The Ongoing Saga of Impossible Expectations

 

The public is nothing if not consistent.

Howard County has been trapped for over a week under snow which soon became ice, better known as “snowcrete.” Ongoing low temperatures have made it excruciatingly difficult to remove.

Yet so many folks are irate that schools didn’t open “yesterday.” I saw one post about how there was no reasonable justification for closing schools “simply for cold weather.”

Please give this person all the variables and constraints and make them come up with a workable plan “yesterday.” We talk a lot in early childhood education about logical consequences. That’s what this armchair critic needs, I think.

This particular kind of response is related to so many others when it comes to schools. 

Have you ever seen snow like this? 

No.

Have you ever struggled to remove snow like this? 

No.

BUT…Schools should have handled this already.

This sounds a lot like the early days of COVID-19, doesn’t it?

Have we ever encountered an illness like this? 

No.

Do we have a vaccine and adequate public health precautions?

No.

BUT…Schools should have handled this already.

If the public expects schools to be magically prepared at all times for challenges that haven’t ever happened before and for which no immediate solutions exist, then…

I’m taking a deep breath here.

Okay. I can think of only two conclusions to that sentence. 

1. …they will always be setting up schools to fail.

2. …no one in the school system is making anywhere near enough money for that kind of treatment.

There are people for whom school closures mean actual harm. When schools are closed, some children don’t eat. Some may have no adult supervision when caregivers have no options. Medically fragile children and those with complex special needs lose so much.

In most cases, the people lecturing online about the inadequacies of snow removal do not represent those vulnerable populations. The tone of their lectures leans very much towards “Do you know who I am?” and/or “I pay your salary!” 

Still, public education is for everyone, even the self-important ingrates. Or rather, it is for all children. Public education is not like room service that the privileged are entitled to receive merely by snapping their fingers.

For those of you who are Very Important People with Very Important Jobs: just do what you’d tell your underlings to do. Roll up your sleeves and come up with a workable plan and then do the work. Not so easy? Why didn’t you have this handled yesterday?

“Don’t you know who I am?”

Rest assured that, after your testy tirades on social media, we absolutely do know who you are.

Village Green/Town² Comments