Don’t Waste the World’s Great Online Learning Experiment
The crisis demonstrates the limitations of technology, but also how it can help more students succeed.
The new classroom.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images North America
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Bloomberg Opinion will be running a series of features by our columnists that consider the long-term consequences of the crisis. This column is part of a package on transformations in the way in which education is structured and delivered. For more, see Michael Petrilli on how older students can benefit from reduced school schedules.
When we were told over the Lunar New Year holiday that schools in Hong Kong would be closed to prevent the spread of a then still-distant illness, I went through all the stages of grief. Shock, denial, anger, bargaining. I settled on depression for a good while. With three primary-age children, my vision of juggling a new job, school, chores and a bad-tempered dog was one of Brueghelian pandemonium. I had little faith in the quality of education my kids would receive online.
Four months in, my skepticism has in large part faded. What’s allowed me to accept, and then embrace, the educational havoc wrought by the virus has been its unexpected impact on my middle son, a 9-year-old on the autism spectrum. With a more flexible approach, he’s been able to cover the curriculum with a combination of live and recorded assignments provided by school, and find space for niche interests in a more creative, student-led set-up. We’ve recruited outside support that has helped to reinforce corners of math which eluded him first time around. Our new, fuzzier world allowed him to catch up, and thrive.