We’ve been told that there are two things we cannot avoid: Death and taxes! I guess that is still true. But now we are facing another challenge: COVID-19 (coronavirus). And we’re not sure how to avoid it.
This virus can affect our entire planet and cause health issues and even death, and we cannot help but feel fearful.
Overcoming fear is certainly challenging and it has been suggested that we use a three-step process to release our fears:
• Recognize the fear.
• Release the fear.
• Replace it with something positive.
In little more than two years I’ve been blessed with a new title: “Great Grandmother” and it brings such pleasure to share in the joy these beautiful children bring to our family.
What will their future be like?
What can I do, what can their parents and grandparents do to guide the children to a peaceful, fulfilling life?
Emily Tillett of CBS wrote: “Former secretary of education Arne Duncan said that political decisions about education don’t reflect a desire to have better schools and teachers, saying that Americans ‘never vote on education.’ In his new book How Schools Work writes that the American education system ‘runs on lies.’
“‘We say we value education, but we never vote on education. We never hold politicians accountable, local, state or national level, for getting better results,’ said Duncan, the education secretary under president Barack Obama, on Face the Nation. He added that the ‘toughest lie for him personally is that we say we value kids, and we’ve raised a generation of young people, teens, who have been raised on mass shootings and gun violence, and that simply doesn’t happen in other nations.’
‘“I don’t look at what people say. I look at their actions, their policies. I look at their budgets. Our values don’t reflect that we care about education or we care about teachers or that we truly care about keeping our children safe and free of fear,’ Duncan said.
“Duncan said that the Education Department had both successes and failures under his leadership during the Barack Obama administration. But he said he feels a huge sense of urgency to improve the education system.
“‘As a Nation, we’re not top 10 in anything,’ he said. Duncan leveled criticism at his successor, secretary Betsy DeVos, who has experienced her fair share of controversy during her tenure. He said DeVos doesn’t ‘understand basic concepts of education policy, including the distinction between student improvement and proficiency,’” Tillett wrote.
Host Katy Tur, MSNBC asked, Duncan: “There’s already an economic and big gap between some students at schools. There’s a lot of inequality among students. How do you make sure that the kids who are already at risk of getting left behind don’t actually get left behind in this scenario?”
Duncan said, “Yeah, that’s exactly the right question. And schools aren’t just schools. They’re not just places to get an education any more. They are truly social safety nets. And in many places, kids are receiving one, two, even three meals a day. We have at least 30 Million children around the country who rely on schools as a prime source for their nutrition, for their meals. And again, so those challenges are real. Anytime things are hard, the have-nots, those who are struggling, have a much harder time than those that are a little bit more privileged. And so, again, what I’m heartened by is to see how hard people are working together to make sure kids are fed. So school superintendents are on this. We did a conference call this morning with a number of non-profits who are working so hard in this space.”
Tur said, ‘If you could get on the line with Betsy DeVos right now, what advice would you be giving her?’
“Duncan responded, ‘I don’t quite know what they’re doing there at the federal level. And there’s this lack of credibility, a lack of commitment, a lack of seriousness, a lack of honesty at the federal level. At the state and local level, I see people with a huge heart, huge commitment, working really, really hard. That’s what my entire focus is. We’re starting a weekly call in terms of educating older kids as well as our younger babies. People could not be working harder, could not be more committed and more compassionate. This isn’t just about an education. This is really about taking kids and families at a time of tremendous crisis, worry, and anxiety, and we have fantastic leaders who are all in to do that to the best of their ability,”’