2020* - The Year with the Asterisk

The day was Tuesday, March 17 when I said goodbye to my classroom and fellow teachers. What followed was 100 days of lock-down learning at home for students, a challenging task for families and teachers alike.  It was a hell of a way to end my eighth year of "traditional" teaching in an all-to-nontraditional way. Students were offered the option of grade-as-is or pass-fail, many of who chose the latter, and who would blame them? Just do the minimum required and you pass to the next level without any consequences. Apparently it worked as graduation rates hit an all-time high, but from my personal point of view a new knowledge gap was created which will impact this generation for many years to come. Too many of our young people sat on their duff, although it was in the safe environment that so many felt was necessary.

When the first day of a new school year rolled around on September 1, it marked a period of 168 days when students went without being in a traditional classroom with direct instruction. Unfortunately there is a segment averaging approximately 20% which has chosen to remain virtual, some fearing for their personal health and others fearing the accountability of having to attend school, much less wanting to complete any assignments. Those who do attend are restricted to a well-intended plan called the "hybrid system" of two days in class, three away. This provides teachers (myself included) with only one class period per student each week, diminishing most chances to build relationships which are so valuable today in education.

My greatest fear is the learning gap that will scar American society (and notably so many young people) for many years into the future and diminish our standing in the world. Be it soft skills or hard skills, look at the damage covid19 is inflicting on us all. What are the chances that we will be able to pick up the pieces to a shattered economy and societal norms in the immediate future? As much of an optimist I see myself being, the logical answer is "no much".....or at least it feels that way more and more each day. 

A Turning Point in History

Watching the world unfold over the past several weeks with the growing threat of covid19 has been uncomfortable to say the least. At this point in time our economy on a local, state, and national level, along with the economies of so many other countries has been trashed. As businesses shut down unemployment claims skyrocketed to record numbers. Watching grocery shoppers panic-buy their everyday needs was unsettling to say the least. I never expected to see local supermarket shelves cleared of everyday items such as toilet paper, canned soup, and frozen foods. Two weeks ago I was unable to even find a whole chicken, be it fresh or frozen, among the half-dozen stores I walked into. People suddenly resorted to the practice of hoarding as they feared the worse, much like they were acting out a real-life zombie apocalypse. Here within the United States, a country with countless riches in human and physical resources, the supply channels are awash with chaos as people have reacted by purchasing ten times their everyday needs. Food stores, regardless of size, don't have the ability, either with people or logistics, to adequately respond in typical fashion, and it's disheartening to see societal norms break down so quickly. Has civility been lost altogether?

Throughout this process, I am saddened when I see how dependent people have let themselves be on government for basic needs of survival. While I firmly believe it's important to care for those in need, I sense we're moving closer than ever to nanny state mentality among the masses. At one point in time most citizens embraced the concept of rugged individualism and being able to overcome great odds. Now, in a matter of a few weeks, newscasts show lines of cars waiting for boxes of food. I question not the need of people to eat, but ways which leaders within our government and the media have trashed individual rights in quest of absolute power. Everything that generations of patriotic Americans have worked so hard to protect is in harm of being overwritten and accepted by the public-at-large. It's not that I distrust science, only that I strongly sense it being misused at this time and place in history.

For now life has been altered in ways that we may never fully understand, accelerating trends in technology and biology which will also change life as we know it. But something else is at work here, and I feel it appears to have the making of something very sinister. Only time will tell.