Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/a-call-to-transformative-dreaming/5025716/
*See the pdf version for additional photos and graphics.
Our education system is allergic to change and comfortable with oppression, so if the system is not physically and theoretically pushed to stay in the direction of progress, it will revert back to its obsolete purpose.”
–Bettina L. Love
In the early days of the pandemic, we found ourselves on the phone searching for answers and support. Teacher Bethica Quinn, who was then running an emergency program for essential workers, reached out to several of us. We frantically questioned, “Are masked teachers, “touchless” morning drop-off, and physical distance here to stay? What is this new reality? Do we have to accept it?”
During the blur of these Zoom calls, we would often question the effects of these new regulations on children, families and teachers. We were torn between our call to serve our communities, our financial needs and our moral commitments. With mixed emotions, we reopened our programs in the middle of a pandemic.
On one of our calls, Quinn remembered the fable of frogs placed into a pot of slowly warming water. According to the fable, frogs do not notice that the water is rising in temperature until it is too late to react. As ...