Every parent of a school-aged child in America wishes he could give his child a clearer vision of what’s ahead.  “When do we get back to normal?” has replaced “Are we there yet?”  The problem is that we know the answer to “Are we there yet?”  We do not know an answer to give our kids in regard to a return to normalcy.   If you’re like me, you listen intently to timelines from China and South Korea and Italy, and you dare to hope when some talking head mentions a city reaching its peak and plateauing.  “Do we all get in on that plateau?”  “No, your peak is still coming.” 

    With no end date in sight, it’s hard to give kids a vision of the near future.  And without a vision, it’s hard to prove that what we are requiring kids to do while in quarantine is worth it.  It is worth it.  When all is over, our kids will come out better than those in the schools who have not taught anything new or much at all.  But how do you convince a kid that working while others are taking it easy will put him ahead of them someday way down the road?  You have to make sure each day is filled with purpose.

    So, let me give you some purposes you can give your child when he questions the validity of our continuing to learn when so many others are not: 

1)       Every year at Lawton Academy is tougher than the year before.  Students who come to us during the middle and high school years struggle tremendously to keep up with our students unless they’ve come from an equally driven program.  Many do not last more than that first year.  To be able to stay at Lawton Academy till senior graduation, a student has to seek as much knowledge as possible.

2)       Until colleges no longer require ACT or SAT scores for admission, scoring high on these tests is still the best way to get into the best colleges.  The more you learn, the higher you score on the test.

3)      We at Lawton Academy are known for our excellence.  We teach excellent lessons, and our kids perform excellently.  People all over the town know that Lawton Academy students are the best.  We become the best by doing the work to be the best.

4)      The ultimate goal of our students is to make themselves as marketable to colleges and potential employers as possible.  The more we stand out from the others, the more marketable we are.  This is us standing out even more than those around us.

5)      1.37 billion students world-wide are now being schooled at home.  Only some of the school districts have taken the stance that students should be given little work.  This means that many more are doing exactly what we are.  So, maybe we’re standing out from the ones around us, but we might just be keeping up with others.

   Vision requires looking to the future, and when adults are confused about what’s ahead, it’s hard for kids to have a vision.  But we will recover.  We will go back to a normal existence, with a few changes due to our new circumstances. 

   I am most excited about some of the changes we’re considering because of what we’ve been through.  Our teachers are branching out into technology they would have never considered had we not had to implement distance learning.  I just solicited proposals regarding school procedures, both during the quarantine and in next year’s program from my secondary students, and I got some phenomenal ideas… some that we have already implemented.  It is exciting to work with a group of kids and teachers who have a vision of the future – of their own futures and of the future of this school. 

   No one expects a young child to have a clear vision of his future.  After all, very few teens have a clear vision.  But every experience a person has is useful for his future.  Helping your child to know his strengths, take risks, and investigate that about which he is curious (safely) will help your child see a vision of his future.  So, the next time your child asks when the quarantine will end, just say, “Soon… so let’s use this time without outside distractions to get us closer to our visions of the future!”

-          Michelle