I just heard on the news that only 1 of 6 teachers are willing to go back into the classroom if it is done online. And yet, the news that it won’t be safe to return into physical buildings for at least 3 or 4 months – certainly not in 3 or 4 weeks – means that neither the online nor the physical settings will work. What to do?
Well, if we want a paycheck and if Trump fails to force schools to re-open next month (I don’t see how he can succeed at cutting off federal funding for schools that don’t re-open, as he has threatened), then we just have to figure out how to teach our languages online.
That is, if we want a paycheck.
And private schools are just screwed. How are they going to generate the HUGE income needed to keep the schools clean? Teachers will be let go for cleaning teams. Classes in private schools will soar to the size of public school classes, so what will be the advantage of private schools, especially to parents whose incomes are increasingly stressed?
Teachers not wanting to return for various reasons like spousal health concerns – or their own – mentally and physically – will leave big gaps in faculties. Many kids above the age of 16 – primarily those who are typically disenfranchised – will do what they’ve always wanted to do – just walk away from the building – and no one will stop them because they need the space.
It kind of sounds like a society falling apart.
The lame excuse that kids will get “behind” is one that refers to kids of privilege. If schools were to admit the truth, they have never had any real concerns about the others. And what do they even mean by students getting “behind”? What the hell does that even mean?
The point here is that perhaps the changes we are in go far deeper than we think. Now what are we going to do? Being an American patriot, I say we figure it the hell out and stop bellyaching.
Where do you think the answer lies? I think it lies in the internet. So the question becomes, as I see it, how do we practice our craft online? Can we make it work or do we punt the ball, walk off the field, and try to find another profession?
Oh, and when Covid is “over”, don’t think that we can just return to our old jobs and the status quo. That horse has left the barn. And language teachers, always the red-headed stepsister of school faculties, won’t be at the top of the pecking order, especially considering that public funding for education is likely to dwindle even further than it has in the past. I mean, we do have 80 military bases around the world to fund don’t we? First things first….