Stop blaming teachers for school closures 

Two opposing archetypes have dominated our understanding of how teachers are managing the COVID crisis.

Seasoned educators know that it’s a fantasy to think they can keep every member of the school community happy all of the time. Still, I’m not sure anyone could have predicted how angry people have become over recent decisions about reopening their local schools. 

I suspect a lot of the frustration over the slow pace of reopening is wrapped up in something bigger, the unique love/hate relationship that Americans have developed with their schools. After eight years of writing about the PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools — which consistently shows that parents rate their own child’s school as excellent, even while they give low marks to public schools in general — I probably should have made sense of this contradiction by now. Sadly, I still can’t explain it. I only know it when I see it. And I can definitely see it in the media coverage of the COVID-19 crisis.