The Pandemic Illuminated Something
Why we maintain antique institutions
The pandemic caused a lot of grief for a great many. In many ways it illustrated how vulnerable a society can be. It also proved that we maintain antique institutions.
Bad as all of the fallout from the pandemic is/was, we had an opportunity to be innovative. High speed internet solves a great deal of old fashioned problems. We were able to capitalize on the creation of our genius.
Since people weren’t allowed to interact as interpersonally as they once had, we were forced developed work-arounds.
All sectors of the economy adapted. They reduced operating staff and spaced them out where they could. They even altered modes of operation. Many were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to learn how to work remotely — and that wasn’t limited to adults.
School students were taking on entire curriculums in the remote environment. However, the powers that be continued to push and push to get people back to work and to get students back in the classroom.
The only question I had was why? If you can effectively perform a task and reduce the overall requirements to do so, then why not continue down that path?
It’s all because of and always has been about the JOBS.
Schools are especially HUGE business. From the property maintenance all the way down to the bulk purchasing of toilet paper, the economic impact of non-functioning schools has the potential to be a detriment.
Perhaps it’s time that the citizenship looks at these types of antique institutions and determines their actual need and realistic future.
Does a state truly need hundreds of school districts and the associated overhead of administration along with the expense of transportation, energy consumption, and continual entitlement programs?
We can teach/talk to people from across the globe via video in real time. What else could we do and remove from the collective maintenance budget of those who have to contribute?
Years ago, while stuck in traffic around Baltimore, I had wondered why most of these people couldn’t be at home with a high speed connection. Many years later, a global pandemic answered my question.
We have been holding ourselves back in order to serve big businesses. Office space has a high premium rental rate and schools need a lot of upkeep, then there’s the daycare cost…
Some of the fallout of people working from home has been a refusal to return to the office. What a great problem, workers want to be home and not fight traffic. With enough imagination and time, we may be able to slowly dismantle these antique institutions and reduce our societal burdens of upkeep.
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