the pandemic, the social, and our students

 

the social calls

the pandemic reverberates:

much of who we are as a species is social,

and much of the social was just denied to us,

we need to learn other people

so that we can truly learn ourselves,

we need context, interaction,

the clarifying of who we are

by who we are not,

and then by an expansion of who “we” can be,

we can be physically born in to a family,

the air both literally and metaphorically 

colder than the embracing womb,

yet the family can still hold us, protect us,

then we need the other, not our family,

against whom to interact, with whom to interact,

and the pandemic denied much of that trial by fire,

 the relationship with friends, with acquaintances, 

can support the best in us

there is give-and-take as we figure out the other

and maybe then we can figure out ourselves,

in our schools we have lost time and opportunity for the academic,

yet what our students need even more

is time, opportunity, and guidance for the social evolution of ourselves,

most obvious for the pre-schoolers,

then for the elementary grades,

intensely in the middle grades, and profoundly in high schoolers,

academic skills are vital, but the social is even more vital,

the pandemic reverberates:

we need to answer that driving rhythm 

with the call and response of our own social drumming.

by Henry H. Walker

November 1, ‘22