Is covid giving us a chance to reimagine work and schools?

[gulliver]

I've thought for years that schools should switch their overall approach. Instead of providing lectures at school and "homework" (and parent "help" ) at home, students could watch video lectures at home and go to school (or online) while doing exercises. Kids would get interactive help from teachers, not parents who are (let's face it) often of little help. Teachers could still give lectures as needed, of course, but they could give fewer of them. Office hours, would be extended and conducted online and in person.

To me that could be a good change. The Internet, ubiquitous video, on-line training technologies, etc., make that switch possible.

Were we meant to spend our childhoods herded from room to room, to sit quietly in uncomfortable chairs, with random people only of "roughly" the same physical age as us, regardless of whether we have been able to sleep enough or how we feel emotionally? Is that really "effective?" Is it healthy? Or is it just (like prisons and other old ideas) a default, use-it-for-everything answer we live by as a society out of sheer habit, despite evidence of failure, obsolescence, and damage?

When we defeat covid (as I feel essentially certain we will), I don't want to go back to an old, boxy, one-size-fits-all "machine." Work and school lifestyles were already changing pre-covid anyway. Maybe the pandemic is giving us a chance to see our options more clearly.

[onecaliberal]

1. One can hope but currently the stupid rules so not hopeful.

[AleksS]

2. It's giving the opportunity, yes. But it's up to leaders

To take the opportunity.

[PubliusEnigma]

3. Our entire way of life, really

That's why there is a rush to get back to business before too many realize this fact for us to ever go back to the old way.

[LakeArenal]

4. Yes.

[crickets]

6. Excellent point. nt

[gulliver]

15. I definitely think that's a factor.

[tulipsandroses]

5. Eh, I despise working from home. For my line of work - I do think that it was time that more

tele health was used to reach places without providers - poor communities, rural communities. However, personally, I don't like seeing patients all day every day by Zoom. Then doing endless paperwork. I prefer human contact then my endless paper work.
Prior to Covid, I did telehealth for the county jail a few hours a week. I liked that. I find it exhausting doing it every day all day. But that's me. Others may prefer it. I find it more time consuming and I certainly don't get more time on my schedule as far as how much time I'm allotted to see a patient. There is no consideration for technical glitches - 20 mins is 20 mins - if they spend 10 mins trying to get their sound working, or the person on the other side has shaky internet that freezes every 2 mins. Its going to make for a long work day. But that's probably where the next boom comes from? Improving tech infrastructure? equipment ?

Definitely a good thing like I said, to reach people that would normally not have service in their area or can't get to an appt due to work/school hrs. They can be seen after the office is closed. I think we definitely will see more people working remotely- in many industries after things are "back to normal"

[woodsprite]

7. That would work if everyone had internet access and the proper equipment to use.

Used today, that model would leave a lot of children behind.

Being a parent though, I would highly support that model. There are so many times that I did not know how to help my kids with their homework - either it was subjects I didn't have (chem, trig, calculus) or they didn't do it the way we used to (new math ). Both my husband and I are college graduates, work in tech in higher ed, but we had to hire someone to help our kids at various times through grades 5 - 12.

I will say that I'm happy that our state and the Univ of DE have used this quarantine period to begin to address the connectivity issue for school age kids throughout the state. It's not perfect - by a long-shot - but in the past few months, they have been creating connectivity hot-spots (school, library, and other public buildings, even parking lots) where families without home access can drive or walk to in order to download or upload assignments, lectures, etc. It doesn't sound like a lot, and I wish I had taken a screen shot of the map and stats I saw in a meeting on Thursday, but it has helped and is being used.

[gulliver]

16. Agree, and I think everyone should have those things guaranteed.

We pretty much guarantee that education will happen now, and we build the necessary buildings, set up transportation, etc. I think ensuring working equipment and broadband for all people should be a national requirement.

[jalan48]

8. Yes, as well re-thinking how we can restructure our economy and society before the coming

climate change catastrophe hits.

[beachbumbob]

9. take massive sums of money to do a revamp and the money is not easily

found with all the other issues that are being faced by this country after trump. Biden admin will be faced with something not seen before.

[2naSalit]

10. I brought this up back in

March or April about everyone being home for so long, will eventually start re-evaluation of all things. That is happening to nearly everyone on the planet right now, kind of a punctuated equilibrium event regarding social, philosophical and psychological norms that we have held for so long.

An evolution of our perceptions in life are to the foe and we have no choice but to face what we have tried to ignore for too long.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. I Doubt It

The prevailing economic philosophy for 24 of the last 40 years has created a middle class life only sustainable with 2 incomes.
At some point, people who have jobs requiring customer interface can't work from home, nearly exclusively.
That makes for kids there most of the time, and a parent who can't be home.
If we had the middle class economic model (demand side) we had until Latter convinced that buffoon Reagan that the lower the taxes the better the economy, we'd have a much higher population of single income families.
Then, with one parent being stay at home, a neighbor kid or 2 would have somewhere to go so families that did have 2 incomes could not worry about their kids.
But, we don't have that sort of economic model in play, anymore.

[gulliver]

17. I think there would still be a daycare aspect to what are called "schools"

Daycares tend to teach. Schools tend to provide daycare. There are also summer camps and so forth. Those services provide constructive things for students to do, not to mention meals, health monitoring, security, etc.

We wouldn't want to shift from too much institutional interaction to too little. If you work from home, your child, for example, could still go to school to be with their friends, participate in athletics, work in groups, etc. There are balances to be worked out.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Where We Appear To Disagree...

...is the balance.
You feel those are details to be worked out.
I think it's a fundamental barrier.
Your idea is great, but we differ on whether it's executable.

[pandr32]

12. In order for this to work we need healthy families

[Happy Hoosier]

13. Lecturing, as a format, is one the least successful...

Teaching techniques. Lots of data on this. That not to say remote learning has to rely on lectures. I got my masters entirely online and only had 2 profs who lectured routinely. I also ALWAYS work from home, but I have a job well suited to it.

[Progressive dog]

14. There are lots of people that can never work from home

Manufacturing, farming, construction, policing, nursing, retail trade etc. cannot be done from home. Then we have teaching, which, at least in K-12 involves being with other students to practice social skills, and having a teacher physically present to provide adult supervision.
I bet a lot of undeveloped or developing countries have much higher percentages of people working from home and it isn't by choice. We know that many of their children spend very few years in school and may not even have a desk or chair in their classrooms when they do go. My guess is there are very few who wouldn't trade places with an American in an instant.

[gulliver]

18. I agree.

I wouldn't envision "schools" just disappearing, for example. Not at all. They might even grow, have more teachers, and be open year round. There's a daycare aspect to them, of course, just as there is a school aspect to daycare. To some extent, it seems to me we are too restricted by the limited, education-only mission of schools. It makes us, again imo, do foolish things like question the value of recess and athletics vs. the value of academics. I think there's a balance to be struck and opportunities to make things better, that's all.

[LeftInTX]

20. I never heard of Zoom until COVID

I am involved with training with our local Democratic Party. We will be doing more trainings via Zoom after this
It saves time.

But we're volunteers..

Any meetings that require voting will shift back to in person.