Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with the rapid flip from in-school to on-line learning, I have heard countless statements that school as we know it, will change forever. I certainly understand why some would make these claims: broadly speaking, and with notable exceptions, Jewish day schools were able to pivot and provide a re-imagined balance to the 2019-2020 school year, and as of this moment, most of these same schools have pivoted again to provide Covid-conscious in-building education this fall.

Yes, many changes were made, but will this mean that the institution known as school will be forever changed? Despite extraordinary advances in technology, social upheaval, economic growth, and new understandings of the human mind, history has shown only limited lasting change in schools since the catalyzing events of the 1950s, namely Brown vs the Board of Education and the launch of Sputnik and the ensuing space-race. I add to this a concern that the desire for change is frequently counterweighted by a deep desire to return to the familiar and “normal.”

I would like to posit here that while I am skeptical that schooling has changed forever, I do think that there may be an enduring change in our feelings about school and the parental understanding of what school is and can be.

Here is what I think may have really shifted for good: