So What Does an Eight-Year-Old, Third Grader Think of Remote Learning?

The Times had a number of brief statements from kids of different ages regarding school in the covid-19 era. 

My favorite among the entire bunch was this of Lucas Fonte, 8, of Miami. 

Lucas: I want to go to the school. I don’t like working at home. My mom is not a very good teacher. Last year in second grade, when I didn’t understand something my teacher wasn’t there, and my mom didn’t know how to explain it to me.

I’m going to miss my friends, I liked taking the bus and lunch time. Sometimes they’d give us Doritos or ice cream, stuff my mom wouldn’t pack.

I don’t like doing things on virtual school, like dividing. It’s super hard to understand on virtual school. Last year the teacher would go through all the kids and ask them a question so the other kids, we all had to sit there waiting for our turn. It’s really boring... 

There's a terrific amount of insight packed away in this material. Eight-year-olds lack the sophistication to have subtexts, but there's still a lot revealed. For example, what does it take for a family to raise a child so healthy that he's able to say publicly that his mom couldn't help him. What do his comments reveal about his school experience? In the Times picture, he's sitting between his older brother's legs. What does that say about their relationship. What does his use of language use say about his family? Although I didn't print the picture from the Times, checking out the clean shoes, tee shirts and shorts says plenty about his background. "Close reading" can be very revealing.

The Times story and pictures are here.