What impact will remote learning have?

As a Washingtonian, I have been hearing a lot about COVID-19. Schools are closing around me. Generally speaking, this is a good thing. Unfortunately, many of these schools aren't enabling children to pursue education outside of a schooling environment. Instead, they are finding ways to bring conventional schooling to children at their homes without addressing their numerous deficiencies.


Instead of parents looking at alternatives to schooling, they will invite the schools into their homes. While a few parents could resist when they find that conventional schooling at home doesn't work for their children, most will simply accept it without question as a temporary necessity.

Schools generally have more and better resources than most families, and teachers won't touch resources that children have at home that don't exist at school. There are also certain activities reliant on groups, such as performing arts, that will not work as well with this model. Teachers won't hesitate to insist that they can't teach as well remotely. To address this problem, they will drastically lower their expectations. This will give many people the impression that learning doesn't work as well outside of a conventional schooling environment.

The truth is that learning doesn't work well within a conventional schooling environment. Without schools this time of year, many parents would likely pursue alternatives. If this happened, many would find an approach that is better for their children.

In all honesty, I suspect this is a major factor in the shift to remote learning. Children aren't going to learn very well under this model, but the schools run serious risks if they open up society to educational rights. Without remote learning, parents could find options that work better for their children. The schools could permanently lose students. They would also likely see a decline in support for funding increases. Instead, the schools are effectively sabotaging the opportunities to learn at home, potentially making themselves seem more important than ever before. In other words, the schools might be concerning themselves more with retention than education. By contrast, I'm concerned that intentionally offering inferior instruction outside of the schools could make people appreciate the already inexcusable performance inside the schools.

I would really love to see the restoration of educational rights during my lifetime. Remote learning isn't ideal, but many schools are fortunately on hold. This could provide the opportunity to pursue alternatives. These might not be the best circumstances, but it's something.