The global coronavirus pandemic reminds us of the importance and value of strong, effective public institutions. We are all in this together. “Everyone for himself” is a recipe for disaster. None of us can solve the problems on our own. The only way to address the disease is by collective action and public leadership.
The widespread closure of schools has made parents and communities aware of the crucial importance of these institutions.
Donald Cohen of the nonpartisan “In the Public Interest” asks why school districts were reluctant to close the schools.
He answers:
It’s simple. Public schools are public goods. They provide basic educational, social, emotional, and even physical needs to not only students and families but also entire communities. Closing them has effects that ripple out beyond school doors. As Erica Green wrote in the New York Times, mass school closings could “upend entire cities.”
Just look at the numbers:
The nation’s public school system serves more than 50 million students, many of whom have parents who work and need childcare during the day.
The federal National School Lunch Program serves food to over 30 million kids annually. Many families rely on school to feed their children meals throughout the school year.
There are more than 3.1 million public school teachers, many of whom are already struggling to get by. Teachers, paraprofessionals, front office workers, bus drivers, janitors, and other school staff rely on public school jobs to make ends meet.
But perhaps most importantly, public schools provide kids with the opportunity to learn alongside their peers. Schools are where the community comes together to learn and grow regardless of skin color, income level, sexual orientation, or any other difference.
Only public institutions—not private markets—can make sure that these basic needs are available to everyone.
The next few days, weeks, and months are uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: we’ll be learning how much public schools really matter to all of us. Some—teachers, administrators, and school staff—already know how important they are.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Love this: Story Time from Space
Jan Resseger also had a very good piece on the value of public schools (March 25).
We’re also seeing very clearly that neo-liberalism is a disaster. Government isn’t the problem but the solution, certainly in this case. Right wingers are terrified that the public at large will realize this and will stop at almost nothing to prevent government from succeeding. Thomas Massie comes to mind.
Public schools are the anchors of many communities. They belong to all members of the community, and they are often a hub of activity. At their best they allow diverse students to mingle and develop friendships with students that are different from themselves. Public schools are often governed by members of the community they serve. Families sometimes get social and emotional support as well. Public school teachers are generally the first to notice when a student is in crisis. While these schools cannot cure all of society’s ills, they still provide lots of opportunity for those that are will to work for it.
This week Nancy Pelosi met with Steve Mnuchin to hammer out a bailout bill. Pelosi quoted Pope Francis where he said we have to look after each other in a crisis. Mnuchin replied, “You have quoted Pope Francis; I quote Markets.” It is difficult to compromise when other person is only focused on markets.
The Money Quote
I quote Pope
And you quote cash
Who’s the dope
When markets crash?
Here the link for Public Interest.
https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/covid-19-is-putting-the-value-of-public-schools-on-display/
I fear most for children who are homeless and for the welfare of children in homes with only one parent, several siblings, dwellings that are in one or two-bedroom walk-up apartments, and a limited supply of food from charities or federal programs.
Thank you, Laura.
“Nursing homes balk at taking back patients from hospitals” (Daily Beast)
Where’s the solution from the Gates Impatient Optimists and Mrs. Humanitarian, Melinda Gates?
Interesting to watch the ed reform echo chamber operate in the crisis:
“Local charter networks like Purdue Polytechnic High School, Paramount Schools of Excellence, and Indianapolis Classical Schools made the transition to e-learning so well that they have been highlighted as national exemplars by the Center for Reinventing Public Education.”
National pro-charter group announces charter schools are “national exemplars”- ed reformers then use that to promote charter schools in editorials to local media.
Around and around…but all within the echo chamber and all of it about promoting charter schools in comparison to public schools.
https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2020/03/29/op-ed-indianapolis-public-schools-education-priority-covid-19-pandemic/2929202001/
Lol. My public school should have announced they are a “national exemplar”- public schools need better marketing if they’re going to compete with ed reform charter marketing. Relentless! Continues even in a pandemic!
