Being a kid should be fun. This is a time for children learning, using their imagination, testing their skills against the world. But being a kid during a pandemic is no fun at all. Not being able to go to school to meet up with friends, challenge their intellect, and practice their skills is an affront to childhood.
When children were suddenly locked down at the beginning of the pandemic, their anxiety was high—not only were they fearful for their safety and their family’s well-being, but they were suddenly removed from the familiar pattern of life, notably school. Many children, like my 10-year-old granddaughter (L.R), expressed this as boredom and struggled to find ways to fill their time.
Students have shown just how much they want to keep learning. They have persisted with their lessons under difficult circumstances, with some guidance from their teachers, and a great deal of effort from their parents.
Does online learning live up to its promise?
From what I’ve seen during this epidemic, online learning was provided as a stop-gap solution, cobbled together with little forethought and preparation. It’s a utopian dream that, given a computer and online lessons, children will find satisfaction in learning by themselves. That didn’t happen for most children. Online games, particularly those that are interactive among friends, were more successful. But no number of gizmos and computer-based activities could make up for the give and take of classroom experience. Children missed the interaction and challenge of the classroom, the group activities, and the sharing that happens in today’s classrooms. But most of all, children missed their friends. Most children count their time with friends as their most valuable and treasured part of school.
An article in The Conversation (Dodd, Lester, Cartwright-Hatton) stresses the importance of play with peers:
This peer play is crucially important for children of all ages. Peer relationships are unique because they are voluntary, equal, and require negotiation, then compromise. Play with peers allows children to learn to regulate their emotions, develop social skills, and form a sense of identity. Without the opportunity to play closely with their friends, children can feel lonely and socially isolated.
Parents have stepped up, in spades. They played games with their children, they had baking sessions, they did crafts. Many, especially those who had to work from home, and more significantly, single parents trying to carve out some time with their children, found it hard going. The usual community-based activities such as sports and dance classes were gone, so driving kids around changed to staying at home and filling the void.
What happens now?
Some schools have already opened. Authorities have set out guidelines and expectations, establishing parameters that they hope will ensure protection from the virus. Other schools are anxiously watching this process to see how it goes, hoping to learn from their successes and failures. It will be a balancing act. The rules, social distancing, wearing masks, being ushered around, constantly watched, and even isolated behind vinyl enclosures, will put some children off, and they may decide to opt for homeschooling, or online learning. Deciding not to enroll their children in school will be difficult, and I’m sure parents will agonize long and hard about it.
As children and parents choose their options this fall, I look at the process from the vantage point of 25 years of teaching primary school. I can’t help but shake my head at this new challenge. Whoever thought, in the halcyon days of the ‘70s and ’80s, that one day children will be covering their faces, and sitting or standing far apart from each other while at school?
My heart goes out to all of them, the kids, their parents, the teachers—may they all find a successful and safe way forward.
Some notes:
“The word ‘education’ comes from the Latin ‘educere’ = e- (out of) + -ducere (to draw). Education is not just about putting information in. We have forgotten that it, in fact, begins in the child’s heart.” ~ Vince Gowmon
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination!” ~ Albert Einstein.
“Nothing develops a child’s creative imagination and ‘heart’ more than play with other children.” ~ Diane Dahli
“Children missed the interaction and challenge of the classroom, the group activities, and the sharing that happens in today’s classrooms. But most of all, children missed their friends.”
As a kindred former teacher of young children (first grade), I think your post nails the problem of remote/online learning exactly. I copied the two sentences here because with a few small substitutions, I think it also reflects the distress we are all feeling–the loss in the pandemic of real-time interaction with others, the sharing, the group activities of society and, of course, face to face contact with our friends. I’m just finishing the editing on a post that looks at this. I think adults, no less than kids, are suffering these losses. We just don’t show it as nakedly.
Yes, alhenry, you can trust children to ‘tell it like it is’! The controversy over ‘opening’ is loud and rancorous. Don’t know how it will end.
a wonderful and thought provoking post Diane.
in America at least… very little thought has ever gone into coping. simple coping skills for living LIFE itself.
and now we’re all reaping the harvest of those free wheeling years of ‘doing everything FAST and as we please!’
the popular tag phrase for so many years was “you can have it ALL!” it was especially geared to the women.
well. it turns out you can’t ‘have it all.’
and why would you even want it? that never seemed to be addressed!
