I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what education will look like post pandemic lately.
It seems to go without saying that more and more parts of the education puzzle will be moving to online instruction and student teacher interactions. In the ivory towers of the computer salespeople and the political wonks this seems to be a good idea. In the more well-off suburbs of the nation this also seems to be workable. (Other than reluctant parents that don’t want to spend all day with the children they chose to have. But that’s a rant for another day…) Down in the trenches things look a bit (OK, a lot) less rosy. The program I teach with focuses on people that are at the bottom of just about everything. A world of online education looks like this to them. View 1. One student dropped their phone recently and they do not have the funds to repair or replace it. While this student does have access to a computer at home, that computer is not connected to the internet. View 2. Another student had to pawn their computer to pay rent last month. View 3. Most of my students do not have a computer at all and the phones they have are generations behind. Some are lucky if they have a flip phone. View 4. Of those with smart phones, most are on throttled and/or pay as you go data plans. A single two hour live online class session could wipe out their access for the month. View 5. They may have a computer that is internet capable but live in an area with little to no internet service. All this is not to say that computers are evil and online education is impossible. Computers are merely tools. Tools can be very useful, but as great as a hammer is at driving in nails, it still hurts when I hit my thumb with one. We cannot blithely move forward with the idea that everyone has the same educational opportunities as we shift more and more to a system that does not have equal access for everyone. This is even more important to consider with GED students. By not having an educated piece of paper that offers career flexibility, GED students are somewhat by definition on the lower end of the economic scale. They are locked into whatever low paying job they can get. This offers a reality that sees internet access not as a necessity, but rather as a luxury. This sub-existence is something that many cannot conceive, let alone empathize with. This nation is currently looking at building a new education system that requires internet access as a backbone to travel on. Presto, you now have a two-tier education system that guarantees those in poverty remain there. As with most issues with education, it is a complex issue that most everyone hopes will just go away. I don’t have any solid answers. I do know that not having the conversation will not make the problem magically fix itself.
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Step inside the mind of me.Hi. Welcome to my little electron of the internet, where you will find random comments about whatever pops into my mind! Previous mumblings
December 2021
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