Dear TRSC Network Partners and Friends,
As we move through our second month of these challenging times, bad news assails us on every front. Schools won’t reopen this year and will have to substantially change in order to open in the foreseeable future. High school and college graduates face a “tragic moment” to start their careers and many headed for college have put their plans on hold. Entire industries like airlines and tourism are struggling and estimates are that up to 40% of small businesses will never reopen. According to the International Monetary Fund, the upcoming economic downturn will be the worst since the Great Depression.
What do we say to ourselves, our families, and our students and as we look to the future?
In a recent blog post, Katie King, a futurist with KnowledgeWorks, gives us a wonderful clue. She explains, “We are currently living through a global examination of our assumptions. …Some of what we previously held as being set in stone was in fact written in sand…There are no facts about the future. What has always been true might not continue to be true. That can be a jarring and painful realization, particularly when we consider what we have lost and wish we still had. However, it can also be the foundation for renewed hope and a sense of possibility. If the future is not a fixed point, it is ours to create.”
So, in those all too few moments between planning school for our students, working with our own families, planning three meals a day seven days a week, exercising, working from home, etc., etc., etc., let’s dream about a new future. One where deep inequities in access and opportunity, exacerbated by the current crisis, are addressed; one where those with less education and socioeconomic disadvantages receive whatever they need to rise; one where learning is expanded beyond standards and standardized testing to ensure that every student will thrive and grow and succeed. What DO we want—a world transformed! Let’s dream and plan it now.
Respectfully,
Peggy Torrey,
TransformSC Director
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