Meanderings

Return to Schools: I’m not sure sending kids back to school without proper preparation is a good idea. The teachers are wary of their own safety. Parents are wary of their kids’ safety. Safety via health, not shooting or injury safety.

If they don’t go back to school, how will the schools educate the kids? Do they know how by using remote/virtual technology? Do they really? And do the kids respond effectively to this methodology? Are they learning? Are they retaining what they have learned? 

And parents, are they able to support and advance their kids’ education by engaging in the process? Have they been trained? Is the process intuitive and easy to follow? Do they have time to do this, learn how, support the day to day routine with the kids, and so forth? Really? Is anyone teaching parents how to do this?

Speaking of which, is anyone truly teaching the teachers how to pivot to these new teaching methods? Are they confident the lessons are achieving desired ends?

Even if kids are scheduled to attend schools 1 or 2 days a week, and then the rest of the time spent at home with remote methods, how does the family adjust to this schedule? Are the parents at home to do this? Are they working, one or both? If one, does the stay-at-home parent know how to do what is needed from him/her to make the kids’ education feasible? And if both are at work, how does the family manage the kids being home and needing personal attention to properly engage learning? 

What about single parent homes?

If the economy is not back to work, how can schools be back to work while the kids are at home alone?

Perhaps the unemployed could help here? But then, what about COVID and its spread? And grandparents? What about the COVID threat to them?

How ever will we get through all of this?

Using Time Wisely: I have had at least four months of time to think about the future. Time to see what may lie ahead. I can study my navel only so long when I run into the reality of idleness. We, idle!? Preposterous. We have been busy nearly every hour of every day for decades, and now we are idle? Well, not really.

In my case I read a lot, scan internet information sources, and write a daily blog. This blog. I’ve been at it for 9 years. The arc of the blog reflects the arc of life in these United States. Writing about events or conditions is one thing. Exploring ideas in many arenas is another. Finding fault or blame is just another way of understanding an issue and its relatedness to other issues.

The real work begins later. That work attempts to identify what we should do about current issues. How do we handle what we don’t like? What should be happening? What outcomes do we think ought to be emerging? Then, how to we make those outcomes happen? How do we spread the information and understanding to more people so others can support our direction forward? What resources will be needed by which organizations – businesses, governments, agencies, charities – to do the work?

If I don’t like my career, what career should I be moving toward? Does it even exist? If not, how do I invent the new one? Who can help me? What disciplines do I need to master to make the new normal happen?

Am I using my time wisely? Have I made progress with my life? If not, why not? And now what must I do about that? I have the time available. Now to use it.

Unemployment: rampant. Consistent. Lowest paid jobs went first, then came back first, but at high risk to the workers. The jobs are service oriented. Without those jobs many businesses and service agencies simply could not function. On the other hand, the workers are not masters of their own destiny. They are at the beck and call of every supervisor, employer and manager. They do the bidding of others because that is the nature of their tasks. Needed tasks. Must be done tasks. Or the organization they work for has no use or value.

When will meaningful employment for these folks return? What can they do in the meantime to shape a new future for themselves where they have more control over their destiny? Who can help them in this process, this re-invention of self? I’m asking here for 25 million people? Or more?

July 22, 2020