O #EstudoEmCasa

Depois de três semanas de #EstudoEmCasa é possível uma tentativa de primeira avaliação, na generalidade, à iniciativa do Ministério da Educação como resposta à continuação da proibição de abertura das escolas e, portanto, de aulas em regime presencial. Essa análise, porém, limita-se apenas às peças transmitidas pela televisão, não considerando (por desconhecimento) que apoios tiveram os alunos, com ou sem internet, como suportes escritos para professores e alunos, e outros.

É certo que vou deixar sem resposta um dos motivos da minha curiosidade, que era, como disse em texto anterior, saber “como vão ser integrados os elementos fornecidos via TV na programação que os professores irão gizar nas suas disciplinas”.

Version 2.007

Today was Mother's Day in the U.S. I saw several families outside, sitting in the gardens, rather than spending their time indoors. Yesterday, I drove around the city, since I was concerned that the battery in my car might die, and saw so many people driving. At Shelby Farms there were also lots of people out and even families having picnics. Surprisingly, Coastal Fish Company, a local seafood restaurant by Hyde Lake, on Shelby Farms, was jam-packed. Most of their sitting is in a covered outdoor patio, but still it was impressive to see so many people out.

Memphis started to shut down about the time 10 cases had been identified, some of them in people who had not traveled. But before that, the local community started to limit large gatherings. The Memphis Economic Club was supposed to have an event at the St. Jude campus, but it got canceled back in February and we were informed that it was too risky for the children. St. Jude is one of the leading research hospitals for the treatment of infant cancer.

The City Mayor (the County also has a Mayor) keeps us all informed via NextDoor and on the city's website. At some point, when the weather started to warm up, he had all the city parks shut down and policed and we were admonished for wanting to be outdoors. I am almost certain that having St. Jude made the city extra-careful managing this virus. The plan to re-open the city is available online. It is a phased approach and there have to be certain conditions met to proceed from one phase to the next.

Last Friday, I spoke to my boss. Per corporate's orders, we are to work from home until the end of May, but the decision to return to the office will have input from the local teams, so it must be what is right for each community. I hope everything goes well, but I am always obsessing over what can go wrong.

Version 2.006

"Bicabornato de sódio." When I read it I thought that it could not be right, "sódio" doesn't seem right. Isn't it baking soda in English? Maybe it should be "bicabornato de soda" or "sodo"? "Sodo" is definitely not right. But there's "sodium," so maybe "sódio" is indeed right... I cannot tell how many times I go through conversations like this on my head. I am one of those people who constantly has an on-going dialog in her head.

Many months ago, I was reading Nicholas Kristof in the NYT and he said that the easiest way to know if someone is proficient in a foreign language is to ask them to say the words to door knob, clothes hanger, and electrical outlet. OK, how do you say those in Portuguese, I asked myself. For several minutes, I had no idea. Well -- I was beginning to resign myself to being ignorant --, when in doubt, one can always revert to calling something "coiso" or "coisa." But even as I write "coisa," it looks foreign. Not foreign in the sense of a foreign language, but foreign as is alien.

When I was in 12th grade, we did not have a textbook for English. Instead, we would read articles from Time magazine or Newsweek. I subscribed to Newsweek for a while, then. If you were learning Portuguese, what newspaper or magazine would you subscribe to? Which one would improve your chances of becoming fluent in the language?

I do not have any subscriptions to a Portuguese news outlet. In the U.S., I subscribe to the NYT, Bloomberg, and the WashPost; but sometimes, I also donate to NPR, in fact, I used to contribute to MPB, which is an affiliate of NPR. MPB stands for Mississippi Public Radio and they are located in Oxford, MS, where there is a Portuguese bakery, called Lusa. No, I've never lived in MS, but they're poor, so I figured they could use some of my money.

I visited Lusa once, when I lived in Memphis the first time. The drive is very boring, but it is rather worth it, even though I've only been there once. (It's hard to go places when you have a dog, you always feel super-guilty about leaving them behind; at least I do...)

Ah, but this to say that I spend over $700/year on American media and I spend nothing on Portuguese media. I get depressed reading Portuguese news. It is such poor quality and it requires that I stop thinking, plus I don't understand the language. I barely speak it these days.

Version 2.005

I woke up to a rainy day and even though it was pouring, it took me a while to realize it. I had seen the forecast yesterday and yet I was shocked at my surprise of how much it was raining and how dark the day was. And it was also chilly; the temperature has been unpleasant all week long and I often go to the air system setting to see if I made a mistake.

The morning was mostly spent on conference calls since 7:30 AM. We all cheer that it's Friday, but time is going by so fast that the rest of the week becomes a blur. During the third conference call, I hear the cardinals outside and I went to the window to see if I could find them, but I could not. For a few weeks now, a couple of cardinals have been coming to the garden to feast on our bird feeders. The male watches the surroundings and the female eats. Very seldom does the male eat and he only does it when he approaches the female and she puts food in his mouth. They seem like a nice couple.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at 14.7%, but it could be 5% higher, since the margin of error is much wider than the data indicates--there aren't that many observations with similar conditions to validade the estimate. But leave it to Americans to freak out about an unemployment rate that is trivial in other parts of the world. It is hard to imagine that health insurance will not be decoupled from employment after this pandemic or, at least, an affordable basic insurance will have to be available, no questions asked.

