OT: K-12 Distance Learning

Counterpoint: I am in favor of making K12 education a distance learning model permanently.

Learning is a culture, one that is almost impossible to replicate online.  Are there good, on-line, iterations for "in person" learning? Sure, but for the most part, online learning is a joke.  Teachers are working hard (in my district they are teaching daily), but they are being asked to alter some of the fundamental tenets of pedagogy in a matter of weeks.  With limited/no training.  

I agree with others on here and have said in the past, that our education system needs a plan to deal with pandemics, as I don't think this is going away in the fall.   Re-tool learning environments, attendance policy, etc... That will require $$$$. Lots of it.  With all the bailouts, Im not sure there will be much appetite in DC or at the state level for spending more cash, but there should be, because if the world of education sputters, good luck getting the economy straightened out. 

I've taught classes online for 10 years, the last two with Zoom. I teach college age students, and I think it's a very reasonable point you've made that younger children are likely a bigger challenge. I also agree with other points being made here, namely that even if teachers learn to deliver material more effectively, there are other advantages, mainly social, that are missed by continuing to learn remotely.

However, it is far too early to proclaim distance learning a failed experiment. There is a huge learning curve for online teaching, and online learning for that matter. If this were to continue in the fall or some part of fall, I would expect to see a greatly improved product given the increase in experience and the chance to reflect and prepare over the summer break.

There's potential good news on the horizon for students, teachers, parents, and everybody else.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/world/europe/coronavirus-vaccine-update-oxford.html

Problem is depending where you live many kids do not have internet to access some of the shit. This is unprecedented stuff so it is tough to fault anyone. All kids are going to get behind a little but they were able to at least get through 6 and 1/2 months of school. From March on their concentration goes down the fucking drain anyway. 

This has been another time when I've been incredibly thankful for our little private school in NC.  Our administration was very much on top of this (elementary principal and I were discussing the prep for it while we watched our 2nd grade sons playing basketball in late January), and worked very hard to get into the guts of what needed to be built, what needed to be redirected, and what needed to be championed/exhorted/encouraged.  We had Spring Break during the third week of March and have been "in school" daily since then.  Looking back, I would say there was very little that we outright whiffed on, going back to day one.  The culture of buy-in from the teachers and the families that pre-existed all of this has been a very helpful foundation.

Our teachers are generally very happy with how it's working out (I speak to a cross section of them), and they've adapted well (most of them are 40 and under). They are regularly holding live Zoom classes, calling on the students by name to ensure participation, and making themselves available for questions/discussion/etc. There is still (generally) a good group learning dynamic, which I think is very valuable.

It isn't without its warts. My 9th grader feels that she has a higher percentage of busy work and less teacher interaction than she's used to ... but then I compare it to what the public school situation is around us (in one of the best districts in the state) and I am so, so thankful we are able to be where we are.  Which is not the Charlotte version of metro Detroit's elites like Cranbrook or DCD, by the way.

Says a lot about a very active board and administration, and (in my view) the benefit of a private situation that doesn't have the unwieldiness of special interest groups (union work rules, etc) or just the challenge of turning the battleship of a huge school district.

It has been a nightmare for parents of young kids that need a lot of direction, when parents are short on patience trying to work from home at same time, imo/ime.

Distance Learning just puts lipstick on the pig of shut down schools.  It doesn't even begin to make up for what's lost. 

Alright, I'm going to weigh in on this, as my wife is a retired teacher, and I draw from her superior experiences:

First, can distance learning work? Yes. In fact, out west it's been demonstrated as very successful. But those states have things already set up for distance learning. Michigan does not allow for distance learning in regular ed K-12 schools on a normal learning level, and that's part of the problem. Michigan is behind other states who do allow for this, and who have handled this shutdown with far less issue because they were already set up for it. Michigan, unfortunately, having the mentality of the "factory worker" from the 19th and 20th centuries, thinks that somehow everybody needs to be confined to a singular space to "learn," and therefore has yet to actually explore how online learning should work.  Alternative ed uses it. Colleges use it. But it needs to be put together ahead of time, not on the fly as it is here.

