The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning by Alec MacGillis, in The New Yorker & ProPublica

Photo of Alec MacGillisMany of you know Alec MacGillis, a regular at First & Franklin Presbyterian Church. On Monday, September 28, The New Yorker published a piece he wrote about a young person he met at our church. Before long, Alec became this young person’s mentor. I think you will find his thinking lucid, challenging, and heartfelt. Here is how he introduced the article on his Facebook page:

This past spring, I realized quickly how disastrous remote learning would be for many kids, through the vantage of one of the kids I’ve been working with in recent years. I saw how lost he was without the anchor of actually going to school, and also saw how invisible he and other kids were becoming, more invisible than ever, as the rest of us hunkered down, with full license to turn inward. I assumed that my agitation on the subject would become moot, that schools would reopen by fall in the places where cases had declined. I was wrong. In countless cities, kids in public school are not actually going to school, while many kids in private school are, which, let’s face it, is like something from a different part of the world or a different time. Here, for ProPublica and this week’s New Yorker, is the story of how we got here, and what it all means for kids like this one, and for the future of public education in America.

Read more at The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning