Disclosure: I have worked with distance/remote learning as far back as 15 years and my wife homeschools our kids. Schools (and pretty much everything else) wer

Disclosure: I have worked with distance/remote learning as far back as 15 years and my wife homeschools our kids. Schools (and pretty much everything else) were caught completely off-guard by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Setting-up an online education infrastructure takes a lot of work and requires significant mental retooling. Teachers need to adapt as much or more than their students to the new paradigm. Zoom, Hangouts, Teams, or Jitsi are not replacement for in-person instruction. Part of this is that in remote learning the curriculum materials and assessments need to lend themselves to greater self-guidance than those of brick-and-mortar books and other resources. This is not impossible, but also not easy to do on short notice. I am not surprised that schools are finding it simply too hard to put together packets, distribute them, and trying supplement with video conferencing when the materials are based on a different assumption. I am optimistic that this will further the reach of remote learning, but I am doubtful that the stagnant style of traditional education will shift to fully embrace it. I foresee a lot more alternative educational institutions emerging as the traditional schools very slowly adapt.