2022: Third Time’s the Charm?
Tony Wan from Reach Capital looks at the challenges, opportunities and themes that will impact education in the year ahead.
By Tony Wan, Reach Capital
Happy New Year!
For the past two years, that greeting hasn’t always delivered as the pandemic waxed, waned and returned, upending livelihoods and testing our resilience.
In 2022, will the third time be the charm?
This month, as the new coronavirus variant surges and schools close again, it all feels a little déjà vu. The pandemic delivered a blow to an already vulnerable public education system and magnified systemic challenges. Large school districts in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago have collectively lost more than a quarter-million students, representing the largest declines ever. Since funding is dependent on enrollment, their budgets have shrunk as well.
Colleges are also reeling. Undergraduate enrollment dropped 3.2 percent in fall 2021, after dipping 3.4 percent the previous year. Particularly troubling are male students whose enrollment decline was seven times that of their female peers.
Not surprisingly, The Great Resignation has also impacted education, which has suffered from low pay and poor working conditions for too long. Teacher shortages abound as educators leave the system and seek out alternatives on technology-driven learning platforms.
The pandemic is also fueling a mental health crisis across all ages. The U.S. Surgeon General and three pediatric health associations have declared a national emergency given alarming increases of youth depression, anxiety, emergency-room visits and suicide. Employers say workers are increasingly leaving for mental health reasons.
These vulnerabilities come at a time when alternatives to traditional education have exploded. Virtual and hybrid schools, homeschools and charters that are designed to be more nimble and responsive will continue to draw teachers, students and parents away from the system.
Technology will never fully replicate the visceral joys of in-person learning. But it can — and has — extended the village of support that students, parents and educators need. An improved infrastructure has allowed districts to tap remote professionals to provide 24/7 tutoring, reading support, therapy, counseling and other services. It lets colleges provide flexible learning options for nontraditional students and connect them with employers on meaningful projects where they apply what they learn to practice.
Accelerating technological developments will further empower people to pursue learning in ways that suit their lives. Already the creator economy lets anyone teach and earn on their own. The latest buzz is web3, the next evolution of the internet that promises to transform how we build, learn and interact online. Companies are creating opportunities to learn web3 while earning at the same time. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have emerged around liberal arts education and crypto projects affiliated with major universities. There is a metaverse where teachers connect.
It can seem a stretch to see how tomorrow’s technologies are pertinent to our lives today. But in the words of a late economist: “things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.”
Bridging that gap depends largely on how quickly the current public system can adapt. That takes more than tech and capital. It needs strong leadership that can steer fundamental and radical changes to the education system. And it starts with recognizing the reality of a new life-work balance desired by teachers and students, and an appreciation of the tools that amplify human connections and potential.
Thank you to my colleagues Jennifer Carolan, Wayee Chu, Jomayra Herrera and Jennifer Wu for contributing to this piece.
This article was originally published in the X Report — a monthly newsletter published by EdTechX which shares features based on current trends in the world of learning and training.