Yesterday, we learned about the killing of a black Georgia young man that took place in February. Why only now did we hear about it? Probably because the two white men involved, one of them a former police officer, were charged with the crime. And now we ask black folks to wear masks, when even with a bare face they are targets. It just seems like a catch 22.

Version 2.004

Tennessee made the national news today, as it is one of the states with a large stockpile of Covid-19 tests, since early on it asked the private labs to start producing tests. Access to a test has been liberalized and the state is paying for all tests, so the insurance companies will not even be billed.

One would think that everyone would be lauding TN, but in a world with people dying and and inadequate supply of tests, does it make sense to make the resource available for free? Furthermore, of the self-selected people who have chosen to get tests, 99% test negative. Thus it would be best to either assign the tests randomly to a representative sample of the population or do contact tracing and test anyone who's been in contact with someone who has tested positive.

It is quite surprising that TN is in such a situation. Prior to the pandemic, the plan of the governor for this year was to see if a TN case could be taken to the Supreme Court to challenge Roe vs. Wade. I guess one never knows what rabbit comes out of this hat.

Dia Mundial da Língua Portuguesa

Foi ontem o dia mundial da língua portuguesa. Lembremos como no século XVI havia uma  preocupação maior do que hoje com a nossa língua.

Floresça, fale, cante, oiça-se e viva

A portuguesa língua, e já onde for,

Senhora vá de si, soberba e altiva.

Se té qui esteve baixa e sem louvor,

Culpa é dos que a mal exercitaram,

Esquecimento nosso, e desamor.

(António Ferreira, Poemas Lusitanos)

'E verdadeiramente que não tenho a nossa língua por grosseira nem por bons os argumentos com que alguns querem provar que é essa; antes é branda para deleitar, grave para engrandecer, eficaz para mover, doce para pronunciar, breve para resolver e acomodada às matérias mais importantes da prática e escritura.

Para falar, é engraçada, com um modo senhoril; para cantar, é suave, com um certo sentimento que favorece a música; para pregar , é substanciosa, com uma gravidade que autoriza as razões e as sentenças; para escrever cartas, nem tem infinita cópia que dane, nem brevidade estéril que a limite; para histórias, nem é tão florida que se derrame, nem tão seca que busque o favor das alheias.

A pronunciação não obriga a ferir o céu da boca com aspereza, nem a arrancar as palavras com veemência do gargalo.

Escreve-se da maneira que se lê, e assim se fala.

Tem de todas as línguas o melhor: a pronunciação da latina, a origem da grega, a familiaridade da castelhana, a brandura da francesa, a elegância da italiana. Tem mais adágios e sentenças que todas as vulgares, em fé de sua antiguidade. E, se à língua hebreia, pela honestidade das palavras, chamaram santa, certo que não sei eu outra que tanto fuja de palavras claras em matéria descomposta, quanto a nossa. E, para que diga tudo, um só mal tem, e é que, pelo pouco que lhe querem seus naturais, a trazem mais remendada que capa de pedinte!'

(Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, A Corte na Aldeia)

Hoje, depois do triste desfecho do acordo ortográfico que parece ninguém querer reconhecer, temos de nos contentar em relembrar os clássicos…

Version 2.003

After having breakfast, I took Julian out for the daily morning walk. I need to get into the habit of listening to my podcasts again, since without having to drive to work, I end up not listening to the radio. Marketplace was not out yet, so the Penguin podcast was it.

They had an interview with David Harewood, who has just finished a new audio recording of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and if that isn't apropos of our current endeavors, I don't know what is. Wells always reminds that, when I was a kid, I watched the film "The Time Machine" on TV. It was one of my favorites and it was in the subtitles of that movie that I learned the Portuguese word "soletrar." That is the only Portuguese word that I know when and how I learned it. In English, there are a few.

My nextdoor neighbor, who is a nurse, is in New Jersey. Last week, she sent me an SMS saying that she and her husband were on the way up north to do crisis nursing. I thought it curious that she would let me know such a thing, as I do not consider us to be friends and I do come across as very cold and unapproachable when people first meet me, but I often wake up with messages from her wishing me a good day, since I had crossed her mind during her insomnia, midway through the night.

It is odd, but not unlikely, in the U.S. to have people who are emotionally so available that they send loving messages to strangers. I, on the other hand, have been failing terribly at sending messages to friends. Work has been intense, especially because we have a big USDA report coming out next week. I am also not feeling as productive in the cooking department. The fridge is still rather full, but I look at it and feel as if I have nothing to eat. One could say that one's feelings towards one's wardrobe have been transferred to the contents of the refrigerator.

