Back to School, Huh?

Each fall, American schools open their doors to kids and adults anticipating the next chapter in their lives. For students, it’s a time of wonder and hope–wondering what the new grade or school will offer and hoping for success and for familiar faces in class. For families, this is a time of signing up for all the things, shopping for clothes and supplies, and coordinating the logistics of it all. For teachers, this is a time of countless hours of “PD” and trying to get their room just right for the students that will inhabit it. For administrators, this is a time of check-ins, deadlines, and prepping for the big day. And then, when the big day finally comes, the main goal is to get kids in and accounted for, fed, and back home safely. A mixture of culture-building, reviewing the previous year’s content, and easing into the content and realities of new grades and school levels all happen in those first days and weeks.

From my vantage point, this year’s “back to school” time is a completely out-of-body experience; it’s the first time in 12 years that I’m not returning to school as a teacher or leader in a building, and it’s the first time I haven’t returned to school since I began my formal schooling experience in pre-K. Arguably, this year’s back to school time may just be an out-of-body experience for all of us.

For students globally, but specifically in America, the opening of school doors this Fall echoes something too familiar and far too invidious. Coming out of last school year, teacher dissatisfaction and flight from the profession were both at an all time high. This can be attributed to many things, but a few that stand out circle around pay, respect (working conditions), and an overall shifting perspective on the profession. Coupled with the continued impacts and realizations of a life “post-Covid,” we find ourselves mired in negativity surrounding what “schooling” means, how to improve educational outcomes, and ways to change what we know as life trajectories. 

For this year’s high school seniors, their high school experience has been anything but normal. And, as a teacher-leader who was blessed to have taught the class of 2023 in 4th and 5th grades (both in Atlanta, GA) and 7th and 8th grades (both in Newark, NJ), I personally empathize with them in ways I likely won’t process for years to come. Their freshman year of high school was brought to a halt when schools closed in Spring 2020. Their sophomore year was a mix of fully virtual and hybrid models. Their junior year was riddled with school closures, quarantines, and overall inconsistencies in learning outcomes and pacing calendars. Now, in their senior year, we can only hope they are able to taste a bit of “normalcy.” However, is that even what we really want? 

“Normal” in their high school years has been a flurry of fear caused by a sharp increase in gun violence in schoolsabetted by a lack of meaningful Congressional legislation related to gun violence prevention. “Normal” in their high school years has been a ruckus of the post-woke culture of the summer 2020 racial awakening, quickly juxtaposed with the now seemingly endless CRT wars, witch-hunts, and debates. “Normal” in their high school years has been a debacle of political unrest and distrust due to our nation’s leaders being unable to grapple with vestiges of old and the pure lies of the present day. 

For some students, the return to school is akin to returning to the scene of a crime.

It is and will forever be marked as the place where things shifted, and not always for the better. For others, however, it’s the place where hope still lives and the promise of a better tomorrow is still believed. Pre-2020, normal meant that some kids got “fussed at for not having a pencil,” shaming and blaming them for things beyond their control. Normal once meant zero-tolerance laws that ostracized and polarized communities already suffering at the hands of the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2019 and in years before, normal meant having a “lens” for equity that typically resulted in questionable DEI commitments. Pre-pandemic, normal also meant the complete standardization of schools and outcomes, regardless of race, location, demographics, and resources.

I often ask myself: Is “getting back to normal” what we really want and need? 

In the midst of the reckoning we’re in, “getting back to normal” would be getting back to what this popular image thought it was doing to promote equity. At first glance, it seemed like a step in the right direction. Yet there was still a clear and obvious barrier (the fence/systemic barriers) for those on the “outside” of the game being played. 

However, with a second iteration, this image grew to highlight liberation in education as a means for the removal of all barriers for all people to play at their own level. It then seemed like we could finally have a strong analogy and imagery for the direction we should be headed in this everlasting game.

Thankfully, a final go at this popular image came and we can now “insert” our own idea. For me, the future of education means that those once left out are no longer spectators of the game idly waiting for a fly-ball to pop them in the head, but are instead sitting in the stands if they should so choose. The future of education and this “game” means that those once marginalized and ostracized by the “system” are now players in the game and rule-makers and enforcers (umpires) if they should so choose. I challenge anyone reading this and all folks returning to school to ask the question: What are we going “back” to?

We can, if we so choose, look towards the coming year with a glimmer of hope for what can and should be for our nation’s youth. The future of learning is well within reach, and is both legally and practically tangible, with many enabling and facilitative processes already at play. Our nation does have the ability to change course and make things better, once and for all. Federal policy priorities around competency-based education have been outlined and states have the wherewithal to take action. All of this is of course contingent upon the many elections taking place this coming November which will set the stage for years and generations to come. Maybe instead of having an “equity lens,” we can instead have a non-removable “eye for equity” and learner-centeredness in all aspects of education. Instead of being standardized to the detriment of many, we can finally embark upon deeper and more meaningful learning for all, coupled with student-centered teaching, assessments, and curricula.

The constant internal question should be: Is what I’m doing right now pushing our “game” of school back to what it was, or am I forging a path for finalized educational liberation for all?

When the first day finally comes for you and your household, we will all snap the ceremonial rite of passage photo to indicate successful transition into the “next” phase. Look up! Say cheese! 📸😁

*** All images courtesy of Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire interactioninstitute.org + madewithangus.com. ***