Here are five ways COVID-19 can change education for the better.
The COVID-19 crisis has closed over 124,000 schools in America. Most will be closed until next fall, with many likely experiencing roving blackouts throughout the year. Since the rise of compulsory schooling in America a century ago, there has never been this level of school shutdown. Not during the Spanish Flu of 1918 or World War II, or after 9/11.
Looking at the American education system in particular, the post–Civil War era led to more widespread post-elementary schooling. Decades later, the implementation of the G.I. Bill after WWII transformed our higher education landscape by making it accessible to new classes of Americans. COVID-19 certainly counts as a large-scale crisis, hence the opportunity for transformative social change to education.
There are five ways I believe that COVID could change the future of school—for the better.
1. More social-emotional learning (SEL) for students
2. Higher priority on teacher well-being
3. More of a coaching and mentoring role for teachers
4. More autonomy for schools and teachers, fewer top-down demands
5. More student choice and autonomy
But COVID is a chance for us to fundamentally rethink our system. Barr said it well: “COVID is presenting a unique opportunity in education. For the first time in 150 years, we get to blow up the industrial model of education. We are given the gift of learning because we want to learn—not because we have to learn.”
To read more of Patrick Cook-Deegan's article, please click here.
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