MEDIUM RARE

Our Favorite Stories About Preparing for an Unpredictable School Year

In this week’s digest from the Medium Universe, educators and experts try to wrap their heads around the impending chaos

Each week on Medium Rare, I’ll be sharing stories you might have missed that are definitely worth a second look. Got a suggestion for a piece we should feature? Pop it in the responses below!

Much of the debate around reopening schools has been framed as an either/or problem: Either open schools, or keep them closed. But perhaps we should instead shape our decisions with a both/and approach. Shayla R. Griffin, PhD, MSW, who is an author, educator, and Black mother to school-age children, does a fantastic job of clearly and thoughtfully distilling the unique problems the education system is facing because of the Covid crisis. In her story “Some Students Should Go to School, Most Should Stay Home,” Griffin writes:

Here is the dilemma for those of us who care about equity, social justice, and science: there are (at least) two competing justice issues on the table — the risk of not having school for the students most marginalized, and the risk of schools spreading a deadly disease to the students and families who are most marginalized…