#BT Column – Chaos reigns supreme

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Julia Hanschell

Here we are starting 2021 with online learning, which once again, is not going to work for a majority of students. Be in no doubt that the word ‘majority’ is pivotal.

Let’s examine the myriad of obstacles – and forgive me for the disconsolate cynicism with which I write. The truth, as I understand it to be, is a cause for national concern.

Surely by now we should have devised meaningful, pragmatic and organized solutions to the educational issues which have existed for almost an ENTIRE year?

Rhetorical question.

Access to a stable internet connection (national joke) and having a learning device, remain a serious problem for many students. The fact is: laptops are what are needed for serious work.

Kudos to those who have donated tablets so that students without devices can access learning. However, in too many cases, these have been ‘acquired’ by family members for their own purposes and the student goes without; in cases even reporting it ‘lost’. Penalty? None that can be enforced. Scores of children fall through these cracks.

So, let’s just give them another free one and repeat ad infinitum.

Were all loaned tablets recalled in July, checked and re-distributed as working units in September, with parents held accountable?

Rhetorical question.

All Principals choose how to use the human resources at their disposal. Be assured, there are human resources at their disposal.

If only School Boards still had some power to demand accountability. They used to, but they have none now, in case you were wondering.

For the fortunate who own laptops and can access online classes, well, they need to show up. As do their teachers.

With videos and microphones available, and both dressed presentably for work, at a place in their home that is suitable to be seen.

If a class is 45 minutes long, it needs to be taught for at least 40 minutes, not five. How many students are ready to learn? How many teachers are waiting in vain?

How many students are told to turn off cameras and microphones and join a blind class with an invisible teacher? Many. Excuses abound.

Supervision of teachers? Unknown. Principals have the power. Oops, sorry, I mean the Teachers’ Unions.

We can count on the fact that few do what is expected, without being inspected.

Anyone inspecting before monthly salaries are paid from the taxpayers’ purse? Any transparency or accountability? Rhetorical question. Supervision of students learning at home? Unknown.

Children seldom choose work over play. Are parents even aware of their children’s shenanigans? Rhetorical question. Even when a parent is home, are there rules and expectations in place?

Is an adult checking that a student is not playing a game while they have their image recorded on a loop so that they appear to be in class?

Or when taking a test, that they are not playing the loop while Googling the answers? Is a student even awake or in the room, with camera and microphone off (as instructed) while the teacher is talking (maybe) unable to see students?

Rhetorical question.

How many parents check their child’s online ‘history’ to see what they were actually doing and when?

Rhetorical question.

Don’t let’s even ask if parents check class/homework assigned.  Potentially a whole generation is falling through
the cracks.

No reason to prepare for exams. We are all holding our breath while CXC’s silence is deafening.

Best case scenario, we only lose 11+, Form 5 and Form 6 year-groups with the, ‘oh well’ suggestion, that they repeat this year completely. Has anyone woken up to this possibility yet?

However, let’s examine a best-case scenario. Student has great laptop and internet connection. Teacher is visible to the class and vice versa.

Teaching and learning happen. Student self-manages distractions well. Documents are emailed for completion. Platforms may vary. As I hear constantly ‘My child is brilliant with technology.’

Student downloads document. Then what?

Organisation has to kick in – which as we all know, is seldom inherent and not taught in schools and supported
by few parents.

So the download folder is jammed and disorganised, eventually deleting oldest documents. No desktop folders are set up by subject, no sorting system or storing of material happens.

Many cloud resources are available and the ‘brilliant with technology’ child doesn’t gravitate to a single one, to ensure they have work safely stored and accessible. Far less entertain the idea that their laptop/device could crash and everything be lost.

Why? Because getting organized and seeing beyond the present moment takes time and often, support. And what parents seem to dislike more than anything else – their involvement through painful supervision. Bearing in mind that not all parental ability is created equal either.

The truth terrifies me. All I can see are widening cracks and children falling through them en masse.

The point we have not collectively arrived at yet, is FEAR.

Mary Shelly wrote, “Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”  I am sick of this senseless chaos.

Every single one of us needs to start taking personal responsibility. NOW.

Julia Hanschell can be contacted on smartstudying @gmail.com.