Trying to Imagine

One of my favorite Chicago Tribune columnists, Heidi Stevens, wrote a moving piece on the Abundant Life Christian School Shooting this week.  She focused on the contrast of schoolchildren in their holiday pajamas being escorted from a crime scene. Her refrain, “I’m trying to imagine…,” repeatedly hammers home the senselessness of these avoidable tragedies. Two lines particularly hit home for me:

I’m trying to imagine what it would take for policymakers to stop wasting their time and ours arguing about trans athletes or what parts of U.S. history can be taught or whether rainbow flags are allowed in classrooms or whether dictionaries (dictionaries!) should be allowed in school libraries and start doing the hard, morally imperative work of protecting kids from guns, their No. 1 killer.

I’m trying to imagine how in the world we continue to justify this setup. (chicagotribune.com)

But there is no way to justify this set-up. “Thoughts and prayers” do not stop the shootings. They do not protect schoolchildren from frightening live shooter drills that unfortunately remain necessary. They do not repair the trauma students face, especially those who’ve endured such fear both in public school and again in college.

And not to be too gloomy, but this is only one of the pressing issues plaguing schools today.

Free public education serves not only students and their families – it is the path to an informed citizenry with self-efficacy. But schools struggled to meet that need before the pandemic, and they generally haven’t become more successful since. We know much of what we need to do. Why do we settle for failure?

What would a 2025 that showed progress for schools and their communities look like? So many changes are overdue. I used to tell my students that “If I ruled the world” – getting groans aplenty – what I would do in situations. I don’t rule the world, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting things to improve.

My initial 2025 Education Wishlist, in no particular order, no doubt missing some important pieces:

Gun control/keeping kids safeSupport for students: mental health, behavioral issues, attendance problemsSupport for teachers dealing with the aboveA continuing and even greater shift to student-centered classrooms with hands-on learningFocus on critical thinking and lifelong learningA continued emphasis on STEM skills without displacing the HumanitiesCommunities within schoolsCommunities that support their schools and respect their teachersPositive [not overbearing] parental involvementRemoving the culture wars from education and focusing on real learning

With gratitude to Heidi Stevens, I’m trying to imagine a country where we summon the will to make these changes, hard and time-consuming though they will be. I’m trying to imagine a world where teaching and learning thrive in an environment free of fear. I’m trying to imagine an American people who care enough to make that happen.