On ’60 Minutes’ there was a story about basketball recruiters bringing African teenagers to the US to play basketball in charter schools, I have no idea how widespread this practice is. Few of them are talented enough to make it to the NBA. If these young people, fail to deliver, they are dropped and left to fend for themselves. Charters are totally extractive. They extract money and students from public schools, and in this case, they extract value from young people. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/african-basketball-nba-ncaa-schemes-60-minutes-2020-03-29/
Saw that, retired. Awful! It should be watched–happy to know that at least a few of the students were saved by legitimate schools & are now playing at accredited schools.
I heard Campbell Brown on the radio this morning promoting Facebook.
It’s remarkable how she transitioned from passionate anti-public and anti-labor union school advocate to passionate promoter of Facebook.
The pay is probably better marketing Facebook as compared to attacking public schools and labor unions.
We are also learning that we are
“Chasing a mirage”
Trapped in a thought
The stuff of our dreams
The life that we’ve bought
Is not what it seems
We chase a mirage
Forever receding
Elusive collage
That’s deeply deceiving
This is a working class area and we’re already seeing people in real distress – they missed two paychecks.
I’m not confident the Trump Administration or Congress understand how precarious family finances are.
They were barely making it WITH a paycheck. They’re going to fall hard.
In three weeks, they’ll get a thousand bucks. Problem solved. (sarcasm)
Members of Congress get $170k per year plus top medical insurance (regardless of how the economy is doing) and many of them are already very wealthy.
Many of them are completely oblivious to the plight of “ordinary” Americans. And a lot of them could not care less.
And ditto for members of Trumps cabinet
Here’s Fordham’s contribution to public schools in the crisis:
“As opposed to the real and immediate public-health risk posed by the new pathogen, the threat presented to our children by our mediocre education system is of a far more durable variety. It is not a crisis in any literal sense of the word. Rather, education’s dilemma is a chronic one. Think of the term as used in describing someone with chronic back pain or chronic indigestion. Back to Merriam-Webster, chronic is “continuing or occurring again and again for a long time.” After fifty years of subpar performance, today’s academic shortcomings metastasized long ago and are symptomatic of our education system.”
So helpful – thanks for the assistance, ed reform! What we really need now are 3000 more public school bashing op eds from anti-public school think tanks.
If all you have is a hammer….
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/chronic-condition-american-education
Author of Fordham’s piece- Dale Chu- oh, the irony.
Learning from This: Pandemics and Animal Agriculture
How did we get here? Well, the virus originated in a live animal food market. How did those animals get it? From bats. Same was true of MERS and SARS. Why these diseases from bats, now? Because of a) human encroachment on wild areas where bats live and b) disruption of bat habitat (roosting places in forest canopies/fruit trees) by climate change and pesticides. (Higher temperatures are doing a number on forest canopies, where bats like to roost.)
Most meat now comes from factory farms (CAFOs). 80 percent of the antibiotics we produce are given to animals in these “farms.” Eating meat from them creates antibiotic resistance. In the presence of these antibiotics, bacteria mutate to resist them, and viruses colonize the mutated bacteria. The farms themselves are breeding grounds for diseases that then pass from the animals to humans, as just happened with H1N1, from pig farms.
How do we stop this? STOP EATING OTHER ANIMALS. This will VASTLY decrease the danger to us and VASTLY increase wild animal habitat. 70 percent of all agricultural land is currently used to produce feed crops. When we eat animals, 90 percent of the original calories are lost because they were used in the life processes of the animal. So, if we went veg, we could VASTLY decrease the agricultural land necessary to produce the same amount of calories.
The current pandemic is going to be bad, really, really bad. But the next one is likely to be a lot WORSE unless we learn the lessons that this one is teaching us.
Or, we can make like Trump and deny all this until it’s too late.
We’re encouraging people to think for themselves. This amazing country became because of people who thought for themselves, thinking outside the box, not institutionalized.