School’s Out
The 72-year old “shock rocker” Alice Cooper is now of an age group that classifies him as highly susceptible to Covid-19. That means no more rocking campuses with live concerts for the foreseeable future. The guy who made a household name for himself with the anthemic “School’s Out” (1972) has, ironically, finally foretold his own fate – and ours, at least for the while. Across the United States schools are opening up. Or trying to. Or in the case of University of North Carolina, immediately closing down and reverting to online teaching only. It’s a mess out there, with elementary school administrators, high school principals and college presidents all struggling to balance the needs of effective education with the safety of the student body, faculty and administrators. As usual, the burden for home-based instruction via social media like Zoom falls on the parents of school-age kids. Many families are being forced to juggle what amounts to overseeing home schooling with their own work lives. The financial burdens are acute. The psychological costs are in some ways even greater. This is what happens when the state – the agencies of the federal government, that is – fails in its most basic...Read more