An open message to my fellow adults five months into the pandemic

An open message to my fellow adults five months into the pandemic

 I talked with one of my college-attending sons last night.

 He spoke of the UNC-Chapel Hill leaders’ decision yesterday to revert to online/remote instruction.

 He said he felt his own institution would not be far behind.

 He then quipped, “New freshmen congregating in residence halls is the reason why college students can’t have nice things.”

 A minute-or-so later he told me about some friends - second- and third-year students - who wanted to have a large party this weekend before they had to go away again.

 Clearly, it is not just first-year students who want to congregate.

 But amidst all of this naming and quasi-shaming, I just felt sad.

 And the more I think about it, the sadder I get.

 I don’t blame college students - or students at any stage or age - for wanting community.

 I don’t blame administrators for wanting functional and stable institutions.

 I don’t blame educators or anyone else concerned about their well-being at any time.

 The blame lies with the ongoing defunding of education on all levels.

 The mantra that higher education should be run like a business ignores the fact that the generation of profits rewards institutions that already have money and harms those that do not. That kind of mentality also undermines equitable human growth and the health of democracies.

 The blame lies with the utterly inept federal response to a global pandemic and the politicization of what should be a science-based approach to recovery.

 The blame lies with those who force good people to have to put other good people in harm’s way to try to protect good institutions.

 The blame lies with those who look at some or all of this and find it even remotely pleasing or humorous.

 And the blame lies with us all for whatever role big or small we played in letting this mess come to fruition.

 We are failing our nation’s youth.

 Children and young adults are not a social or political experiment.

 The first step to fixing this is admitting we are the problem.

 The next step is doing something about it . . .