The second point is related to this: if online learning were already ingrained into student bodies, a great number of us would probably not have the issues with it that we are now. Students in schools where online learning already takes place aren't having problems with this (my son is doing a college course online, and my daughter has done online AP stuff, so this is nothing for them).  If Michigan would start shifting to online learning as an actual, viable option for regular ed (which makes sense, as many jobs now can be done remotely), you would see this not being so difficult.

As far as reopening schools, the year is over, folks. Whatever else may happen in September, East Lansing has basically told us to set all scores prior to March 13th as final. Whether you like that or hate it, that's what's been set. My personal opinion on it is that Whitmer, while generally doing some things right, was also far too impulsive with what should and shouldn't happen. Her knee-jerk reactions on some things didn't help, and the school situation is part of that.  

Now, there are some things that are going to be put down here that need to be said, per the Mrs. dictating, and I want to lay this out first: if you are a good parent who expects hard work and responsibility from your child, this is NOT written about you, okay?  Get this straight, so that people who shouldn't be offended won't be.  But... having said that, the Mrs. has pointed out (along with other teachers I know) that this shutdown has brought some very ugly things to light....

1.) Far too many parents think that the purpose of a school is to "babysit" their children while they work. That's not why schools exist. Schools exist because children are to be educated, not simply to take the kid off the parents' hands for the day. Parents who have the babysitting mentality are having a hard time now, because many of them don't really want anything to do with what happens in the classroom, so long as their kid comes home in one piece. 

2.) Parents who always take their kids' side of the argument and think the teacher is out to get them (don't laugh; they do exist). They hear a conflict at school between a teacher and their kid concerning a missing assignment and lack of study effort, and automatically jump on the side of their child without considering that the teacher might be the one in the right (btw, this sometimes ties in with the first point, because parents who think the school is there to babysit don't want to be bothered while at work, and so they dismiss the teacher out of hand).  Some of these parents are now learning that maybe their child really isn't as innocent as first believed.

3.) It's painful to suggest this, but the shutdown is probably also exposing which students actually do their jobs vs which students are lazy.  And as other teachers have said, lazy students often come from lazy parents.  A friend of mine with whom I did martial arts has told me that the overwhelming majority of bad grades he has seen did not come from kids who couldn't understand the work, but from kids who simply didn't try to understand it, instead going into their rooms and playing video games or watching streaming services, and parents do nothing to dissuade it.  Again, parents are probably learning this more about their children's work habits (or lack thereof) than anything else, especially since they can sit down next to their child (even after work) and watch and learn right along with them (which, as somebody said to me, should be beneficial for bonding time).

Also, this same teacher said to me "You think it's tough with your kid? Try thirty of them at once, with hands tied for discipline procedures."

So while this is an inconvenient time, it should be a good one for parents to reacquaint themselves with their kids, and maybe discover what responsibilities they should be taking fulfill their side of the educational process. 

Again... if you're already being a good parent by setting expectations for your child and seeing to it that they fulfill those expectations, then these points aren't about you. And keep doing what you're doing. But not all parents do that.  And in the words of Willy Wonka "maybe they'll be a bit wiser for the wear."

The wife and I are using our cell phones as wifi hotspots (thanks Ryan Reynolds for giving us unlimited data right now) and trying to give our daughters (1st and 5th grade) access to Google and non-Amazon apps on Fire Tablets. It's going as well as can be expected. We're hearing our district won't return to in class teaching until after Christmas. We're strongly leaning towards home schooling at least next year and possibly for good.

Something else to remember, folks: learning is not just about books and classes.  If you have a job where you can show your child that what he/she learns in class is actually integrated in real life, now is as good a time as any to show that off!

A parent, in many ways, ought to be a child's primary teacher.  Teachers do a lot of things that they wouldn't have to if parents did it at home. Example: my wife has told me about kids that actually have no problem with lying because they're not really called on the carpet for it at home.  Or showing respect to adults--you may be surprised at how lost that is in some homes.  And while I'm sure that many of us know better than to allow our children to get away with crappy behavior, there are parents out there who don't, and their inaction not only affects their child negatively, but it also affects their child's classes negatively at school. I'm sure all of us have heard the story from our kids at one point or another about a child's bad behavior ruining a class or interfering with a lesson for the rest of the kids.  To quote the Mrs: "It happens far more than people realize."