A Pandemic Academic

 ...More like a pandemic amount of rambling, am I right, folks?? 

I have opened up the flood gates and it appears as though I am unable to focus on much else in my free-writing. So here's more of exactly what you didn't ask for!

I do not have children and I have not been in school since graduating high school (not to brag), so I am unsure of what the education system is looking like these days. I do, however, have friends who either have children and/or are teachers and/or are taking classes, so I have a faint idea of what it might be like. 

Hell. It's like Hell, ladies and gentlemen. This pandemic has turned the state-funded educational process into even more of a nightmare than what we remember it being when we were serving our time. Whatever you and your buddies are going through at work? Kids are going through at school. And at a younger age. And in a more electronically-pulsed society. 

Now I don't know about you, but I, myself, would much rather go through hardships as an adult. As a child you have very little to no control over your past/present/future/life direction. This makes taking charge to solve your life problems very difficult. You also are very likely to not be as wise/understanding as an adult might be. This will rob you of a would-be powerful foundation of experiences that would-have aided you in your journey to solve-ation. And let's just say this imagined child-you comes to the conclusion that they do not know how to find a solution and must ask questions; No one listens to a child. Which will doubtlessly make for a difficult time getting answers. 

Whatever an adult goes through (for the most part , anyway - there is always an exception to the rule), they may only have to consult their arsenal of life experiences to find the solution. Or at least to get some direction; to create a hypothesis, instead of flailing around in some ill-fitting bib their mother bought them, wondering why adults insist on making everything in life so bloody high-up. (Is it because of the dog? Well that would explain the cookie jar on the counter. But why, then, have I been exiled to the very same floor??)

I'm doing that thing where I get off-track again. 

What I intended to touch upon in this blog entry was this: 

As natural as it is for us to be short-sighted (our jobs, our small businesses, the economy); what will this pandemic mean for the bambinos? The bambinos, after all, are our future. (Fun fact: another acceptable form of "children" in the Italian language is bambini. Which just sounds fantastically Italian to my ignorant, American ears.) ... (Also it reminds me of when I used to live for my brunchtime bellini.)

For starters; you've got this generational slathering of individuals who have the innate ability to avoid socialization/interaction as is (I don't wanna call to place our dinner order - you do it!). Let's not forget to consider the ever-present disapproval from generations prior. Then you throw in the pandemic. These children are never going to leave the house. 

In addition: the schools - and the teachers in them - are doing their best to make things work this year, but there is only so much one can do. There was no preparing for this (not properly, anyway), so I am truly not placing blame when I say: socialization and education is certainly going to suffer. All of those things we learned in school that we took for granted (getting in a schedule / learning how to interact with others) are to be thrown out the window. Even if the teachers did have time to consider such things; you're all bloody remote. As in: little to no human contact (other than the with parents, who I would like to assume have some contact with their children). 

How exactly is this going to affect the futures of these kiddos? Are they doomed to pay for it later in life? It's not like you can get these "building block" years back once they're gone. 

Although, wouldn't it be a gas if these "suffering" children ended up growing into the best human beings the earth has ever seen?