Dear Thomas Jefferson,

 It was fun to Zoom with you.  It’s a great way to connect, isn’t it?

Thanks for letting me rant about reopening schools after they have been closed for so long because of the pandemic.  There are so many reasons why the conversation about in-person teaching and learning is frustrating for me.

What do teachers want?  Honestly, it is simple.  They just want to teach.  They want their students to learn.  They want students to grow and learn and become productive citizens in the democracy.

Teaching is not easy when all of the students are lined up in little boxes on a glowing screen.

I recently read a letter to the editor that accused all teachers of not wanting to return to school to teach because he was sure it was easier to sit at home.  I know that person has never had to teach high school P.E. online.  Just imagine what it is like to be a high school P.E. teacher.  Just imagine teaching a class that is based in physical activity and most of the kids have turned off the video.  I assure you, it is not teaching and learning, and it is not fun.  

I really don’t like it when I hear politicians or people in the media talk about learning loss.  That makes it seem as if school is a foot race on a conveyor belt, and if you step off, you can’t catch up.  That is not how learning works.  There is the kind of learning that is scored or ranked on an academic test.  With certain experiences, the test score is higher.  With other experiences, the test score is lower, but it is almost impossible to lose learning.  A person may forget something, but do they lose learning?  If the students can’t remember something, they probably did not master it the first time around. 

The comment that irritates me the most is when I hear people say “We have to get the schools reopened so that moms can go back to work.”  Not dads.  Not parents.  I hear it from men.  I hear it from women. 

I was shocked to discover your attitude toward women’s work. You thought that women were not suited for the drudgery of work outside the home because they were too frail.  *1

Did I tell you about William Harper? He became the first President of the University of Chicago in 1891.  His proposal for reorganizing Chicago’s public schools stated that schools should be considered childcare for children so that women can work outside of the home. *2

I don’t know which image is worse.  Public schools as a babysitting service.  Women being too frail to compete in the workforce.

Let’s Zoom again and talk about public schools, the economy during a pandemic, and women’s role in society.

 

Sincerely,

Katy Dalgleish

 

*1 Thomas Jefferson, Writings: Autobiography, Notes on the State of Virginia, Public and Private Papers, Addresses, Letters, by Thomas Jefferson, Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, NY, 1984, 2011, pgs. 185-186

*2 The Autobiography of Margaret A. Haley, edited by Robert L. Reid, University of Illinois Press, Urbana IL, written before her death in 1939, published in 1982, pgs. 35-40