When schools reopen, Shelby County's students deserve better than 'normal' | Opinion
Shelby County Schools has an incredible opportunity to learn from this pandemic, to demonstrate courage, and continue innovating its schools, calendar, and curriculum.
- Benjamin G. Friedlander is a former classroom teacher and the Associate Manager of Research at the Memphis Education Fund.
Memphis has never been afraid to innovate when we recognize a piece of our city is out of date or neglected. Just look at our landmarks. The Lorraine Hotel transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, a Sears distribution center became Crosstown Concourse, and our pyramid is now the world’s largest Bass Pro Shop.
Now is the time to set our sights on the most ambitious restoration project to-date: Shelby County Schools.
I have faith that we will eventually develop a vaccine for the coronavirus and flatten the curve so that it will once again be safe for our children to return to their school buildings.
Our 'normal' was never sufficient
We will do our students a disservice if we set the bar for a successful reopening at returning to “normal.” Normal was a school system that historically boosted privileged students into college while nudging their less fortunate peers towards minimum-wage jobs, or in the worst cases, our prisons.
As a former teacher, normal for me was a 6th-grade classroom stuffed with 40 students and a laptop cart with just 10 chromebooks. Normal for my students was a full day of overcrowded classrooms, exhausted teachers, and the choice to learn from an outdated textbook or share a single device with three classmates. We should never aspire to return to this kind of “normal.”
Amidst the tragedy and confusion of the pandemic, maybe this respiratory disease has finally given our education system room to breathe. As we prepare for an unprecedented, virtual start to the school year, we have a rare opportunity to radically reimagine our schools.
This current moment can lead to innovation
The last few months have proven we have the power and the right to expect more from our education system as the arguments against innovation and change broke down one by one.
Even before school closures, we accepted annual summer learning loss would be inevitable. Then, our School Board showed they can adapt the calendar to better meet our students’ needs. We heard giving every student a device and internet connection was too expensive but with buildings shuttered, Shelby County Schools stepped up and made the investment.
For years we've known there were just too many students and too few teachers to provide smaller class sizes. Yet, across the world schools are mapping out physically distanced classrooms for just 10 students at a time.
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Instead of listening to politicians in Washington who demand we rush back to normal, let’s work with Shelby County and use this time to get creative, to ask “how else can we improve our schools?”
Shelby County Schools has an incredible opportunity to learn from this pandemic, to demonstrate courage, and continue innovating its schools, calendar, and curriculum. This innovation shouldn’t end when the pandemic does.
Even after COVID-19 is no longer a threat our schools can use virtual instruction and flexible bell schedules to permanently reduce class sizes.
The district can adopt a year-round calendar, with frequent breaks, that keeps students engaged without burnout or summer learning loss. We can demand a curriculum that empowers all students and prepares them for life in the 21st century, focusing more on critical thinking, technology, and career exploration, and less on test-taking and memorization.
COVID-19 did not create the inequities in our schools.
The pandemic only unmasked a faulty and antiquated system in desperate need of renovation. Just as our students and teachers are exploring a new world of virtual learning, now is the time for Memphis schools to be daring and imaginative.
Our world has been changed forever, and we should never let Shelby County Schools return to normal. Now is the time to begin crafting a new normal – a school system that displays the highest version of our values, our community, and that ultimately cultivates the highest outcomes for our students.
Benjamin G. Friedlander is a former classroom teacher and the Associate Manager of Research at the Memphis Education Fund.