Quick Hit:
A recent UNESCO report shows how the rapid transition during the pandemic to tech-mediated education “often resulted in unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and the elevation of learning models that place machines and profit before people.”
Why it matters:
With technological advancement comes great promise: taming the climate crisis with renewable energy sources, democratizing access to information online, and providing live updates on critical events like storms or wildfires, just to name a few. While technological innovation can create opportunity, it is often a double-edged sword.
The verdict is in on the recent explosion of education technology spurred by school closures during the pandemic, and the results show an acceleration of education inequality around the globe. If we are to improve access to education for all school-aged children, teens, and young adults, there is much to be done around education-technology. Education technology allowed many well-off and affluent students to weather school closures with minimal education disruptions, but for the poor and working class (both in the U.S. and around the world), as well as for students with disabilities, the results were nothing short of disastrous.
What can we do?
Church leaders can be on the front lines of addressing these educational inequalities, advocating on behalf of those who don’t have access, or have very limited access, to the education technologies that allowed many wealthy and middle class children to make it through the pandemic without major setbacks. Church leaders can work with local education leaders and parent groups to ensure better access and educational support for all students. In the report, pages 396-414 provide detailed discussions of alternative educational initiatives that would lessen the dependence on ed-tech while promoting greater access to and support for education across the board. Skip to those pages for some great ideas that can be easily implemented on the local level.
Try it:
While the pandemic has receded in severity since its 2020 and 2021 peaks, air pollution and air quality crises promise to continuously impact various parts of the globe. Rather than closing down public spaces and services whenever these crises spike, churches can work with local leaders to improve the air quality in all communally-important indoor spaces. Installing inexpensive air filters, for example, can improve health and test scores, creating a more supportive indoor environment for all students. Churches can organize locally to get such air filters on their school district budgets or, if that fails, fundraise to directly provide them to local schools.