Why Online School is the Worst of All Worlds.

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 Nothing can bring out the inherent flaws in education like stripping it down to what can be relayed over wires. We have learned a lot since the days of rote memorization about how kids' brains interact with learning. (1) Kids often learn best by interacting with information using their bodies and minds together. (2) Online

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school tends to play to the strengths of the few. I am not saying that in the current situation with Covid-19 I would prefer for my children to be shoulder to face mask with dozens of other humans. There are times when you are between a rock and a hard place and you have to land somewhere.

Currently for my family and many others throughout the country online school has become that place.
My hope is that if we look squarely in the eye of the demons of online school we can find their weaknesses and annihilate, or at least alleviate the problems of not only online school, but all of education. When we emerge from the tunnel of Covid life I want to see an educational landscape that is more accessible and effective for every child because of the lessons we have learned.

Don’t confuse online school with other forms of education

The education children are getting at home isn’t the same thing as homeschool. You can take that from a veteran of 10 years of homeschool like myself, and other homeschoolers who are chiming in and holding the hands of those winding their way through the digital mess we are in.(3)

It is also not like the best of physical school, you can take that from the frustrated teachers like my sister-in-law trying to find out why some students' work is amazingly better than it was in class and

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some amazingly worse, while some students have disappeared altogether. Boiling the love, sweat and tears of teachers down to a two dimensional YouTube video from their living room is a sad shadow of what teaching really is.  (4) Now, all over America, we are left with the equivalent of an expensive chalkboard and archaic arithmetic. It seems many of us are stuck with this sad state of affairs for at least a while yet. If we understand what we are lacking and the problems online school is highlighting to us we might just stand a chance at getting the most out of this time and we might leave it with better educational opportunities for all. But we have to begin with the hard work of realizing what we are up against. 

The Problem: Online school feels flat.

One of the wonderful things about homeschool as well as good in person school, is the way education can incorporate all of the senses and the entire body into learning. Scientists have found that considering noses, fingers and tongues in learning helps new concepts stick better than just counting on what can be seen or heard. (5) There is something truly memorable about using M&Ms for math, or checking water quality in the local creek. Tasting sugar and chemical coloring, or splashing classmates

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with water of questionable purity brings home educational content that just can’t be replaced by Sal Khan (6) or expertly narrated video tromps through the woods. Online learning can incorporate some fairly interesting visual and sound stimulation. That is good news if kids learned best by the shut-up-and-listen method of old schoolhouses, but kids tend to learn things best in a variety of ways. As a matter of fact some studies indicate that people remember things better when there is movement involved. (7)  Movement can help kids with concentration as well. (8) When everyone moves to math stations it can help kids minds turn to math. Learning can even be influenced by the comfort of the room kids are learning in. Teachers spend time to make sure the environment kids are in feels warm, inviting and suited even to a comfortable temperature. (9) . So what can be done if the primary conduit of education can’t hand you a net to collect butterflies or offer you clay to make a relief map of the US?

One option: Replace sensory and movement classroom activities with nature time. 

If we have the choice, one option that could help with filling this gap is time in nature. It may not be school for the senses, but it can help encourage concentration and focus. (10) Being in nature does more than get the wiggles out. It can relieve stress your child may be collecting from trying to submit all his assignments correctly on Google classrooms. Time outdoors encourages physical activity, which can be sorely lacking when academic success relies on have your eyes glued to a screen. (11) Best of

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all, most families in most places can kick their kids outside for at least a short time each day. You may not have the time for M&M math, but if you can yell across the living room for junior to go climb the tree in the front yard, you are doing so much more than buying yourself a few minutes of peace and quiet. You don’t need much money to allow your child to observe ants on the sidewalk. Outdoor time doesn’t have to be a tromp through a national park. Lower the bar on this activity and try to respect that while you may not have all the advantages of a classroom right now, urban nature, rural nature, or suburban nature is right at your doorstep and holds more opportunities for growth than humble weeds betray at first sight. 

Problem: Choice, what do you have control over?

A lot of families invest time and energy in deciding where children will go to school and what educational environment they will be in. People move into certain neighborhoods, pay thousands of dollars, or like me, apply to a lottery and hope to get a seat. For all of that effort some of us are being handed a computer and told to find a nice corner with good lighting. The lovely charter school my 9-year-olds attend is trying to infuse their personality into online school, but it still comes down to zoom

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calls and living room projects. We don’t get to choose, or all the choices available to us are complicated. (12) This lack of good choices makes so many of those infused with the independent American spirit bristle. Having our actions dictated by a microscopic overlord just goes against our programming. One reason many of us homeschooling types try to help people understand that this online school that is being inflicted on us is not the same as what we offered our children comes down to the choice we made. 

