The Coronavirus May Be The Best Thing That Has Happened To American Public Education In The Last Fifty Years
Without question, the coronavirus epidemic is a formational event. Long after this epidemic has passed, the changes that it is forcing in our foundation institutions will remain. Businesses, government policies and procedures, churches, and schools will be may never again be the same as they were before this epidemic. That is not always a bad thing!
One change from the pandemic is that the schools are being brought (kicking and screaming perhaps) into the digital age. Although some schools are well along the way, many educators fall back on the same techniques and skills that they learned when they were the student many years ago. Today's students are often savvier than their teachers when it comes to computers and media. They have been brought up on well-prepared TV and video since they were toddlers.
Preparing a lesson has always been time-intensive for teachers. It is not uncommon for a good teacher to spend two to three hours of preparation for every hour of actual classroom presentation. Preparation time is not the additional time they spend grading papers! It is the time a teacher spends planning lessons.
But it is a waste to present a well-prepared lesson only one time. By using the tools of distance learning, that same lesson can be presented to more students. Teachers will be able to share the best presentations and that will allow more students to benefit from the very best teachers.
Of course, there is also the fact that online presentations are more public. That puts pressure on the educators to make certain that their presentations are of high quality. No teacher will want to fluff off a class when there may be parents or administrators watching what they do!
The coronavirus epidemic may very well be the best thing that has happened to public education in the last 50 years.
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