This past year has been a complete clusterfúck for education

Posted on: February 22, 2021 at 08:50:57 CT

Last spring many schools made fourth quarter optional because they did not have the infrastructure in place to instantly transition to remote learning.

The school district I was in at the time was one of the lucky ones and we were able to actually teach remotely. Sadly a large percentage of the the teachers and most kids were not prepared for this so at the end of the year we were told to not allow fourth quarter work to negatively impact a students grade.

This school year every school in the metro has been on either a hybrid or remote schedule. Neither of these work, teachers know this, students know this and schools know this. Most schools have asked their teachers to cut assignments, excuse missing work and only teach 'essential skills'. I teach the first of three required math classes, every skill we teach is essential if they are going to successfully complete the sequence. By leaving out skills we are just kicking the can down the road and forcing teachers to deal with the consequences for the next few years.

Realistically there is no way to make every student retake the missed year. We have basically fùcked our kids out of a year of education they they will never get back. Most will adapt and overcome, millions will not.