Choice is one aspect of learning that homeschoolers hold dear. The gravity and amount of the decisions homeschoolers make is both the blessing and the curse of the enterprise from the beginning. Home education is a tricky beast. It requires time to sift through educational methods, thousands of online worksheets and the dollar bin at the homeschool bookstore. After the table is covered with the debris of your best laid plans, you then turn to face your offspring. By now they have caught wind of the idea that Mom or Dad or both are going to be teaching them. These are the same parents these kids have been studying the tells of for years. They aren’t going down without at least a half dozen reminders and the temporary loss of video game privileges. Educating our kids was a choice we rearranged our life for. Whether the changes were big or small, the sacrifices mind-boggling or tiny, choice is always at the center of what makes homeschool work. Knowing that you are taking action you think is worth it for your kids can get you through the tough days. Adjusting curriculum when Plan A curriculum isn’t getting through and taking a mental health day whenever mom or kids need them are core values that make home school the special world that it is. A structured schedule of online educational appointments that is thrust on you with no choice and often no option for adjustment is NOT a recipe for any kid learning, or any parent succeeding in seeing said kid learn.

One option: Choose to advocate for yourself and others

No one chose Coronavirus, but when the best option for our community means that each individual family needs to accept a less than optimal educational situation we can still do our best to advocate for our students. (13) We may not get as much leeway during these times as we prefer, but every family

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can bring their problems to the attention of the authorities: any authorities, many times if necessary. (14) Don’t assume, no matter your family situation, that you can’t speak up for what your family needs at this time. Many schools understand that the virus is hitting different families in different ways. (15) They may be able to offer devices, internet, extensions on assignments, tutoring, or even food or other necessities. They can’t offer these things if you don’t ask, or look into what is being offered. 

Maybe you are a person who knows a family who has a language barrier or who has parents who are working and aren’t available to advocate for their family even if they wanted to. One of the big take-aways I have witnessed during this virus is the importance of communities supporting their members. Can you help others in your neighborhood? (16) Can you get to know others on your class list and check in with them to see if there is anything you can do? Does your school offer a food bank or other services you can contribute to that will allow other families to make it through Plan C schooling a little more easily? One of the choices we have right now is the choice to contribute to helping the rest of our community through this mess. 

Problem: Superficial metrics and poorer performing students

The poorest indicators of learning become center stage when school happens online. One of the biggest frustrations of homeschoolers, and indeed often of parents in general, is the way some busy educational staff boil children down to numbers. When teachers don’t get to interact with students in

any way other than zoom calls and digital worksheets the opportunity they normally have to wander the classroom diagnosing student problems is missed. (17) The struggling child may never call in. Parents may do student homework for them, or over-tutor them. Teachers are left with little other than check marks to stamp on the bits and pieces of work that trickle in. 

Limited insight into true student performance gets exacerbated when students don’t have the basic resources to succeed. The plague of Coronavirus that is hitting minorities and other at risk kids harder (18) is combined with online school that is having worse outcomes for the same population. (19) These students are much more likely to be without internet services and rely on schools for devices to attend daily lessons. Some schools offer food banks or clothes closets to help students concentrate on learning and not basic necessities. When access to these are cut off the distraction of want raises its ugly head again. (20)

Option: Taking care of the whole student

I wish I could offer a simple solution to this problem. It is true that if communities and schools reach out it will help these families. Systemic disparities like the kinds that affect these populations aren’t going to be solved by a quick infusion of cash from the government or good wishes from well meaning community members. (21) Problems like children who, through no fault of their own are forced to stare down the barrel of long division with no backup, or have to choose between seeing their classmates or hearing them because their internet can’t keep up with both, might be issues schools can help with, but

they can also have roots in poverty, poor parent involvement, and any number of other problems that are bigger than a teacher of 30 kids can handle. The unequal access that seemed just a crack in the educational landscape we could easily ignore while students were in classrooms is developing into a gaping shadowy chasm that threatens to stunt the achievement of disadvantaged students, possibly for the rest of their lives now that students are isolated in their home environments. (22) There are experiments going on nation-wide to try to figure out what will help these types of students (23) This study, reported by By Emma García and Elaine Weiss, recommends promoting access to early education, but the aid doesn’t end there.  “And to ensure that these early gains are maintained, districts can provide continued comprehensive academic, health, nutrition, and emotional support for children through their academic years, including meaningful engagement of parents and communities.” (24) Help for the whole student seems especially relevant now that we are all isolated. Guiding all of the life resources kids might need through the funnel of school is a tall order. Aiming for considering the child as a complete person rather than a test score is a good start. (25)

The future awaits

Online education is a lens through which we can see new uses of technology

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along with old problems with educational access. Most families out there would agree that we look forward to the day when we

have more options than the bright lights of a corner computer screen. Change always comes with an awkward jolt into the unknown. We had no choice about Covid-19, but we do have the choice about how we come out of this for the better. Making nature a part of our family habits, coalescing community support around individual needs and having a renewed interest in making sure everyone has equal access and success in education could be products of this painful phase we are going through that make our future educational landscape better.  

Sources

1. Vosniadou, Stella. How Children Learn. International Academy of Education, 2001, www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/edu-practices_07_eng.pdf.

2. Amor-Zitzalberger, Jacqueline. "The Body: A Tool of Learning for Young Children." Penn State Extension, extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/news/2016/the-body-a-tool-of-learning-for-young-children.

