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Even in urban districts getting all students online is a huge undertaking. Watched part of a school board meeting a couple days ago and the local district was p
by Glyptodon 7y ago
Even in urban districts getting all students online is a huge undertaking. Watched part of a school board meeting a couple days ago and the local district was planning on buying 10k-ish Chromebooks and getting 3 months of internet service donated by the cable company to cover the portion of families without computers+internet at home.
My grandmother lives in a rural area and it's economically collapsed (30% poverty rate), with no realistic way to get everyone internet access, so doing something more old fashioned will probably be necessary.
What I think is sad is that stopping school for two months as a replacement for summer break and then finishing the school year and immediately starting the next without a break should be the simplest thing to do. But nobody can do it for a bunch of reasons that are more pathetic than compelling.
- em-bee 7y agowhat reasons are those?
- Glyptodon 7y agoThings like parents already having summer plans (Disneyland, travel, etc.), or a few teachers not wanting to agree to it.
- sneak 7y agoThere is an interesting issue to me with the idea that access to public education becoming gated upon whether or not you agree to a legal contract with a third party (Google’s TOS). What if you don’t want to waive your civil rights in agreeing to the Google TOS and associated surveillance? You simply don’t get the tax-funded education to which you are entitled? This is also an issue with universities switching to Zoom. Entering into an abusive, rights-waiving contract with a third party to be permitted to graduate is a terrible state of affairs. It worries me that “just click AGREE without reading it like everybody else did” is becoming the widespread, state-demanded default throughout society.
- tssva 7y agoOne good reason not to stop schools for two months as a replacement for summer break is that currently it is very uncertain that circumstances in the summer or at the beginning of the next school year will be anymore conducive to kids being in schools than they are now. Seems it would be much better to develop, trial and refine based upon real world experience remote teaching practices during the remainder of the school year and be in a much better position for the following school year if we are still dealing with this virus. Especially given that many experts seem to think there will be waves of easing and reimposing of restrictions until a vaccine is found.
- Glyptodon 7y agoAt the very least obtaining and imaging all the Chromebooks and lining up all the tech looks set to delay implementation anyway. I guess the way I see it, making summer break early also means they could be more reasonably prepared for the whole remote learning thing.