Reimagine and Rebuild

Re-opening the economy is the topic on everyone's mind it seems. Some want to force the issue through protests that include bringing guns to state capitols. Nazi and Confederate flags show up interspersed with American flags and MAGA hats making one wonder if any of these scholarly folks have any real concept of the meaning or history of these symbols? That's where we are in this country, as thousands of people die each day from this virus.

We've also heard from Andrew Cuomo, Governor of NYS, talking in some different terms. He's asking people to think about something a bit more complex than just re-opening and thinking they can go back to things as they were. He's pointing out that we need to view things more critically relative to our current plight and give thought to reimagining and rebuilding before we reopen. He's getting a lot of heat and a lot of pushback for what he's saying. Some of it is fair and some isn't. The reality is though that change is always hard.

I've had my own issues with Gov. Cuomo over the years. He has authoritarian tendencies. He can be aloof and speak down to people. He can also be extremely rigid in his approach to issues and his response to critics. He tends to be a 'my way or the highway' type of guy. His jokes can be pretty lame too. So I understand the negative reaction he sometimes gets. On this point however, I think he's right. If this pandemic has shown us anything, it's that we weren't ready for a crisis of this magnitude. It has also shown us that same old, same old won't work.

The strongest pushback he's gotten is on the concept of reimagining education in NYS and probably the entire country. Is traditional classroom style learning the best or only way to learn? Can we continue to afford the infrastructure of buildings, equipment and more? Similar questions are also being asked throughout various business sectors i.e. tourism, entertainment, food service, manufacturing, retail and health care. This is because we have the potential of something like this happening again.

But reimagining education and thinking about all the change that would be necessary is scary for many and as we know, change is generally very difficult. This is especially the case when we're looking at a model that has existed for centuries. The reality is though that pre-K, K-12 and College learning really should be looked at in terms of why things should continue as they are currently structured.

Obviously there are some huge challenges with bringing this type of change about. This, however, is the time to start the process. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of internet access to every home in NYS. Governor Cuomo and other politicians would have us believe that feat has been accomplished but it hasn't really happened the way it needs to. There are still many homes without high speed, uninterrupted internet access. That would have to change almost immediately which would be a good thing. It's unacceptable that so many homes and businesses are without this necessary service today. Parents and children still sit in parking lots or go to Public Libraries just to get access for homework assignments. It's no way to treat citizens and it needs to be corrected asap.

There's lots of discussion about how different and how difficult online teaching and learning is for everyone involved. The thing we should remember is that we were forced into our current situation. There was little time to train or even figure out how learning and teaching would take place. But teachers, parents and students have forged ahead and innovation is out there taking place every day. We need to learn from that and encourage new thinking and practices.

Post secondary education is a real challenge. Much of our approach to College is cultural. Choices need to be made about the importance of the campus life experience vs education. There are many people - students, parents and educators who will argue endlessly about the critical importance of the 'experience'. Yes it's nice, it's fun, it's a part of growing up, etc. but is it all that necessary for a good education. These are radical ideas for some people, but it seems they need to be discussed now at a time when we see the chaos that pandemics can bring.

So reimagining things can be helpful. We just need the courage to do it and encourage it, to throw resources at it and to create discussions that help people see things as they could be. We need to rebuild, so let's reimagine and do it better and smarter.