By Jen Roesch, Photo: Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images, Truthout, January 9, 2022
In June 2020, when schools across the U.S. remained closed due to the pandemic, Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive, noted how much became possible when the system was forced to prioritize the lives of students, teachers and families. Laptops were distributed and internet access was provided. High-stakes, standardized tests were canceled. In many cases, grades were removed. She quoted a letter from a superintendent in Georgia who told teachers, “We want compassion over compliance.”
Now, Love concluded, “We have to say that we’re not going back. The managing of inequalities, we’re not going back.”
However, with US schools having finished their first semester of full-time, in-person education — and now returning in the midst of a new surge of COVID infections — it’s clear that this is precisely what’s being asked of teachers, as well as their students and families. Throughout the height of the pandemic, there were fears of a mass exodus of teachers. But, almost improbably, most teachers stayed. However, as schools have attempted to “return to normal,” many teachers and other educators are reaching a breaking point.
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