Ed. Frontlines: The New Education Language of COVID-19

By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK

English is not a static language. Yesterday’s dictionary lacks many new terms bantered about today. And old words gain new or added meanings. Semantic change picks up speed during times of upheaval and new or modified words are appearing daily just in the realm of education during this pandemic.

“State-ordered closure,” “state-recommended closure” and “closures determined at school/district levels” helped citizens wake up to the fact that education is a state right and responsibility. According to Education Week, 32 states have now waived their minimal number of hours or days of schooling.

“Distance learning,” “remote learning” or “continuous learning” plans were required by most states. Jurisdiction for these actions varied according to the various educational governance systems of each state. However, it rapidly became evident that requiring school districts to have plans does not mean that actual education continued for each student. But “better education through paperwork” has always been more about appearances than reality.

“Summer melt” is the traditional term for the loss in learning that occurs over the summer break. “COVID-melt” now refers to the far greater loss that will occur from an absence that is over twice as long as summer vacation—despite the attempts to provide distance learning.

“Re-acclimation” is the adjustment students make when they return to school in the fall. School usually normalizes by the end of the second week back. But prolonged absence combined with new health safeguards and fears of contagion suggests re-acclimation next fall will be much harder.

“Homeschooling” previously referred only to students voluntarily schooled at home by parent(s) in normal times. Now “homeschooling” is used for all parents quarantined at home with responsibility to help their students. They are not trained teachers. This is often little more than babysitting, despite the best of parental intentions.

“Truancy” was formerly failure of a student to attend school or homeschooling. Despite schools attempting to offer coursework online or by correspondence, up to 40 percent of students in some areas are now completely disconnected from any such learning connection. Some “absence” is due to inability to access digital services. But some students are homeless—couch-surfing or sleeping in cars. Attending school was their one remaining personal connection. And many more students simply do not respond to impersonal distance learning.

In regions lacking broadband service or digital devices, some teachers have resorted to education through lessons delivered via printed “packets.”  Some schools combine delivery and pick-up of lesson packets with meals distributed by school buses. This is a return of the old college  “correspondence courses” delivered by mail before the digital age. The completion rate of correspondence courses was about ten percent, a figure likely to reflect the success of this “new” methodology.

Very worrisome is the drop in reports of child mistreatment from physical abuse. Classroom teachers nationwide are legally mandated reporters of child abuse. But without in-school personal contact with the children, they cannot detect evidence of such abuse. With the home environment even more stressed, few professionals believe that mistreatment has really declined; just the ability to report it.

“Old people technology" is a new term for saving WORD documents and using e-mail. This younger generation of K–12 students are often not familiar with any technology that is not a smartphone app.  Since most current business relies on web-based workflow, this pandemic has revealed how schools assumed the new generation was tech-savvy and failed to teach the actual skills needed.

“If students satisfactorily complete their coursework, give them an ‘A’ and move on” has become a K–12 and university mantra, also called a “do no harm” approach to grading. The trend to discard test requirements such as the ACT and SAT has also accelerated. “Test optional” has become a legitimate way to ignore poor academics and pass the unqualified.

And “Zoom” has gone from a small child’s exclamation while playing with toy cars, to a desperate and often problematic medium for group communication—and sometimes a four-letter word.   

COVID-19 has serious medical consequences. But the educational damage may last longer.

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John Richard Schrock has trained biology teachers for more than 30 years in Kansas. He also has lectured at 27 universities in 20 trips to China. He holds the distinction of “Faculty Emeritus” at Emporia State University.