D-Nice the Education System
First things first; this is not your typical scholarly article. There is a purposeful collision of edu-speak, and how I would chat with friends at colleagues at a happy hour… because COVID. Conventional thinking is dead.
I consider myself a life-long student and educator. Though I’ve never been a traditional K-12 classroom teacher, my entire career has been dedicated to serving communities that have been historically and traditionally overlooked by public education. Many educators... F that... I, Michael Andrews, have acknowledged that public education; especially the traditional K-12 system has been remarkably and painstakingly stale for 40 years. The same school system that prepared boys for manufacturing & industrial work and girls for secretarial & administrative positions still, to this day, require kids to walk in single file, silent lines in hollow cement hallways; still prefer order & quiet over creativity & expression; and still disproportionately suspended black and brown boys & girls. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Hours after we recognized that we were going to be inside for the foreseeable future, knee-jerkingly, we all moved out of fear. We NEEDED to act. That desire, fueled by the fear of the unknown, led us to stay married to the news, yearning for connection, and planning for the following weeks. Parents of school age children panicked. We text each other begging for schedules, rubrics, and suggestions. We set plans for Monday, and blindly walked into the imaginary halls of our abandoned & quarantined buildings.
I was that parent. I stressed myself and my family out. I was like damn... what’s going to happen to my son’s college chances. My son’s in 8th grade. I was wildin! While all of this was happening, another shift was taking place. We were all wondering; WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? How do we eat? Where do I get my Optimus Prime mask with the duel exhaust filter? Are we just doomed to be INSIDE for weeks/months on end? The same panic we experienced towards our children’s education, we started to internalize for our personal and social needs. We didn’t know it, but we were all experience mild to moderate levels of trauma; the same trauma that many of our students and families face all year round.
We need radical change in education, fueled by passion and love for humanity, children, and communities: PERIOD! Das-it! We need to make sure our students and families, and teachers are OK; as humans first!
Insert non-sequitur transition…
Along comes D-Nice! The (NOW) world-renown creative, DJ & photographer. The hip hop community remembers and is familiar with D-Nice from his affiliation with KRS-ONE, his verse on Self Destruction, his DJ and his photography career. I was there on his first IG Live. There were 231 people on his LIVE that Saturday afternoon; at most. He played 7 hours of music... STRAIGHT; no break. He lifted our spirits, stayed true to his craft and never asked us for penny. He brought us joy! He did it in a way that was so humble and pure. He didn’t wait on the record label or a company. And he met the people where they were; at home, on Instagram. He relied upon his creativity and passion and LOVE of music to lead the people to joy. He created a community that appealed to our love and NEED for something that felt good: music.
What’s the correlation? I want... we need... communities need… educators to “D-Nice” the education system. (Yes, I’m using D-Nice as a verb).
If COVID has taught me anything, it’s that... none of this shit matters. Money doesn’t matter. The trip to Target. Our beef with our in-laws doesn’t matter. The ending of Sopranos doesn’t matter. Our degrees don’t matter. Our cars don’t matter. Our homes don’t matter. Because for the last 7 weeks, we haven’t been able to use any of it like we used to. What matters to me at this very moment is the spiritual wholeness and peace for my loved ones and family.
If the people, things, and experiences in your life are not providing you spiritual wholeness and peace, then what it is it all for?
If the people, things, and experiences in your life are not providing you spiritual wholeness and peace, then what it is it all for? Historically, schools have taken power and privilege away from many communities. The education industry has housed and taught our children in dilapidated buildings with no AC in the summer, and no heat in the winter; fed them bullshit lunches with moldy applesauce (can applesauce even mold, though); and have contributed to internalized inferiority complexes for black and brown students and students with intellectual & mental disabilities. In my former days as a poet, I learned that when you say a line 3 times... it hits harder. We can’t go back. We can’t go back. We can’t go back. We can’t go back to 35 kids in a 1st-grade class. Not because of COVID... but because WE ALL KNEW that shit wasn’t right in the first place. School has not been in session since March 13, and most of our kids will advance to the next grade. What is that telling us? We CLEARLY don’t have to do things the way they were done before; and we shouldn’t. We can’t go back!
Conventional thinking is dead. Conventional leadership is dead.
I know. Bleek, right? But there is a blessing in there somewhere. There is so much that we can shift and adjust to take advantage of during this mandated time away. The first thing we need to change: our mindset. We must shift from “school doesn’t work” to “schools can and should work.” The concept of convention is unnecessary and the fuel for fools. Here’s where my mind is right now, and some questions I am asking myself during this time. Here are my question about how we can D-Nice the education system!
Convention is unnecessary and the fuel for fools.
How are schools taking time to LISTEN to the needs, hopes, & dreams of families, teachers, and administrators.
(How)Will Districts avoid tone-deaf and knee jerk responses to future waves of Corona, pandemics, and other emergencies.
We have fire, hurricane, tornado, active shooter drills... What does a systemic pandemic drill and pandemic preparation look like?
Does school need to be 8am - 3pm every day: Monday - Friday?
What if we incorporated distance or non-traditional learning into the traditional schedule/calendar?
Each school needs its own tech department that is responsible for ensuring that each and every student (and teacher) have working and reliable access to the internet AND ALL OF THE NECESSARY CODES AND LINKS TO SOFTWARE AND APPS inside and outside of school
Educators in Curriculum divisions of school districts should create online and downloadable lectures and resources that are made available to students and families ALL. THE. TIME!
How can districts and schools create attendance/absence policies that are reflective and aligned with the make-up of ALL families; included students that may need to take care of siblings or other family members?
We’re advancing students to the next grade after missing more than a quarter of in-school instruction... because of the trauma that we are all in due to Corona, quarantine, and the death and destruction many of us have witnessed firsthand due to the disease. Listen. Some of our students are in this kind of trauma and distress all year round and have been for generations. We’ve learned that students DON’T HAVE TO BE IN THE SCHOOL BUILDING to learn if there is a system and resources to support and guide them. How will we create systems for the various students and families that will continue to be in trauma and distress during and after the quarantine ends?
How can Districts and schools learn from and/or partner with homeschooling families and experts to share resources advice, and strategies?
How do we ensure that we DON’T return to normal? How can we make sure that districts are paying teachers and educators what they deserve? How can we make sure that schools are flexible by choice for families and not by force or mandates?
With that said; I do not see an urgent need to return to business as usual post COVID. What’s the rush? I don’t see a need to rush our kids back to the figurative and literal hollow halls of school for the sake of convention. What we’ve seen since March 2020 is the system working overtime to right itself.
Now is our time, educators, parents, teachers, leaders, to change the narrative and start making our thoughts become the things that our students and families need. Because that bullshit before... wasn’t it.