As a six-year-old, I believe I would have rebelled at being subjected to Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class on a beautiful summer morning. The protagonist of the following story did too. Meekly. Sadly, it seemed here rebel spirit had mostly evaporated.
Let’s set the stage. It’s mid-morning when my wife and I pedal up to a pleasant coffee shop in a delightful beachside community along the Gulf of Mexico. As I’m locking up the bikes, I notice her. Probably about six-years-old. Sitting alone at a table with a tablet, some stuffies, and a backpack. The only other occupants of the outside seating area were a toddler, his parents, and Grammy–seated a few tables away from the little blonde girl.
A few minutes later, we settle in at a table across from Blonde Girl, to enjoy the beverages, salt air, and shade. And to observe.
Does blonde girl belong with the people at the other table? Maybe she’s with them, and they trusted her with a bit of autonomy since the place wasn’t busy. Maybe she’s being trusted with a bit of freedom and time away from the group.
Or, is she with one or more adults who are inside the coffee shop? Maybe her adult(s) entrusted her with even a bit more freedom and left her alone for a few minutes.
Maybe she’s a free-range kid out on her own? Does she live around the corner and get to head to the coffee shop on her own in the morning, where Dad, or Mom, or Aunt Cheryl join her later on? Does she have that much freedom and trust?
No.
Of course, you probably guessed that since this post is titled Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class and not Free-Range Coffee Shop Kid.
I quickly learned Blonde Girl was being subjected to Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class and could not join the rest of the family until class ended.
As we settle in, Grammy approaches the fidgeting child and admonishes her to stay “on task”; she only had 15 minutes left. Then Grammy attempted to adjust both the volume of Blonde Girl’s tablet and the child’s posture. Apparently, Grammy does not approve of slouching during Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class.
As Grammy returns to her latte, I joke, “I thought she might be here by herself.” Grammy proudly clarified that the child was in math class.
Because we now live in a world where such utterly useless and possibly damaging screen-based activities are thought to be good for kids. Pre-Covid, the evidence was pretty clear that online preschool didn’t measure up to child-led, self-directed play when it came to learning. Then Covid happened and people in positions of power went all in on screen-based learning for kids of all ages. For two years, many early learning settings were expected to abandon or curtail real play in favor of online educational theater. The evidence that those choices damaged children (and families) is mounting. Even worse, in most cases, there haven’t been any real consequences for the experts and deciders who made and pushed those choices.
The fallout of all that bad decision-making is that Blonde Girl’s Grammy and parents now think segregating the child and forcing her to sit up straight for Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class is good for her. They think it is a good choice because all those experts and deciders hammered it into their heads for 2 years. And Blonde Girl suffers–meekly, slouching and fiddling in rebellion.
Final Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class Thoughts
Some final observations and thoughts:
- Blonde Girl was trying to “be good” and stay “on task” she wanted to please Grammy. But she also wanted to be part of the conversation and pleasantness the rest of the family was experiencing. She wanted some of the attention being showered on Baby Brother.
- The Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class was live. My ears are still bleeding a bit from the fake-sweet-teacher-voice of the instructor.
- Math Class focused on the number of days in a week, how many days in July, and how many days between date A and date B.
- We should all hold the experts and deciders who led us down this path accountable–and be a bit more wary of where we let ourselves be led.
I’ll wrap up with a few links related to online schooing/learning that touch on why Beachside Coffee Shop Math Class is not a good idea:
- Online Schooling Is the Bad Idea That Refuses to Die
- I Taught Online School This Year. It Was a Disgrace
- Three lessons from rigorous research on education technology
- What students with disabilities lost to COVID
- COVID-19 Has Left Millions Of Students Behind. Now What?
- These Tech Insiders Are Shielding Their Children From The Technology They Work With
- School readiness losses during the COVID-19 outbreak. A comparison of two cohorts of young children
Brought to you by Explorations Early Learning
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Author
Jeff Johnson is an early learning trainer, podcaster, and author and the founder of Explorations Early Learning and Playvolution HQ.
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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Jeff Johnsonhttps://playvolutionhq.com/author/jeff-johnson/
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