3. Mandel, Bethany. "Distance Learning Isn’t Working." The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2020, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/just-give-distance-learning/610222/.

4. Fagell, Phyllis L. "Teacher frustrated by parents unhappy with distance learning." Phi Delta Kappan, 4 June 2020, kappanonline.org/teacher-frustrated-parents-unhappy-distance-learning-fagell-career-confidential/.

5. "Learning with all the senses." Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 5 Feb. 2015, www.mpg.de/8934791/learning-senses-vocabulary.

6. "Sal Khan." Wikipedia, 28 Aug. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_Khan#:~:text=Salman%20Khan%20(Bengali%3A%20%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%20%E0%A6%96%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8,focusing%20on%20mathematics%20and%20sciences. 

7. Madan, Christopher R., and Anthony Singhal. "Using actions to enhance memory: effects of enactment, gestures, and exercise on human memory." NCBI, 19 Nov. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3536268/.

8. Lindberg, Sara. "How Movement in the Classroom Helps Kids Focus." Parent.com, 30 Dec. 2016, https://www.parent.com/how-movement-in-the-classroom-helps-kids-focus/#:~:text=Movement%20is%20one%20of%20the,what%20they're%20being%20taught.&text=So%20movement%20is%20a%20natural,focus%20and%20pay%20attention%20better.%E2%80%9D

9. Shalaway, Linda. "Classroom Organization: The Physical Environment." Scholastic, www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/classroom-organization-physical-environment/.

10. Friedman, Lauren F., and Kevin Loria. "This Might Be The Easiest Way To Boost Concentration And Memory." Business Insider, 10 Aug. 2014, www.businessinsider.com/boost-concentration-and-memory-by-going-outside-2014-8.

11. Spiering, Charlyn. "Throw the Kids Into Nature." Tomorrow Generation, 15 Feb. 2020, https://thetomorrowgeneration.blogspot.com/2020/02/throw-kids-into-nature.html.

12. Vargas, Theresa. "The nation’s no-good back-to-school choices have left parents worried and solutions available only to some." The Washington Post, 15 July 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-nations-no-good-back-to-school-choices-have-left-parents-worried-and-solutions-available-only-to-some/2020/07/15/5a372c66-c6ba-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298_story.html .

13. Pahr, Kristi. "3 Tips for Homeschooling When You Have No Other Choice." Parents.com, 1 May 2020, www.parents.com/news/tips-for-homeschooling-when-you-have-no-other-choice/.

14. "Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19." National Assoc of School Psychologists, 2020, www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19.

15. Cort, Jen. " Caring for the Parent-Teacher Relationship during COVID-19." AMLE, www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/1148/Caring-for-the-Parent-Teacher-Relationship-during-COVID-19.aspx.

16. "12 Ways to Help Others in Your Community Who May Be Hit Hardest by COVID-19." Save the Children, www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/coronavirus-outbreak/resources/tips-helping-support-local-community.

17. Shore, Jake. "Problems in Online Classes." education.seattlepi.com, https://education.seattlepi.com/should-choose-distance-learning-over-traditional-facetoface-learning-environment-1100.htm 

18. "CDC Releases Demographic Data: Black Americans, Older People And Men Among Hardest Hit By Pandemic." Kaiser Health News, 9 Apr. 2020, https://khn.org/morning-breakout/cdc-releases-demographic-data-black-americans-older-people-and-men-among-hardest-hit-by-pandemic/

19. Ferenstein, Gregory. "Study: Online Courses May Be The Worst For Minorities And At-Risk Students." tech crunch, 22 Feb. 2013, https://techcrunch.com/2013/02/22/study-online-courses-may-be-the-worst-for-minorities-and-at-risk-students/ .

20. Fox, Michelle. "Coronavirus has upended school plans. It will also worsen racial and economic inequalities, experts warn." CNBC, 12 Aug. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/08/12/impact-of-covid-19-on-schools-will-worsen-racial-inequity-experts-say.html.

21. Abramson, Ashley. "What Is the Achievement Gap and What Can Educators Do About It?" Rasmussen College, 21 Feb. 2018, www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/what-is-the-achievement-gap/.

22. Dorn, Emma, et al. "COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime." McKinsey.com, 1 June 2020, www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-student-learning-in-the-united-states-the-hurt-could-last-a-lifetime#:~:text=All%20told%2C%20we%20estimate%20that.

23. Duncan, Greg J., and Richard J. Murnane. "How Public Schools Can Fight Back Against Inequality." The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/how-public-schools-can-fight-back-against-inequality/283669/.

24. Garcia, Emma, and Elaine Weiss. "Education inequalities at the school starting gate." Economic Policy Institute, 27 Sept. 2017, www.epi.org/publication/education-inequalities-at-the-school-starting-gate/.

25. Raab, Erin L. "Education Equity isn’t about leveling the playing field — it’s about changing the game." Medium, 2 Sept. 2019, https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/education-equity-dont-level-the-playing-field-change-the-game-d040470e20f8