Why School Matters During the Coronavirus Pandemic

As the coronavirus crisis continues its surge around the world, educators are having to learn and experiment with new forms of content delivery mid-semester. For example, my university, a school that’s spent 100+ years teaching in physical classrooms, is making a complete transition to distance learning almost overnight. It’s challenging everyone — teachers, students, parents, and administrators. Lots of mistakes are going to happen, and everyone involved is going to get frustrated at some point.

In the process of thinking about education amid the current chaos of a global pandemic, I find myself remembering another turbulent moment from my educational past. On September 11, 2001, I was a student at Duke University, the same school where I currently teach.

After the planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon on that chilly Tuesday morning, most Duke professors canceled their classes. But not my Music In Society professor. He refused to cancel. Instead, at 1:00 on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, while all my peers — and most of the world — were still staring at their TVs in disbelief, I had to pack my backpack. I remember my roommate asking: “Who cares about a stupid music class on a day like today?”

Twenty minutes later, my professor entered our small seminar room. He sat in his chair at the head…