We’ll have traumatized students and staff when we return to school. We’ve been through a pandemic and paid a heavy price. Of course, we should care and be sensitive to our communities’ needs.
However, that is just one side of the coin.
What if our students and staff found a new kind of resilience — a strength they didn’t know they had — by making it out the other side of COVID-19 and a reckoning with systemic racism?
What if they come back hungry to be pushed?
Adversity can be a gift.
Before the pandemic, life was more comfortable and convenient. Some students learned for the first time what it’s like to wait for gratification. I think many kids will come back much stronger.
The bullies better watch out. Collectively, our kids just got tougher.
