The School system is broken. We have known that for many years and have been trying to patch it since.
Between shutdowns, tech inequality, student regression, and teacher burnouts, I think that we have all witnessed its collapse during COVID. Obvious consequences included teachers flocking out and looking for other kinds of jobs to save their sanity, and families choosing to homeschool their children in an effort to keep things as stable as possible.
So what do you do with a school system that has lost a significant number of both its teachers and students?
And those children who will be home now for school, wouldn't they need a parent to stay home with them - or at least an adult to keep an eye on them all day? When that happens, wouldn't that affect the family's income and spending power? What I am trying to say here is that a change in the education system echoes in every other industry within a country's ecosystem. Children are powerful this way!
Good news: I have been hearing whispers of system changes from different directions.
The loudest and most influential whisper came last week from the NYC school chancellor, who gave a lovely speech about ways that he intends to fix his schools from the ground up.
his speech was reassuring and worrisome in equal measure.
On one hand, he sees the problems very clearly and speaks of solutions that could potentially work and an urgency that we most definitely need. On the other hand, I am hesitant to trust. I walked away wondering if his voice will quiet down as everything falls back to where it was before? Or will it finally be that spark that fuels real change?
I don't know, but I will certainly be listening for signs of change and celebrating them.