Admitting Mistakes - Centralized vs Decentralized Systems:
Top-down, centralized decision making helped lead to prolonged school closures, masking, and other Covid-era measures. The CDC Guidelines were officially recommendations, but other federal measures often conditioned funding on state & local governments and businesses mandating these guidelines.
Local and individual decision making seemed to help end these measures. If Community A has open schools, no masks, and no contact tracing and life largely seems normal, then more people in nearby Community B might want normalcy as well.
I think it is easier for decentralized systems to evolve and course correct. End mass censorship and decentralizing research and decision making woukd help avoid a repeat of 2020-2022.
Thanks a lot for your thoughtful comment, Matthew. In the United States context, I actually think that local control was, on balance, problematic for getting as many schools open as possible. I made that argument in December 2020: https://kappanonline.org/how-european-schools-stay-open-lamesa-russo/
That said, I definitely understand what you're saying regarding centralized and decentralized systems. In Sweden and Denmark, which both did excellent jobs keeping schools open, most Covid decisions were left to individual schools.
Admitting Mistakes - Centralized vs Decentralized Systems:
Top-down, centralized decision making helped lead to prolonged school closures, masking, and other Covid-era measures. The CDC Guidelines were officially recommendations, but other federal measures often conditioned funding on state & local governments and businesses mandating these guidelines.
Local and individual decision making seemed to help end these measures. If Community A has open schools, no masks, and no contact tracing and life largely seems normal, then more people in nearby Community B might want normalcy as well.
I think it is easier for decentralized systems to evolve and course correct. End mass censorship and decentralizing research and decision making woukd help avoid a repeat of 2020-2022.
Thanks a lot for your thoughtful comment, Matthew. In the United States context, I actually think that local control was, on balance, problematic for getting as many schools open as possible. I made that argument in December 2020: https://kappanonline.org/how-european-schools-stay-open-lamesa-russo/
That said, I definitely understand what you're saying regarding centralized and decentralized systems. In Sweden and Denmark, which both did excellent jobs keeping schools open, most Covid decisions were left to individual schools.
Wow, that's a fascinating state-level story. Thanks so much for sharing it.