We are midway through 2020, and struggling through a pandemic-fueled economic crash exacerbated by the federal government’s inadequate “stimulus” efforts. At the same time, U.S. society heaves with a sense of racial awareness and civic responsibility sparked by continual police killings of Americans. Against this traumatic backdrop, this spring’s pivot to online, at-home learning for more than 55 million K-12 students in the U.S. might seem like a benign scheduling challenge, especially for middle- and upper-class households — a “new normal” to navigate in the ongoing COVID-19 world.
But the seemingly benign has brought bigger problems to light. Outrageously underfunded public school districts have struggled to provide basic online lessons, and some families went months waiting for guidance on remote schooling. The digital divide was laid bare, as some districts scrambled to distribute laptops, tablets and wifi hotspots for unconnected families, while others simply recommended that teachers and students alike park near hotspots so they could teach or attend online school in their cars.
Continue reading here at Next City, courtesy of Valerie Vande Panne.