Some of our normal institutions are hanging on in a vestigial way. Shortly into this predicament, we saw the ballfield lights turned on as a gesture. It was a reminder that we aren't forgetting the institutions that enrich us. But it's certainly empty, isn't it? Merely symbolic? So if the virus "second wave" develops as is feared by many, will we start to get weary of such gestures, heartening as they are intended to be?
Churches hang on with a discouraging online presence. It had a sort of novelty value at first, right? Just as all the endless online tools have great novelty value when first we notice them. Heck, my generation grew up in the analog world of three TV networks dishing out homogeneous entertainment. And rotary dial phones. "Did you call Hooterville?"
The first couple of online-only church presentations seemed interesting. "Gee, can this work?" Of course it can work because anything can work online.
So we come to the subject of school. I took one of my long walks yesterday (Friday) and passed by the public school campus. Seems awfully large and sprawling. An auditorium, a concert hall and three gymnasiums? You might not even know about the 1991 gym, tucked away on the far end and not used for events with appreciable fan turnout. The K-12 campus with all its toys, bells and whistles might wow us some. If it didn't seem excessive to me before, it does now.
The current circumstances have pushed kids toward online or remote learning much faster than would have been the case in normal times. So much has been trending online anyway. The newest online "miracle" I have discovered is free podcasting. On and on the improvements and refinements churn away, getting cheaper as well as better. I have read that you used to need a real expensive microphone. Now I speak and my laptop records. Someday all such tools will be taken for granted. They will have utilitarian value but will no longer fascinate us on the face of it.
I grew up in the world of the three TV networks - Johnny Carson's monologue at 10:30 p.m. - and will always feel fascination with the new stuff.
My podcast is about 80 percent set up. It's not as easy to establish as my (free) blogs were, but with patience it'll get done. I will link to a podcast from a blog post, hopefully soon. Maybe the first good try will be "no sweat." A deceased former work colleague of mine once pointed out that the young take to all the new systems so easily because they "just do it" - they don't feel the need to master a whole lot of details.
School institutions of all kinds must be feeling tremendous stress right now, trying to map out what is doable come fall. Alas, we probably cannot assume they will show the best judgment. C'mon, these people will pull all strings trying to get the standard routine established. They have a survival motive. The longer families have to adjust to the dormant school situation, the more they will make progress without all the established or legacy "bells and whistles." Families will covet freedom and flexibility. Their kids belong to them and not to the school. Another old co-worker of mine, extant, said once in kind of a huff: "I think they (the school people) are working for me." Sort of makes too much sense, doesn't it?
As parents discover more and different options for the development of their children, the arguments for sustaining our clunky educational systems will be more strained. Perhaps with an air of desperation? It's not that bad yet. But just think: We're only about three months into our current constricted lifestyle. The restrictions have lifted just a little, not enough to relieve us of our considerable angst.
I had breakfast sitting down inside DeToy's this morning. It felt nice but we'd better not get too comfortable. Restrictions may come roaring back at us. And then if our big brick school campuses become closed long-term, what's to become of that whole high-overhead system? A system that includes dispatching the orange school buses around to pick up kids and drop them off? Do we even have enough students to justify such a large campus? Does the opulence of the campus really impress us any more, or are we more inclined to think "man, how much does all this cost us?"
School officials may well want to "sell" us this thing called "hybrid learning." Fine, I think. But the expensive legacy resources of the bricks and mortar campuses - could be confused with prisons - will be deemed more of an issue.
The economic toll of the pandemic on a number of fronts will create pressure to inflate property taxes, don't you think? Will the back get broken at some point? Not yet, mind you, but anxiety and pressures will grow if our normal life stays elusive. What about high school sports? What about band and choir? If the scythe gets applied to a lot of this stuff, what becomes of the money allocated for it?
Let's be suspicious, vigilant
School officials will be defensive and perhaps not real forthcoming about the reality. School people top to bottom, with the exception (largely) of the school boards, covet nothing more than money. Once the systems are in place for gorging themselves on money, schools will say it's all necessary and essential, heavens. "We did it for the children," they'll intone as a trump card in discussions. I have been exposed to the machinations of teachers unions long enough to see the broad truth.
There's so much talk now about coming down hard on police unions. From the political left and the political right. Well congratulations, knaves, you're making the same discovery as I did about teachers unions. FDR never intended for public employees to even be in unions.
A former Morris school board member was once reported to say in the midst of a funding question: "If you give us the money, we'll just spend it." Bravo on this unusual dose of candor which you can only expect from a board member, not from employees who are like hungry little gremlins. I think the teachers are more civilized than they used to be. I think highly of many of them.
But the current circumstances of our lives will no doubt bring contentiousness as we sift through options. The hybrid model? Well fine, or how about pure remote learning? The digital world has pushed aside so many conventions, it just never stops. Think you can adjust to the new detached type of learning, in which kids everywhere can learn from the best possible teachers and systems, not necessarily local of course? Well, if you can adjust to my voice on a podcast, maybe anything is possible. But seriously, things could get unpleasant for a while.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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