School, education, daily life
The daily number of Corona confirmed in Korea as of midnight on August 16. This number has changed a lot once again. Social distance between Seoul and Gyeonggi Province has been upgraded to level 2 for two weeks, and my plans for the second semester have all gone wrong. August 21st is the opening day of our school. And August 20th is the day that the education office said it would send a new policy on starting school. The school where I work decided to increase the number of school trips once a week in the first semester to three from the second semester after a survey of parents and teachers. The schedule and method have already been informed by the home correspondence. But what can we do? The situation has changed, but we can’t push ahead with the decision that has been made. No official letter has come yet, but my intuition tells me.
I was wrong to meet the children in the second semester, too.
Earlier this year, I didn’t expect the situation to be this serious or longer. But the name of the virus, which travels across the continent in humans, has worn out and worn out so long that I have heard it so much that I don’t want to use it again. The economy is said to have faltered, and the paradigm of life has shifted. But the biggest change I feel as a teacher is that my daily life is no longer a routine. For a teacher, daily life is spending a day in a noisy classroom, welcoming children every morning. It is my daily routine to prepare for the next day’s class in a state of a sharp neck and soul after I let the children go home from school. But on March 2, 2020, I was deprived of that routine. On March 2, the opening day of school started on March 16 and April 6, acting was repeated and online. In order to communicate with parents who are anxious due to the prolonged closure of school and to find out information about their children, most schools conducted extensive parental phone consultations. I talked to my parents about my classmates who I’ve never met. The call lasted for 10 minutes at the earliest and two hours at the longest. After a long two-week counseling marathon, I felt somewhat uncomfortable. In order to find its source, I recorded a counseling diary and recalled the stories I had with my parents. And I realized. Many children’s daily lives have collapsed. If a teacher’s daily life is to meet and teach children, what is their daily life? It is to attend classes, play with friends, eat school meals, go back home, do homework, and prepare for tomorrow again. This daily life includes social growth through teachers and friends, acquisition of essential knowledge, balanced nutrition, and the formation of basic living habits. It’s not just a class, it’s not just fun to play with friends or teachers.
Our children were taken away together from this important routine as of March 2.
The question is what replaced the stolen routine with.
As I said before, I was deprived of my daily life as a teacher. But I found a new routine at school. It was to plan, film, edit and upload online class videos. I listened to training about video editing and studied classes with my fellow teachers to relieve my depression and stress. I am an adult, have a sense of responsibility and duty as a professional, and have the ability to adapt to the changed situation. So I replaced my daily life in a given environment with satisfaction. Can children do the same? Unfortunately, it is not easy for a child to properly replace his or her daily routine. Usually it is up to the guardian, not the child. For example, one of my classmates reads two to three books a day, as many as three or four books, and talks about books every evening with his family. Mathematics is solving workbooks and filling the current educational gap through video and English. I felt sorry for not being able to do this, even though the voice of the parents who said so was still lacking. Meanwhile, another parent was filled with baby cries over the phone, and tiredness and desperation were smeared in the words of hope that school would open soon. Most of the homes were where students spent time watching television and playing games, and quite a few parents said they didn’t answer the phone at all or didn’t know about their child’s condition. It is not right to distinguish bad parents from good ones. Most parents want to give their children the best way they can, the best way they have. It is just that the “best” and “best way” of each parent’s choice will change due to economic leeway, social circumstances and personal values. Therefore, it is not desirable to set an ideal parent award and apply it hastily to all parents. However, differences arise nonetheless. And the difference is revealed through children. That’s the reality that I can’t help but face as a teacher.
Not long ago, I saw articles in daily economic newspapers about the drop in the lower ranks of middle-class students and the learning gap caused by online classes. He also realized that not only low-income families but also children from dual-income families have poor care, leading to learning deficits in learning. At a time when school is not available and outside life is limited, children’s educational experience is entirely up to each family. neglect, respect, oppression, autonomy, learning deficits, prior learning. Depending on which parent you have, or whether you have a guardian, you have a very different experience, and you have different daily lives.
Many things in life naturally take root in us through our daily lives. That’s the terrifying power of everyday life. Some students may still get up early, eat breakfast, take online classes, and build emotional ties with their families. However, someone’s daily routine may be to wake up late, eat cup noodles, watch YouTube or play games, then fall asleep late at night watching their phones. The longer the duration of different daily lives is, the greater the difference in experience will accumulate, creating a greater difference between personality and intelligence. And it may become entrenched in the form of economic/social inheritance. It cannot be said that the existing public education system is perfect. A perfect education may be like a rainbow that can’t be caught from the outset, as it varies from person to person and from generation to generation. Corruption and follow-up, mannerism and closed culture. There are also parts that need to be improved and replaced. Nevertheless, public education is necessary because it is an important platform for all children to receive minimal educational experience. No matter what situation you are in, no matter what parent you have, you should be able to get the minimum amount of knowledge you need for career choices through school. They should have the opportunity to enjoy culture, develop sensibility, and cultivate basic civic awareness to live as a member of society. That is what I think is the real role of public education. The road, which was not easy in nature, has become more remote due to the daily routine taken away.
Find the meaning of school where there is no school, and realize the importance of daily life where daily life is lost.
a daily economic newspaper article I read not long ago.