What is the School We Envision When We All Return?

I've been thinking a lot about the need to spend time imagining my "perfect classroom," what I'd actually like my classes to look like if educators, administrators, representatives, and the community came together to create the school (and world) our students deserve. COVID has thrown our students, parents, teachers, and administrators, the entire nationwide network of public schools into turmoil, yet we have a unique opportunity to come back with a vision of our public school utopia. While we may not find thta prfect system, the public has been forced to see all the ways we neglect our schools and children, the inability to provide equitable learning to all students, the reliance on schools for basic needs, the gross under-funding and neglect of our most impoverished communities. I don't want o go back to those schools, at least wit

hout a fight. In order to fight, I think we need to know what is not just wrong, but the schools we want to see for every single child. In thinking about my "perfect school" I have been repeating the same quote about the Finnish school system. When asking, "What is the best school in Finland?" the answer is "Your neighborhood school." I wish we could say the same about American schools.

While thinking about this, I saw this video from AOC imagining 23 years from now, after they have passed The Green New Deal among other accomplishments. It's a beautiful piece and really encourages thinking about the world we want and how to get there.

https://theintercept.com/2019/04/17/green-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/