Your Kids May Never Return to Normal Schooling
Socrates never had a classroom, but some of his students, such as Xenophon and Plato, turned out rather well.
Hands up for Sal Khan’s blended classroom.
Photographer: JC Olivera/Getty Images North AmericaAs a side effect of Covid-19, about 70% of the world’s children aren’t sitting in physical classrooms anymore. And even where schools are gradually reopening, they’re not returning to normal. Here in Berlin this week, my children started going back in a complex rotation of short and staggered shifts; their class time for the remainder of this academic year is measured in hours, not weeks. All over the world and maybe for years to come, kids will spend much less time in brick-and-mortar schools.
This rupture in traditional education could end very badly — or surprisingly well. It’s easier to make the pessimistic case, as I did in March, seemingly an eternity ago. The optimistic scenario, by contrast, dares imagine that we use the pandemic to reinvent our school systems. But how exactly?