The pandemic of 2020 will be one of those benchmark life events that all of us alive today will remember and look back upon (when it is finally over). Society has been turned on its head and with it the delivery of education. The great equalizer is far from equal.

A colleague of mine said that the pandemic has put a spotlight on those that can manage and those that can’t. Those that can thrive and those that will struggle. Those that will succeed and those that will fail. This is evident in all areas of the education system… from parents to administrators. In meeting with various subject area departments the prevailing theme has been that students working remotely are struggling. When students are in front of teacher and with their classmates they have a far better chance of being successful (however you define success) then when left to their own devices (no pun intended) at home. This conclusion is not Earth shattering but feedback that some students are thriving in this partly virtual format is. Why are some students able to cope and others not? I believe this is a disparity built into our educational system.

Adversity and opportunity are two factors that are currently under great scrutiny in society. Those that face adversity for no other reason than appearance, gender, religion or socio-economic status. As educators we have understood this when in the context of schools in under privileged communities. But what about every school no matter where it is located or what ranking it is able to attain? The pandemic has shown us in clear and unequivocal terms that schools are not the great equalizer we thought they were. There are inherent flaws and biases that have existed since the inception of a public education system.

Born of the Industrial Revolution, our current model for education places an emphasis on subject knowledge and conformity. We are slowly recognizing that schools are not a ‘one size fits all’ proposition but the turn around is slow yet purposeful. But what about what is taught? Forget for a moment how content is delivered, we will touch upon this a little later, but let’s, for a moment, focus on what is taught? In North America, education has always had a ‘Western’ or ‘Euro-Centric’ focus. All great discoveries and innovations came about during a great awakening in Europe and the Europeans spread their knowledge around the world, to the less educated or civilized masses. True societal norms did not exist until taught by British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, etc colonizers. North American culture did not exist until found by European explorers. As a child of Asian, Middle Eastern, African, East Asian, Indigenous descent what message does this send? Where do you exist in the pages of History, Physics or Algebra? How do you learn to see yourself? If you are an immigrant to a country is it the responsibility of that country to teach you who you are? An interesting question. Let’s leave this point here.

How content is taught leaves much to be desired. We have known for decades that the traditional genders of male and female learn at varying rates and mature much the same. We have also known for decades that people learn through different modalities be it auditory, visual, tactile, etc. But what about students with low self-esteem, fractured homes, lack of food, unstable relationships and low socio-economic advantages? These students have quite often fallen through the cracks but what I have recently learned is that students have not fallen through, they have been pushed out. Our system does not manage individualized instruction well. Sure we have Individual Education Plans and Resource Teams that work to adapt curriculum and put interventions in place but the end result is often students finding themselves in the alternative school system, graduating on a reduced program or not graduating at all. The longer I am part of the system the more I become cognizant of my role within it. How much of an impact do my own biases have on the way I approach certain students, adults, situations? How much of an impact does the system in general have on the way children see themselves and are we setting them up for success or failure?

Having to support students during this pandemic has forced us to synthesize the school experience into bite size pieces. What is important and required for a student to progress and what can we leave behind? How do we support the social-emotional well-being of students when they may not be in school for long or at all? Now the question is what are we teaching and what message are we sending as a societal institution. This will be the legacy of the pandemic of 2020 and hopefully the one silver lining in an otherwise difficult period of time for all of us.