mark Sumner
Apr 18, 2020 at 04:22:27 PM
"Yep, lots of logistical and corollary issues. Student mental health, lack of supervision at home, class scheduling which is already complicated.
I think we’re surviving this new environment quite well and it’s necessary to take this experience and learn from the good parts — there’s a lot I like about it. Here in NC, we’re not giving grades so learning is done for the sake of learning (which I practice anyway), and my participation levels are substantial. I’m able to make learning groups across the 105 kids I teach without the constraints of some semi-arbitrary schedule compiled by an administrative assistant who doesn’t know all the kids and their learning personalities. And like I said, the high flyers are easier to challenge because online education is much more individualized than in a classroom.
No matter what, education is going to change due to this pandemic. I just hope it can be agile, 21st century change instead of the change consisting of a drop in funding paired with a commitment to continuing to prepare kids for the 1950s instead of the 2020s, as good ‘ol austerity is likely headed my way."
**
d. ornery dem reply to Mephie
Apr 18, 2020 at 04:57:15 PM
"My grandson thought he would hate the online courses his school district began providing last week, but instead he is thoroughly enjoying the experience. 7th grade, for perspective. I think he hopes it will go on forever."
**
e. Mephie reply to ornery dem
Apr 18, 2020 at 07:02:07 PM
"I’m glad he’s adapting well. Some kids due great without the distraction and the inefficiency.
All I would like to see is no more cancelled school for snow days — move it online and get out in early June for once!"
**
f. Empty Vessel
Apr 18, 2020 at 04:07:01 PM
"I am more and more convinced that future predicting is a fool’s errand for now. It seems to me that we are, historically speaking, at one of those hinge moments—a moment where we are in a genuinely chaotic system, and small inputs can lead to dramatically different outcomes. The chances that the future is just a continuation of present trends is unlikely.
Its not that we could figure it all out with better data, but rather that we are in a genuinely chaotic moment. This is a well known feature of weather reporting, and the idea has occasionally been considered in the social sciences. I’ve never been sold on the idea from a social science perspective before. But right now, I think a chaos perspective on social change might have some legs."
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Excerpt #2
From https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/europe/denmark-coronavirus-first-school-intl/index.html
Denmark's return to school gives glimpse of what classrooms will look like post-lockdown
By Susanne Gargiulo,
Updated 9:24 AM ET, Fri April 17, 2020
"Copenhagen (CNN)This week, as younger children across Denmark walked onto school grounds, school bags on their backs and holding parents by the hand, things seemed almost normal. Almost.
Jimmy Skov Glasdam Adetunji, head of secondary education at the Hendriksholm School in Rodovre, just outside Copenhagen, spent Wednesday going through classrooms with a measuring stick to ensure the 440 students could be seated at least two meters (six feet) apart when they arrived on Thursday.
He had split the schoolyard into six sections with red and white barrier tape, and sent a detailed diagram to parents outlining staggered arrival times, routes, breaks and lunch times.
"I can't wait to see the kids again," Adetunji said. "But we will obviously have to talk about the pandemic and the rules and why our playground is now marked by police tape. So, it's going to be a contrast between fun and seriousness."
[...]
Schools across Denmark raised flags in celebration as they welcomed back younger students this week, with an excitement comparable to a first day of school. And it is the first day of school in over a month, after Denmark announced widespread closures on March 11 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The country was among the first in Europe to close borders, shops, schools and restaurants, and to ban large gatherings, among other measures. Now, it is one of the first to begin reopening.
The country has seen a continued drop in hospital admissions. More than 500 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus during March but, by mid-April, the number hospitalized had dropped to 353 -- unlike the explosive rise seen in some other countries. As of April 16, 321 people had died, according to Denmark's infectious diseases agency, the Statens Serum Institute.
[...]
The gradual reopening of Denmark was announced by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier this month, along with a decision to let the younger students through fifth grade, or approximately age 12, be part of phase one. Their schools must ensure new hygiene and distancing measures, however, to protect students and staff.
Government regulations now require Adetunji to make sure the children are split into smaller groups, can wash their hands immediately upon arrival and at least every two hours, and that contact surfaces like sinks, toilet seats and door handles are disinfected twice daily, among other things, before he can open the school.
Schools are also printing maps that mark entrance and exit routes and ensuring children remain outside as much as possible.
This is the reality of life under the pandemic -- and one even the children seem prepared for. Ask any one of them and they are likely to promptly recite you the rules about hand washing, keeping their distance, not sharing food and not getting too close to each other in the playground.
But Thomsen acknowledges that risk remains.
"(Students are) a relatively large group of people -- about 10% of the Danish population -- and one that is difficult to control in terms of social behavior and hygienic precautions," he said. "The institutions have done a lot to reduce risk but whether that will work is something we will probably see in the next two weeks or so."
Adetunji and other school leaders say that while there has been some concern from parents and teachers about sending the youngest children back to school in that first wave, the vast majority has been supportive of the decision.
"I don't think it is a secret that we have been asked to open the schools so parents can go back to work. At the same time, I think it is the right decision. The kids really need this social interaction," Adetunji said.
[...]
Denmark seems to be on its way to life after the coronavirus -- with the youngest leading the way into the new normal."
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