I hope our parents and children both can learn the lessons of just coping with life now as quickly as they need to.
with the computer age the boredom level has gone off the charts. for both parents and their children.
that alone is a huge hindrance I would think.
what did children do in the London bombing blitz? I don’t know. they were having to deal with constant devastation.
and that had to be as traumatic and disruptive as this virus!
we are all acting as if this is the worst that could ever happen to all of us! and yes it’s bad. but compared to people who’ve dealt with history’s BAD… it’s not.
having to learn lessons while sitting at a computer compared to hoping your house isn’t destroyed under you???
I remember playing for hours alone under a bush in our yard… carving out of the soil a small city. using the sticks and stones and leaves and other things of nature to create a bridge and buildings and other magical things.
I once used to look back on that as so silly. but it took imagination and a delight in my own childish creativity.
so maybe it wasn’t silly after all. perhaps in a very odd or subliminal way I was learning to simply COPE.
Well taken, tammy j. I’m one of the ‘lucky few’ who got to play freely as a child, sometimes all day long, without even coming home for lunch! We had many problems, including poverty, but we always had the privilege of being able to play. These are unusual times, and childhood is taking a hit. Yes, there have been terrible things that happened to children in the past, and those experiences did build resilience. Thanks, tammy j. Food for thought.
We are discussing many aspects of this change of lifestyle except the most important. Instead of trying to arrange a way of returning to school under these dangerous circumstances. It is mire important to establish a nationwide plan that will reduce the virus itself and therefore the risk to so many We are trying to tap dance while our shoes are on fire. Let’s all work together to put out the fire. We are asking our children and teachers etc to roll the dice and see what happens. The lack of direct leadership re using the proper scientific testing protocols etc is Criminal These are our children and one of these children us my son. A teacher if second grade special ed kids.
It seems as though we will have to learn to adapt to this situation, something we are all anxious about doing. We just want it to end. I can see you are worried about your son, who may be on the front lines. I understand. Thanks, Marcia.
These are interesting times, for sure. Home schooling has been around for decades, and thankfully, programs were already in place to support on-line learning and socialization for those families who chose that route. And, it provided a great model for those new to the idea. Now, with the social aspect of home schooling being completely removed, I feel for both parents and children. The paragraph you quoted from The Conversation says it all doesn’t it?
Yes, the excerpt is interesting, and expresses a truth. Home schooling and online learning has not been applied evenly, however. It is new to many schools, who did not develop sound and effective programs. From what I’ve seen, it has been found wanting.
I hear your concern and look forward to a time when students can safely return to schools. I worked in online learning for years and putting material online in a hurry is not the same as quality online education. What we have during the pandemic is, as you suggest, a stop gap measure, that shouldn’t be confused with online education that is carefully designed, including with interactive opportunities, and implemented. Some students enrolled in online programs have had better experiences than when they were in a traditional classroom, e.g., levels the playing field for all voices to be heard not only those more comfortable speaking in a group setting.
However, there is a lot to be said for traditional classroom instruction and peer engagement in that form. Furthermore, most of us need the structure afforded by the classroom environment/schedule.
It is indeed a complex time. I wish everyone the best. Thank you for your posts.
Good thoughts, Faye. I thoroughly endorse online learning for some children and young people. Actually, I did write an article on this blog about it a few years ago—it’s still current. I know that much good work, including carefully thought out goals and curricula, is being done to make online learning relevant.
There’s a good article by Kim Brooks in today’s NYT that argues that the pandemic is and should give rise to all sorts of creative, community/neighborhood approaches to engaging and educating children–and that the impulse is long overdue. I think it’s worth reading.
Okay, I’ll read it. Thanks, Barry.
A profound post which reinforces your phrase “the lucky few”.
Yes, as I said in my reply to tammy j, we were lucky to live in those times, just speaking for myself though!
Exactly – for me, too.
Faye commented on something that resonates with me – the “playing field is now level”
– my early education wasn’t “level” and I probably would have thrived a lot better if it had been. I was deemed an outsider from the day I turned 5 and went off to the wrong school, the school that my elderly parents were most used to. All the other kids in my street when to the town school…so I missed the interaction both in my school and the after school streets. Added to that I was disabled and often ill, so I missed a lot of the basics. I had only about 3 months at a mainstream school when olds decided I should go to boarding school, another very uneven playing field…
– I didn’t realise a lot about those missing basics until as a mature aged student at University but I did get a degree when I turned 60!
