Schools & Society

I think this discussion gets into the role of schools in society. It used to be that a public school offered academics and that was it. You went to school, you learned a modicum of reading, writing, history, science and math and graduated, usually around 16 years old, to move into the military, working at the family business or, if you were especially intelligent and financially able, to a profession such as law or medicine.

Now schools function not just as education entities, but as mechanisms for social change. In some ways that is a good thing. Integration was certainly way overdue and providing adequate education for the physicially disabled was essential, especially after the polio outbreaks of the 1950's.  But as with all things, once power is given you cannot take it back.

We are seeing the third or fourth generation of students who have be indoctrinated into the concept of insured outcomes. That's important because it is not reasonable to expect all people will achieve the same levels of knowledge, ability or success. Yet this is the dogma of education now and is becoming the accepted norm for life in general. Unfortunately this is just not the case.

"You are not promised tomorrow" they say and that is true. You can be the most gifted musician, be in the youth orchestra, go to Julliard, be admitted to the symphony and still get hit by a truck while crossing the street without looking. Right now in the media, the concepts of public health being put forth by clinicians working with data is being pushed as the norm and it is not the norm. Any practicing physician can tell you there are going to be those patients who will die no matter what they do. To expect "all viruses" to go away is not just unrealistic, it's delusional. But for those who believe in insured outcomes, they would rather huddle in their homes for God knows how long rather than risk the less than 2% chance of death from the disease-and that number may be high.

I do think this episode is a cultural bending event. By that I mean the accepted current norms, which were largely based on a rental culture that lives in massive urban cores is being upended. Already the prices are dropping on urban studios and gentrified inner city houses. Young couples are becoming aware that raising a family might be easier in the less chic suburbs. Those folks who thought they were being somehow virtuous by taking up less space in an upscale urban apartment now wonder if they might feel more at home and secure in a suburb or exurb-all of which is contrary to what urban planners and futurists have been pushing for the last ten years.

I think some interesting things will happen as the result of this pandemic. I think families will be closer. I think more young kids will be educated at home until secondary school. I think the school classes that do form will be smaller out of public health necessity. I think more people will work at home at least part time. I think many Americans will be less willing to travel outside the country.