Re-Define

Redefine.  What a meaningful and timely word.  Not unlike how social media redefined the meaning of friend, the pandemic has redefined for us the meaning of living, working and learning.   This change in meaning is not happening only to us individually, but, consciously or unconsciously, we are also making each other – our spouses, life partners, children, extended family, work colleagues, friends, the community – redefine what it means to live, work and learn.

Living, Redefined

We’ve made changes – big and small in our daily lives. After long months in lockdown with no end in near sight, we’ve found ourselves feeling anxious with our family constantly around us. 

We’ve turned to the internet and social media to cope and maintain our relationships.  “Zoom” has become ubiquitous, now an active verb.  Unless you’re living under a rock, you know what it means when someone says, “let’s zoom!”

We’ve explored new hobbies and interests.  With more time on our hands we discovered and unlocked some inner creativity and resourcefulness, which we generously now share online.

We’ve become reconnected with something increasingly lost in our modern lives:  making or doing things from scratch for ourselves and realizing how deeply satisfying that can be.  We’ve learned how to cook, sew, garden and discovered that the real-to-goodness process of chopping, stitching or tilling soil are surprisingly delightful. I’ve learned to whip up a fresh and delicious guacamole dip and have hand-stitched old hankies into face masks. 

Working, Redefined

Working from home (“WFH”) has become the norm.  While this used to be a luxury and a coveted perk for the relatively affluent, Covid-19 may yet accomplish what years of advocacy have failed:  to make “teleworking” available to more than a privileged few.

Those lucky enough to have kept their income-producing jobs with benefits not only appreciate the time and money they are saving from not having to commute; they’re also enjoying the benefits of the comfort and safety of being home. 

Those who have lost their jobs are finding new ways to make a living while home.  Just browse through Instagram and be amazed, impressed and inspired by how many small businesses have sprung:  masks, oils, food, home décor, clothes, shoes, jewelry, art, on-line lessons – name it, you’ll find it – all available for delivery to the comfort of your home.

Redefining work for parents with school-age children has become muddied with the added demands of supervising their children’s schooling at home.   

Learning, Redefined

While parents were learning in real time how to work from home, educators were scrambling to effectively create and implement some version of remote learning.  After schools closed hastily in March, I believe everyone’s hope was that schools would “normally” reopen in September.  Well, it didn’t, and it hasn’t. Most schools have reopened with a hybrid model: a combination of in-classroom and remote learning.  As I write this, in mid-October, most of the in-classroom education and learning around the world (except for New Zealand) is under the looming threat of a pandemic resurgence.  Therefore, the remote learning model seems to be the way of the future – at least the near future.  The underlying assumption behind “remote learning” is that most of the teaching will be delivered on-line, with all students having the requisite access to the internet. 

Access Needs to be Redefined

Here’s the thing: in a recent study published by Stanford University, over 50% of the survey respondents in the US lack the facilities or sufficient internet capacity to work at home.  This means that they will not only be able to work from home; those will school-age children will also not be able to support their children’s on-line learning.  Many college students experience some of the same challenges that K-12 students face: competing for digital resources and experiencing the challenges of their own family’s limited capacities.

Taken together, this is a time bomb for inequality. Lack of access will deepen the systemic socioeconomic inequality that so many already face. More educated, higher earning employees will work from home so they will continue to get paid, develop their skills and advance their careers.  Those unable to work from home due to the nature of their jobs, or don’t have the necessary space or internet connection are being left behind. By extension, their school-age children are also being left behind.

We’ve all heard the inspiring stories of successful persons who, as children, had to walk miles without shoes to get to school and become educated.  Or the working parent – father or mother – who similarly commuted with great difficulty to get to work in the mailroom, and somehow rose to become CEO.  These persons, somehow, with grit and determination, found access.  I believe we’re facing a different kind of crisis – a crisis of access that will need more, much more than one person’s strong resolve.

Government needs to step in. The Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Act (H.R. 6814/S. 3701) has been introduced in the US senate that would direct the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) to award $1billion in grants for institutions of higher education to meet the needs of students who lack access to adequate broadband service or requisite devices during the national emergency caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.  Similar legislation to provide access to elementary and high-school students is imperative.

Private corporations need to step up.  In a recent article, CNBC published a list of companies – mostly in the tech industry – and the ways they have stepped up to provide their WFH employees novel and creative support mechanisms:  monthly allowances for equipment, food, supplies, including additional pay for child-care at home.   These new policies can pave the way for creating new “gold” WFH employment standards across all industries.

Not-for-profit and foundations need to step forward. “Nonprofits are the backbone of our communities – some more visible than others in their impact and the needs they meet”.  An article published by America’s Charities sheds light on ways nonprofits are supporting our communities during this health and economic crisis, and to underscore how people across the country are being impacted in ways big and small.

Empathy can help us all redefine the meaning of “access”.  Empathy is being able to put one’s self in the other person’s shoe.  Though many have adapted to the redefinition of living, working and learning, it’s mostly because they had access- and for some, direct influence in how this redefinition is being shaped.  While we look to leaders of government and private enterprise to redefine mid and post-COVID access, we – each of us, can also lead from where we are. 

What “other person’s shoe” would you like to put on?