What We Lose When We Go From the Classroom to Zoom

What We Lose(lo͞oz) When We Go From the Classroom to Zoom

Like other utopian(yo͞oˈtōpēən) dreams, the fiction(ˈfikSHən) of equality(əˈkwälədē) has its value.

By Karen Strassler

When life was normal, my students and I gathered in classrooms.

My favorites are the small intimate(ˈin(t)əmət) ones where we face each other around a seminar(ˈseməˌnär) table and conversation flows(flō) easily. Midsize classes meet in a square(skwe(ə)r) room with windows along one side. Around this time of year it becomes unbearably(ˌənˈberəblē) hot in the afternoon, as the spring sunshine streams in. My students slouch(slouCH) drowsily(ˈdrouzəlē) in those uncomfortable chairs with built-in desks, arranged in haphazard(ˌhapˈhazərd) rows, while I pace(pās,ˈpäˌCHā,ˈpāˌsē) at the front of the room, trying to arouse(əˈrouz) their interest in some arcane(ärˈkān) anthropological(ˌanTHrəpəˈläjək(ə)l) subject. Sometimes I’m successful. Introductory(ˌintrəˈdəktərē) classes are held in a large lecture(ˈlekCHər) hall, and from my vantage point at the bottom of the room, I see rows of students fanned(fan) out neatly(ˈnētlē) before me. I recently started wearing(ˈwe(ə)riNG) prescription(prəˈskripSH(ə)n) glasses so I could distinguish their faces, which were beginning to smudge(sməj) together as a result of encroaching(enˈkrōCH) middle age.

Each type of classroom presents(priˈzent,ˈprezənt) distinct challenges and pleasures, but they all have one thing in common. In these classrooms, students meet one another as apparent(əˈparənt,əˈpe(ə)r-) equals(ˈēkwəl). They sit in the same chairs.

Now we have lost our classrooms and, I fear, something vital(ˈvīdl) along with them.

At the entrance(enˈtrans,ˈentrəns) to the building on the Queens College campus in Flushing, Queens, where I have taught for 14 years, I am greeted with a quote(kwōt) by the cultural(ˈkəlCHərəl) critic(ˈkridik) bell(bel) hooks: “The academy is not paradise(ˈparəˌdīs). But learning is a place where paradise can be created.” In the book from which these words are taken she continues: “The classroom, with all its limitations(ˌliməˈtāSHən), remains a location of possibility.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/sunday-review/zoom-college-classroom.html