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The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted widespread loss and suffering 鈥� but Christopher Emdin believes it marks the beginning of a new and better era in American education.

鈥淭he pandemic has been heartbreaking 鈥� especially for Black and Brown people from urban areas, because they鈥檙e in more congested spaces, have less access to health care, and because they already have an underlying dysfunction in their neighborhoods related to asthma, pollution 鈥� and now comes the pandemic on top of racism,鈥� says Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education, during a feature of the public broadcasting platform NHK World Japan. 鈥淏ut in the midst of the dysfunction has been magic 鈥� because young folks have learned to be innovative and creative鈥� and because they don鈥檛 have to go to a school where the teachers don鈥檛 care about them and the system doesn鈥檛 love them.鈥�

That hiatus has been 鈥渁n opportunity for new beginnings 鈥� a reimagining,鈥� Emdin says. And while many people talk about things getting back to normal, 鈥渇or some of us, that means back to violence and racism.鈥�

Emdin goes on to sketch a vision of a world in which young people might only physically attend school two days a week, spend another day at an internship and still learn more than they were learning before schools began employing online technology as a way of life.

In the midst of the dysfunction has been magic 鈥� because young folks have learned to be innovative and creative鈥� and because they don鈥檛 have to go to a school where the teachers don鈥檛 care about them and the system doesn鈥檛 love them.

鈥擟hristopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education

鈥淲e have a model of schooling that hasn鈥檛 changed since the 1800s,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut there was no WiFi and internet in the 1800s, no remote teaching. Now we have those things, so now let鈥檚 have a school system that reflects the modern technology, the modern creativity and the modern imagination.鈥