This commentary is by Joe Carroll, a teacher at Montpelier High School.
The discussion about remote instruction is becoming increasingly problematic. Below are some responses to the common talking points.
- Schools need to be open because kids’ mental health will suffer if they close.
Many students and teachers prefer in-person learning, and that’s a very reasonable preference! However, to assume that there is a direct connection between not being in school and mental health issues is to make generalizations about millions of students’ preferences.
It’s important to look at the data. A recent study provides evidence that suicide rates actually went down when schools closed. It’s more likely that the pandemic and the loss of loved ones (or the fear of loss) are contributing to students’ anxiety. To take it a step further, for some students, remote learning is ideal because school is not a safe, fun, or supportive place for them to begin with.
The idea that every single student has the same preference is not accurate and contributes to a false notion that every kid suffers when they learn from home. This is not true.
- Marginalized communities suffer the most during remote learning.
The reality is more complex. In fact, a recent poll provides evidence that preference for remote learning goes up as income levels go down! For marginalized communities, remote learning provides a safe outlet for their families for a variety of reasons: protecting intergenerational households from infection, the experience of racism and trauma in schools, and a general concern for their children’s health and safety (as well as for the teachers). The poll suggests that the affluent are driving the conversation about remote learning being bad for students.
- Remote learning is not best practice.
The binary of remote learning as bad and in-person as good is simplistic and wrong. It overlooks, underestimates and undermines the work of excellent educators who teach online.
For many Americans, remote learning is the only option because of disability, anxiety, or any number of reasons that make going to a school building impossible. That does not excuse us from funding and building more inclusive and supportive buildings. It merely acknowledges the reality that, for a certain number of students, remote learning is not only preferred, it is necessary.
Remote learning could even become an asset to districts, as it would expand access to learning opportunities and provide more flexibility for students, their families and teachers. Remote learning is not inherently bad and is as varied in its execution as in person learning.
- Remote learning is bad because parents have to go to work.
This is a logical argument but it obscures the real problem: The only way to get your basic needs met in this country is to work. If we had a system that guaranteed basic income, health care, housing, and (during a deadly pandemic!) provided more support for parents who have to stay home to take care of their kids and decrease the spread of the virus, we would not be saying that parents had to go back to work.
We assume that there is no alternative to the predatory capitalism that makes millions of Americans endure precarious lives of material insecurity. This type of thinking puts the economy before people and it centers profits over equitable community.
If you catch yourself saying people need to go to work or else they won’t survive financially, ask yourself why we tolerate a society where that is ever in doubt. Challenges around remote learning are a symptom of a larger injustice. Blaming remote learning for that misses the point.
There is no question that remote learning can pose a challenge to families. This challenge should be examined through the lens of political and economic injustices that existed long before the pandemic started. Dismissing remote learning as bad for students and families is unhelpful and ignores data that shows that many families (especially under-resourced and marginalized families) prefer remote learning.
Remote learning is a tool that can help keep us safe. We should be more thoughtful about how we talk about it and reflect on the larger issues that intersect with it.