Recent solar eclipse a missed once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students

I feel compelled to express my deep disappointment with the St. Vrain District’s decision to prohibit any official student viewing and/or outdoor activities, including recess, during the solar eclipse. As a parent of a kindergartener, I can appreciate the safety concerns associated with viewing the eclipse. I can also appreciate the way the threat of litigation often ties the hands of organizations, policy makers and school districts alike. However, our acquiescence to the fear of litigation threatens something else: the meaningful experiences that are afforded to some only through their access to public education. As the classroom milieu becomes increasingly tech-centered, have we really convinced ourselves that streaming a video of an experience is a suitable substitute for the experience itself?

This was an opportunity for the district to implement a pragmatic policy while affording students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness an awe-inspiring celestial event. Litigious concerns could have been addressed through the requirement of permission slips which would have offered parents an actual choice. Instead, the district left the individual schools to manage the mayhem of dozens of parents who had both the privilege and the willingness to sustain the opportunity cost of sacrificing work pay in order to share this experience with their children. In addition to permission forms, the district could have encouraged or even simply allowed schools to raise funds and/or accept donations for eclipse glasses to ensure that all students could enjoy this experience.

Many students begin to dislike math and science at a young age, rebuffing their parents’ cajoling about doing homework with a resolute “But I’ll never use this in real life.” Natural phenomena such as the eclipse are a rare opportunity to weave the tapestry of teaching math and science with a real world larger-thanlife event. How many parents endure the monosyllabic grumbles of “fine” when inquiring about their child’s school day?

At a time when more students feel disconnected from and apathetic towards what’s happening in the classroom, unique experiences, such as witnessing the eclipse, have the potential to reignite children’s snuffed out interest in school.

As I lay on a quilt next to my 6-yearold son, I marveled at the eclipse almost as much as I marveled at his giggles and utterances of awe. As I walked my son back to school, I felt deeply troubled by the district disallowing their students as a whole to witness and participate in the viewing of the eclipse. Public education is the last bastion of equity and access for all. When we prohibit students from participating in things such as the viewing of the eclipse under the guise of safety, what message are we sending? In our digital age, are we willing to say that the value of a tangible experience in the world is comparable to the mere reproduction of it on the screen? Instead of curtailing teaching and further confining it into the digital space, we should prioritize participating in and preserve access to rare and unique experiences for all children. What’s the next student experience on the chopping block because of the district’s unwillingness to mitigate litigious provocation with reason instead of fear?