The signs are everywhere. Along with so many other institutions, schools – and all those who work in them and for them – are in great distress.
Just look at the teacher responses to this tweet from yesterday
One thing you wished that people understood about being a teacher in 2020 below…
— Nicole Biscotti, M. Ed. 🍎❤️ (@BiscottiNicole) December 13, 2020
It was an outpouring of grief, frustration, and distress. Things are not well in the land of school.
The fear, anger and anxiety are palpable. Teachers can’t do the job they want to do and the feelings of guilt and inadequacy are overwhelming. And they are not irrational.
School leaders are swamped by the logistics of establishing workable response protocols, juggling schedules, and keeping up with an ever-shifting and evolving medical advisories and mandates. That, and the worry about budgets and finances and how to pay for all the additional staffing, tech equipment. And all the while trying to lead – to be that stable person at the helm to whom others look for calm, comfort and guidance They too are overwhelmed and exhausted.
Parents think they are getting less than they need and paid for while schools are busting budgets to keep buildings safe, hire additional staff to keep classes socially distanced, and investing in new technologies to make distance and hybrid learning more effective. Parents too are exhausted trying to be the home school teacher while also managing the rest of their already complicated lives and work situations.
And let’s not forget the students trying to grow up in this world turned upside down.
No wonder everyone is exhausted, fried, burnt out. It was hard work pre-pandemic and now it’s right at the edge. Everyone uses the term unprecedented. And it is. The closest analogy I can think of would be trying to maintain schooling in a war zone under bombardment and risk of imminent invasion.
We Have been Abandoned
And consider the context. We have an out of control pandemic. People are losing their jobs and their homes, they getting sick and dying. But we have a federal government that has abandoned its people. Furthermore, instead of a government focussed on relief and crisis management, we have a person in the White House determined to vent his narcissistic rage on everyone in a wild and desperate attempt to avoid justice by overthrowing an election.
And this wrecking ball – swinging out of control – is supported and enabled by a following of grifters, sycophants, and violence-oriented wannabe fascists.
From a psychological perspective, we are not being “held” by our government. Rather we have been abandoned to the virus and are now threatened by social and uncivil chaos and violence. Anyone sleeping well at night?
And to add insult to grievous injury some right-wing punditty people such as Rod Liddle of The Spectator (UK) write these vile, inflammatory, and divisive attacks on teachers.
You just know that a hack like Liddle would not last 20 minutes in a classroom without getting arrested.
This was in the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid and it’s evil stuff designed to stir resentment and division. All of a sudden conservatives care about the children? Gimme a break.
Meanwhile Back at School
So that’s all bad.
Meanwhile, the kids are coming to school one way or another. And schools (meaning the people who work in and for them) are doing heroic work to try and meet their needs.
From the luxury and calm of the sidelines, I’ve been thinking about what schools have been going through since March of this year. And I’ve been thinking about D.W.Winnicott and the concept of “good enough” and wondering whether and how it might be helpful.
The good-enough teacher, the good enough school leader, the good-enough board chair, and – in the end -the good-enough school. What did they look like in pre-pandemic times? And why are they actually best? And what might they look like in these crisis times?
If ever there was a need to let go of unrealistic fantasies of perfection it is now. It may be time to set the sights higher and be good-enough.
Does the psychological concept of good-enough offer a framework of hope in a time of crisis?
And that’s what I will try and explore in the next post.
Featured image: Daphne Gradidge, Fantasy Garden; Mural in 6 parts, panel1) ArtCare, Salisbury District Hospital; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/fantasy-garden-64768
Hi Josie, I have three kids who seriously struggled over the last two years. They missed going to school and they missed their friends. They missed getting out of the house. My heart broke for them, but at the same time it swelled with gratitude towards their teachers, who somehow soldiered on. The online lessons gave some sense and structure to the day, and probably helped us maintain our sanity. As far as I am concerned, teachers are amongst the most important heroes of the pandemic, and I shall be eternally grateful to them for everything that they did for our kids.
Glad to find this blog post now that we have a new, more functional and compassionate, president here in the USA. I thought of our new administration when I read these sentences: “From a psychological perspective, we are not being “held” by our government. Rather we have been abandoned to the virus and are now threatened by social and uncivil chaos and violence. Anyone sleeping well at night?” Hurrah for new leadership!
We do have a vast improvement in the White House. That is for sure. Let’s keep the progress moving forward. Lots of ways ahead. Thanks Will.
Teachers have never gotten enough credit, and now they are getting twice as much blame.
This is so true.
That article has caused such distress to teachers who are doing their best in impossible circumstances. I resisted comment on Twitter at the weekend as I wondered if that is providing him with the attention he so clearly craves. One can only hope that most parents understand and appreciate the pressures those working in schools are under.
My guess is that – rather like Doris and Bonald – he thrives on the attention. The purpose is the pain, cruelty, and division. Teachers have always been a sitting target for ring-wing attacks for as long as I can remember. But there is a quality to this kind of vitriol that seems more pointed and deliberate The lid has been lifted from the conservative id and now they feel free to say and do anything with impunity, relishing the pain they inflict if it serves the purpose of diving their “enemies”.
I saw that vile Sun column being tweeted about today and my heart goes out to all those teachers feeling they’ve been doing their best, much as all public servants have been doing, under such difficult circumstances only to have it all thrown back in their face. The trouble-making hack (I won’t honour them with the term ‘journalist’) has no concern for truth, only wanting to pander to the worst prejudices of that rag’s readership.
This constant drip of bile against honest people doing their best feels almost as if these types want society to break down. It’s dispiriting but one hopes these people will eventually be brought to book and the pain suffered by the selfless be recognised.
Agreed 100%. And it’s very disheartening to have such vocal voices in the world at this time in particular.
Well said all around.
I wonder if you saw my recent paper, What’s Missing At School: A Wellness Check for Grownups. https://www.re-setschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/whats-missing-at-school-re-set-school.pdf
Thanks for the kind words Jennifer. I’m working on Part Two and trying to think it all through. And thanks for the link. Off to read it now.
Judging the present by expectations formed pre pandemic is unrealistic. The lesson is that we must change our ways. Find new ways in the future. What sort of society will help us and the planet prosper? There will be losses, perhaps our own. But an opportunity to see a new purpose for education. The British media is very negative. I am glad u have shown up its sick intentions. It is frustrating and cruel. Come together and help each other. This is the only way forward.
Thanks Diej. You know it’s interesting – Winnicott thought that parenting was “the only real basis for a healthy society, and the only factory for the democratic tendency in a country’s social system.” To be continued.