Here in New Zealand August 2020 has changed again and my city Auckland is locked into L/3 whilst the rest of the country both North and South of here are at L/2. The estimated time is until late August but time will tell… “Schools are all closed” back to the online learning platform.
Catherine/Cedar 51 – back to difficulties with commenting on some blogs…I’m not anonymous!
Congratulations on getting a degree after turning 60. Not easy to do, and speaks to your perseverance. It’s clear you didn’t have a good grade school experience. Growing up in a Northern Alberta outpost community, my experience was difficult as well. We did attend school, but during winter, the weather was dreadful, so we missed quite a bit of school. For most of my elementary years, the government supplied our school with ‘correspondence’ lessons, which meant we did the work with the help of an unqualified supervisor, and then mailed them off to the city. Not ideal, but we loved school anyway, mostly because there we had interaction with other children. I think there are more opportunities now, and online learning is one of them. The conversation continues…thank you, cedar.
I think the loneliness and isolation with the Pandemic are mediated by the fact that everyone is affected, no child need have the perception that they are the only ones who aren’t seeing the other children to socialize, all the other children are missing out too. I lean towards Tammy J’s comments, this is a perfect opportunity to learn coping skills, learn early that life is challenging, and rise to the occasion, and to learn concern and compassion for people who have a lot more to lose than most children, people with comorbidities and the elderly. A child’s world, in my view, should not simply consist of people their own age and the concerns (valid) of others their own age. It is healhty to have a realistic view of reality, it is going to enter their lives sooner or later. It is easier to develop coping skills when young, to build on them over time.
You cannot solve problems if you don’t know what they are.
Wonderful comment, Maggie! I love you guys! You always make me think more and dig deeper. You are absolutely right. We (our generation) had many challenges and downright hardships. We plowed right through them and came out stronger. Our tendency is to make it easier for those coming up. But that isn’t always the best course. Thanks, Maggie!
Wise words, Diane. The saddest thing for me is that, here at least, children’s education has become a political football, with little sign of clear thinking and leadership from the government. But ‘twas ever thus…
Oh, yes! It’s no longer about the children.
It’s a problem, for sure, but I think health comes before in-class instruction. Or as I was telling my daughter (who knows my sense of humor), as a guide we should look at three of the nation’s top educational institutions — Princeton University, Central Bucks High School and the Center for Learning in Retirement. They are all teaching online only. Anyway, I’m involved in our local Center for Retirement and at some point I’ll do a blog post on how it’s going.
I’ll look forward to it, Tom! I think online learning is terrific for older students. However, it’s not as satisfactory for little kids. That’s where the bulk of my experience is, and I couldn’t imagine doing away with the classroom experience.
Hi, Diane – I’m also a retired educator. My heart goes out to teachers, students, parents and administrators trying to make this all work. Whatever way we look at it, there are sadly difficult times ahead.
By the time all this is sorted out, children will have at least one lost year, if not more. I’m sad about that.
There is total confusion here too. Not only for schools but, also for colleges and other higher education institutions. I think that it will take till at least the middle of next year to get things back on rail.
That’s probably true, Rummuser. But it’s a depressing thought!
I think there may be much positive to come out of this experience for education, how a course of study is presented in the future. I don’t presume to know, especially since my tech skills are limited, but i think there are those who will experiment, be creative in ways most of us don’t yet know. Some students will thrive and others will be more challenged as we’ve had with our traditional systems.
The opportunity for socialization through school settings if this virus is relegated to our past will be welcomed no doubt. Perhaps the company of others will be more appreciated and not just taken for granted, sometimes with intolerance. Maybe I’m naive and overly optimistic, but i think some of whatever we may see in the immediacy of the present being lost, will be made up or overcome in the years to come by current students with the aid of parents and teachers. Maybe attitudes toward schooling in the future will not be so much one of taking it for granted, sometimes negating the experience day to day in some students mind.
I agree, Joared. Kids will appreciate school more, especially if the way of doing things can be reclaimed. That would mean an end to social distancing and wearing of masks, which, of course can only happen when this epidemic is officially over.
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