01-05 Education

Something like 13 nations have closed schools completely during the pandemic. Tough for parents who depend on schools to provide special education, or for impoverished families relying on their kids getting a nutritious meal. And these viruses usually come back in a mutated form. So today’s problems may last for a couple of years.
And kids are serious transmitters of all kinds of viruses. During my teaching years at the Ryerson University in Toronto, I brought home at least six colds per year. Those classrooms are murder.
The good news is the adaptability of our kids during the pandemic. You have to love the way they are using technologies like ZOOM, the video conferencing app, to do their classwork.
But the good news is accompanied by some bad news. I can see education at all levels changing because administrators are caught in a financial squeeze. It’s no secret. Their sources of funding are being squeezed. Administrators will not only want to use technology to cut costs. but replace full time staff with what are called adjunct teachers.
Here is an example of what I mean. I taught a course at Ryerson called Business Finance. And one of the first things you have to do is help students understand the difference between income and expenses that show on financial statements; and cash flow, which is about cash in and out of your bank account.
I had to spend three weeks on this issue, despite the fact that the top third of the class picked it up in one week, the middle third in two weeks and the bottom third in three weeks.
If I was teaching this subject today, the course would be online and those having difficulty could easily do the course over again. And I could handle twice the number of students walking around a lab giving personal support. Or become an adjunct teacher, a half-time teacher and half-time consultant.
Adjunct teaching is the future of education as a result of the pandemic. What they call the “gig” economy with people doing a range of part-time work using online platforms, will move more aggressively into the academic community.
Hiring contractors rather employees has been commonplace in Europe for years, but for a different reason. Because of their labour laws it was easier for an employer to get rid of a spouse than an employee.
Here’s another relevant story. During the International Small Business Congress in Singapore in 1983, I discovered most of the affluent Chinese sent their kids to schools in Canada and the US. It was not just about crowed Singapore institutions, which are the best in the world, but about understanding western culture and networks.
The shock was discovering just how dependent our colleges and universities are on funding from foreign students. So, as a result of the pandemic, anticipate a decline in travel and foreign students. And colleges and universities closing their doors.
There is another angle that I can see that most people will miss. Again during my Ryerson years, I was the elected representative to the Academic Council or what universities call the Senate. It is the body that approves all curriculum changes.
So, I learned to understand the perspective of the social scientists. Academics that business considers, the “looney left”. They were saying things like, “Our focus on growth creates income disparities in Canada and the US and jobs in China. So, we have to decide whether we want more guns or more income distribution.”
It looks like the pandemic is giving us a prolonged period of slow growth, and a global platform for the “looney left”.