The Hechinger Report - Chaos on college campuses

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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.

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The Hechinger Report - Chaos on college campuses

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