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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
⬤ THE EDUCATION ISSUE
9.13.20
chool in the United States is nowhere near
normal this fall. Most students are not walking
through schoolhouse doors, sitting at desks next
to their classmates or meeting their new teach-
ers face to face. They’re at home, trying to learn
through screens. (This is even more likely to be
the case if the students live in cities or suburbs.)
If they’re lucky, they have a laptop or a tablet and
a fast internet connection — the bare minimum
that remote education requires. If not, they may
be cut off from school through no fault of their
own or of their families. According to the Cen-
ter on Reinventing Public Education, a nonpar-
tisan research group, students in high-poverty
districts are the most likely to start the year with
fully remote learning.The debate over what form school should
take this fall foundered amid political division
and uncertainty. In early August, as teachers
raised safety concerns about reopening and
education offi cials struggled with inconclu-
sive and constantly changing public-health
guidance, President Trump tweeted ‘‘OPEN
THE SCHOOLS!!!’’ It was a blanket statement,
made with no consideration of where or how
reopening could be attempted with reason-
able risk, based on the local rate of coronavirus
cases and testing. The Trump administration
also threatened to take federal funding from
schools that did not reopen rather than off er-
ing more assistance for the preparation and
precautions the pandemic demands.
The risk of coronavirus outbreaks has been
the primary concern. But shutting school and
going remote will also infl ict a serious cost, borne
by students: a loss of learning and social-emo-
tional development. In Los Angeles, for instance,
kindergarten enrollment has plummeted this fall,
a drop that school offi cials attribute to the diffi -
culty families have supporting online learning
full time at home, which is what young children
need. ‘‘Once schools shuttered in the early daysof the pandemic, educators quickly discovered
the possibilities and limits of distance-learning
technologies,’’ notes Justin Reich, director of
the M.I.T. Teaching Systems Lab and author of
the book ‘‘Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology
Alone Can’t Transform Education,’’ which will
be published this month. ‘‘Months later, it is
obvious that the bright points of learning tech
are substantially off set by the loss of schools as
places for camaraderie, shelter, nutrition, social
services, teaching and learning. Many things that
happen in schools simply cannot happen at a
distance.’’ We brought together fi ve experts to
talk about the lasting impact of this extended and
unprecedented period of upended education.Left: Michael Wilson for The New York Times. Opening pages and right: Angie Smith for The New York Times.Wyoming High School, Wyoming, Ohio
Lunch is eaten outdoors and with social distancing.S
Over several weeks in August and September,
The New York Times Magazine photographed
students, school faculty and staff during
the opening days of the 2020 school year.
The images capture the wide variety in
learning environments around the country.
Opening pages: Pocatello High School,
Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho
From left, Yessenia Tinno, 15, Jenikka Foster, 16,
and Alexia Tinno, 17, doing their schoolwork
at home. They chose remote learning instead
of attending classes in person.