Not all bad

According to The Review Journal’s Sunday editorial (“Assessing the damage from school closures”) the Nation’s Report Card is a means of providing hard data on what “worked and what didn’t.” The report card exposes problems presented by the pandemic, which has pushed education into the midst of a paradigm shift.

Think of what has occurred in the past 10 months: Teachers have had to learn new teaching methods and become overnight experts in a new way to educate, communicate and teach their charges; students have had to adapt to a whole new way of learning. They must be independent and take more responsibility to step up and take advantage of what is now the classroom experience. Radical change has a role in the damage factor, but did it just cause damage or is there a positive residual?

Teachers and students have become more tech savvy and have developed flexibility and problem-solving skills in dealing with new software, teaching/learning methods while coping with a hit-and-miss internet. Adapting to sudden changes and problem-solving are necessary skills for the 21st century workforce that have been nudged to the forefront by the pandemic-caused school closures. They are bonuses, not damages.

The nation is now aware of deficits in technology integration with regard to education, which is a plus. Before dealing with a problem, first it must be recognized.

So, when we look at “what worked and what didn’t,” let’s not ignore the fact that this 10 months has pushed education into a huge paradigm shift. The path was unmarked and seemed impossible to navigate, but there are benefits and learning is taking place in ways that could not have been imagined a year ago.

Daphne Grabovoi

Henderson