65

Black families are enjoying remote learning because it spares them the microaggressions of in-class learning. That makes sense to me. The New York Times article this morning doesn’t say remote learning is better overall than in-person instruction, but it does make clear that remote learning lessens one big obstacle: discrimination.

This thought reminds me of my grandson who is 10 and living in Morocco. At a private school in Fez, he felt discriminated against because his mother was American. The other kids called his mother a “pig-eater.” It didn’t matter that my grandson himself is Muslim; the kids found a way to make him feel less-than. In the abstract, the scene made me laugh. In the personal, I saw how lonely my grandson felt.

I have no doubt that what the black families are saying is absolutely true. As a volunteer librarian in an all-black public elementary school, my very presence was a micro-aggression. The hidden message was, Your community doesn’t have the wherewithal to provide library services, so we white ladies will give you library services.

The fine points of inadequate state school funding and who was behind that decision is lost on a bunch of seven-year-olds. The school was so old and dilapidated that, after years of complaints, the district had to spend money to overhaul the building, remove asbestos, change out lead pipes, and remediate for mold. Construction went on while school was in session. Loud banging, roaring power tools, plastic divider walls, dirt and dust everywhere, all while the kids were supposed to be learning. The seven-year-olds rebelled: the kids ran around their classroom yelling, toppled desks, jumped on top of other desks, grabbed stuff from their classmates, and made some kids cry. The teacher sat in a chair at the back of the room and looked the other way. The nice white ladies who were trying to read a story out loud gave up. I found myself physically restraining a tiny boy who was running around the room; I realized as I held him, heard his heavy breathing and felt his pounding heartbeat, that I was way out of my league and had better get myself out of there. It required the entrance of the principal and a policeman to bring order to the class. And we white ladies went home.

Does remote learning sound preferable? It certainly does. I won’t presume to speak for black families and the insults they have to endure. But I went home and told my white son and his wife, don’t send your kids to public school; home-school! (That’s a verb, and I volunteered to help with the home schooling.)

Now remote learning is becoming by necessity an alternative. And maybe it is a viable alternative. It presents a myriad of new problems, but if I were a young parent, black or white, I’d take on these new challenges rather than endure the old challenges.

My grandson is getting remote instruction in Morocco and he loves it. It sounds like a fiasco as far as education goes – the internet connection is faulty, the teachers aren’t prepared, and the materials aren’t available --, but he’s happy. That’s something. That’s an important something.