Throughout virtual schooling, I warned that our approach was pushing us toward irrelevance. Now, seeing the impact unfold, I am heartbroken. After more than a year of isolation, students returned to schools masked, distanced, and disconnected. The result? A school culture fundamentally altered—and not for the better.

During virtual learning, my concern was that we were fostering a culture of failure and disengagement in an environment that once celebrated success and academic achievement (even if it sometimes felt like pressure). As Mckenzie points out, students who once strived for A+ grades were now content with C-. When a school is full of students “trying” for the bare minimum, it becomes a disengaged school.

I wanted to work on rebuilding student culture and connection, to make school feel relevant and meaningful again. Unfortunately, the school administration seemed to believe that we could fail students into compliance instead.

A Few Highlights (but it is crucial people take the 17 minutes to listen):

* Shift in Attitudes Towards Education: "Failing is not failing anymore. I used to be terrified of failing."

* Erosion of School Culture and Environment: “The way they just treat the students now is terrible.”

* Increased Dependency on Technology Over Teachers: "Google got the answers before I go ask my teacher. I will go to the internet before I even think about asking my teacher."

* Decreased Student-Teacher Relationships: “Two of my teachers probably know my name. Out of the six. I don't think if I was walking around with a mask on, they would know who I was."

* Changes in Peer Dynamics: “You walk around with this anxiety now, like you don't know who people are. You don't want to hug the wrong person. You don't want to speak to this person. But freshman year, everybody just knew each other. You could see people's faces, reactions. It was just ten times better."

* Critique of Institutional Responses: “They never do anything about anything that happens in the school.”

* Loss of Engagement and Motivation: "I don't get excited for Socratic seminars anymore to sit and talk with my classmates now."

* Impact on Social Skills and Relationships: “I don't know how I made friends freshman year because I can't do that this year.”

Listening to Mckenzie and Dequan makes one thing painfully clear: we cannot continue with business as usual in our schools. Our students’ disengagement isn’t a failure on their part—it’s a call to action for all of us. Will we rise to the challenge, or will we continue to let them down?

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