More than 22, 000 students head back to school on the North Shore this week. They’re doing so in a complicated world, where the double-edged sword of technology is increasingly present and where schools strive to meet the challenge of staying relevant.
There is much to applaud in the new curriculum – an emphasis on critical thinking and application of skills. Those will serve students well long after the final school bell has rung.
Hopefully there’s also still room for learning of facts – things an educated citizenry should be able to access in those vast supercomputers known as our brains, whether or not Google is available.
The school system is massive. It consumes a large amount of resources. It’s also hugely important – not just to those whose kids are in it, but to anyone who will interact with those students later – as employees, as citizens, as volunteers and taxpayers. School is where we enter society and its expectations of us. It defines us and shapes us.
But school doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It takes a village (that’s all of us) to help educate smart citizens of tomorrow.
There are still plenty of issues in our school system – from the financial load on parents to large class sizes and a system that must juggle many different needs.
But that feeling of starting fresh in September never really leaves. Although New Year’s doesn’t happen for four more months, September feels more like the real time of new beginnings. It’s a time to assess, to get enthused and to hit the reset button.
In that spirit, we welcome the back-to-school energy that this week brings.
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