Cultural Reset?

I just watched a video on twitter with a four-year-old girl complaining that the ice-cream truck is shut down, and MacDonalds is shut down, and the unfairness of it all. Her feelings are real. She speaks for so many of us. She is bored. Take-out food (her parents remind her that they can still get take-out from MacDonalds) doesn't cut it for this girl. She misses the play place and the music. Her parents remind her that they can't go to church either (not the first thing on this child's mind), and have to watch it on the TV. Yes, the child agrees, but she can't get the candy and prizes (and she elaborates) that they give out at church.

It reminds me of the parades that we used to attend in town. The whole reason that kids wanted to go was to pick up and collect (and later eat) the candy that the paraders threw onto the street. (It occurs to me that on non-parade days parents wouldn't usually let their kids pick up candy from the street.)

Social isolation from their friends is certainly something that kids have every reason to complain about. But I like to think that my inner four-year-old would be complaining about people not wearing masks and not following guidelines for social distancing BECAUSE that is what causes the virus to spread and for people to get sick. My inner four-year-old, who would be a little afraid about starting school when she turns five, would not want to enter a building where sickness could be lurking in the air because there are people in my town who believe that wearing masks would make them look like Democrats, and maybe even show that I didn't trust in the god that people say is supposed to protect us from things that might hurt us if I am "good."

It seems to me, from what I see and read on my computer, tablet, and phone from the house where I spent most of my time, that there are a lot people much older than four that seem to see the world the way this complaining four-year-old sees the world. "They" shut things down. "They" make rules about wearing masks. "They" tell me what to do.

These over-sized four-year-olds (and I include the current Republican president and his enablers) show exactly why America has lost credibility in the larger world. Responsible parents do their best to get their children to steer away from the cultural tendencies of selfishness and consumerism, but when other cultural factors that do not involve money or trade are not present in their lives, it is difficult to do.

When I was a teenager and a young adult, I used to think about the fact that all the things I cared about (music, art, books, nature) were kind of "extra" to the stuff that made the world work. It used to bother me a lot. I felt like an outsider. Now I embrace the things I learned, read, and experienced musically during my (relatively) isolated youth.

I like to believe that in this time of isolation, the greater "we" might be making ourselves ready for a cultural reset. Approaching the school year with the idea of universal remote learning, which would mean a lot of work for teachers (and, perhaps, more employment for people who might have retired from teaching, but could be called upon by school districts to help ease the load for teachers), would mean that we would reduce the spread of the virus significantly. State and local governments could make it possible for school districts to supply tablets to students who can't afford them, and make wifi centers (safe spaces with social distancing, responsible adults in charge, required masks, and filtered air systems) available for people who don't have internet connections. The federal government could help well, but I'm not going to hold my breath during this administration, and with this senate.

Students learning remotely could have required reading and writing (for various subjects) to do on their own time, and lessons for the day with various teachers could be archived so that students could go back to them. The teaching time of the school day could be reduced to three hours, and the student work time could take the rest of the day. It's not rocket science. And for two-parent households who can't work from home, government subsidies could be paid in order for one parent to remain at home with the kids. For single-parent homes there could be safe community spaces (large classrooms, libraries, gyms) where the students could take classes and do their work. Adults could be employed (and paid well) to "proctor" those spaces. That leaves teachers with the time and space to teach, grade homework, and prepare lessons. And those learning spaces could be spread across the community, so that one is a short walk for students.