The Hechinger Report - Chaos on college campuses

This is a weekly newsletter. Sign up for a free subscription, and invite a friend to subscribe.

View this email in your browser

Support for this newsletter comes from

A newsletter from The Hechinger Report

Share

Forward

By Delece Smith-Barrow

As August comes to an end, there are two things much of America is focused on right now.

One is education. Which colleges are allowing in-person learning and which are suddenly moving classes online, sometimes after students have crisscrossed the country moving into dorms? Which school districts are going all-in online and which are offering hybrid models for learning? Keeping track has become a full-time job.

The second is the presidential election. And if you watched the Democratic National Convention last week, or the Republican National Convention this week, you know both parties are especially focused on if and how schools can open during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Usually I would use this space to report on the news around these topics, but this week I’m taking a break from the newsletter. My colleagues have done an excellent job in capturing the chaos around learning and exploring why election season is an opportunity to think about diversity in school leadership, and I’d like to share two opinion columns with you.

Hechinger’s editor in chief, Liz Willen, recently described how disorganized the fall semester has been for institutions around the country which are trying, and failing, to bring students back to campus.

“The University of Notre Dame changed course on Tuesday as cases grew, suspending in-person classes for at least two weeks. Michigan State told undergraduates who were ready to move in not to bother,” Willen wrote.

And my colleague Andre Perry makes a strong case for why educators should support more women in becoming leaders at public schools, especially when a woman of color is the Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

“We need more women with ambition to take leadership positions in education if we truly want to uproot the kind of sexism now aimed at our first Black and Asian-American vice-presidential nominee and teach our kids that the upper reaches of power are not a male-only domain,” Perry wrote.

With such an unpredictable school year ahead of us, overlapping what could be a history-making election season, now seems as good a time as any to think hard about what’s working and what’s not in education, at all levels. I hope these columns push you to think carefully.

How should colleges and universities determine where students learn this school year? And what can schools do to encourage more women of color to become leaders in education? Email or tweet me your thoughts.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you?
Click here to subscribe!

The Hechinger Report - Chaos on college campuses

Older messages

What will education look like this fall?

California has the most Latinos, but most don’t have a degree

What will the school year look like?

Proof Points: Coronavirus school budget cuts

Tuition insurance for Covid-19

You Might Also Like

🤝 I swore I’d never own a business…

Knot-tying, frost-fighting, and AI cognition strategies

Insight into Health

AI for marketing courses?

KU & 99c Humor Fiction 🔸 Vincible: A New Adult Comedy by Jay Jameston

Can You Love the Art but Hate the Artist?

Bombs Away! (Cat Version)

🧙‍♂️ Your community roadmap

Closes 3/16 • Authors • Spring Into Reading Book Promo • Email Newsletter + FB Group Posts & More

You Can't Trust Email Open Rates.