Version 2.002

Working from home is a little bit more stressful than going to the office. For starters, one always second guesses if we have put in the time. If the dog makes noise while on a conference call, one feels mortified. At home, grabbing a cup of coffee feels akin to slacking off. My overactive conscience is a pain.

I got two phone calls today. The first was from my boss checking on me to see if I needed anything and whether I was feeling well physically and mentally. He tries to call about once a week and always makes sure to ask about my family and my dog. The second phone call was from a teacher who is running for the Shelby County School Board and she was calling to request my vote on August 6 -- speaking of voting, I should update my voter registration address. The candidate asked me if I had been affected by the lockdown and was genuinely surprised to hear that I still had a job, thus I had not been affected financially.

She seemed to be on the ball in terms of her campaign organization, but I'm not sure her platform makes sense. She's justifiably concerned about the children who do not have Internet access and cannot participate in school activities during the pandemic. Her proposed solution to the problem is to create hot spots in the schools, so that the nearby houses can connect to the Internet. She assumed that I did not know what a hot spot was and tried to explain it by using the example of Starbucks; of course, she fails to grasp that Starbucks' hot spots go as far as their parking lot.

I suggested that she needed to organize volunteers to work with the children, but that's probably not a wise solution either. God knows all the weirdos who are out there waiting for such an opportunity. Plus, I am emabarassed to say that I basically repeated a variation of Governor Bill Lee's idea of asking volunteers to babysit the kids while schools were closed and their parents were working. As I said, I am embarassed that I uttered such a stupid idea.

My second idea was much better, though: ask the Internet service providers to donate dongles to the kids, but, alas, I didn't tell her about it. I considered it, but realized that it would take me a long time to explain, as I assumed she did not know what a dongle was.

In other news, which are basically the same these days, William H. Grey, the demographer with the Brookings Institution, has been tracking the spread of coronavirus by county in the U.S., using NYT and U.S. Census Bureau data. The map that he published on April 29 does not bode well for our health. The virus is spreading in rural U.S., in places such as the Texas Panhandle where temperatures have been breaking records, close to 40° Celcius, thus forget about the prospect of a summer respite.

Version 2.001

The U.S. personal savings rate has jumped to 13.1%, the highest percentage value since November 1981. Of course, if GDP falls, it will be even higher. The 1981 recession was due to the Fed Reserve, at the time led by Paul Volcker, increasing the interest rate to fight inflation. In his letter to shareholders, Warren Buffet praised Jay Powell, the current Fed Chairman, profusely and said that he had always put Volcker on a pedestal, but that Powell's willingness to step into the market so early on had put him up there, close to the top of the pedestal.

This crisis is strange not just for the implications to our health, but also because, after we've intentionally inflicted the biggest beating to the economy since the Great Depression, the overall demeanor of people does not seem as desperate as during the subprime crisis. In my personal case, the only times in which I have felt sheer panic were when I had been walking the dog and people would strike a conversation and start to get close.

As soon as someone looked my way and smiled, I could feel the beginning of an anxiety attack. I was taken back to my childhood, when I would walk outside and pray that no neighbor would speak to me. I was perceived to be rude and stuck up, but what I suffered from was fear, extreme fear of talking to other people. So I was taken aback by the resurgence of my early childhood phobia.

I worked on overcoming my panic by reverting to what seems like a more logical approach. I am five feet tall and the social distancing guidelines indicate at least a six-foot separation between people, thus I began to measure in my head the distance between myself and others by evaluating whether I could comfortably fit between the other person and myself, were I to lie down. It still feels overly contrived, but things are settling down.

Since I began working from home on March 16, I have gone shopping three times and today I ordered Uber Eats for the second time. It ends up being quite expensive, since I make sure to tip the driver well and I also put extra money for the restaurant, but I am not spending money going out to eat or even driving to work, so I still come out ahead. Other than that, I always make my own meals and I have been really good about not wasting food.

I did run into a minor snafu on the food front, though. There is some leftover quinoa that I cannot bring myself to eat. I am not a big fan to begin with, but I noticed that the other time I had it, I did not feel well. My face started burning and itching, so I am wondering if I am allergic to it or it could have been contaminated with rice or gluten. I should just dump it.

J. Crew filed for bankrupcy today. I cannot imagine life without J. Crew, so I hope they are able to get the company's affairs in order.

De desconfinado a desconfiado: reflexões de um velho

Há quarenta e sete dias que não saía de casa. Saí hoje, uma vez que disciplinadamente me foi permitido fazê-lo: fui desconfinado! Não o digo com azedume. Compreendi muito bem que o que me pediam tinha fundamento e abdiquei, com pena mas sem esforço, do hábito que há uns três anos criara de caminhar, todos os dias, perto de cinco quilómetros. Isto a bem da minha saúde futura. Porque, apesar dos meus 84 anos, continuo a pensar que tenho futuro. É evidente que eu sou um privilegiado: estou na minha casa, suficientemente ampla e confortável, com todos os meios de comunicação actualmente disponíveis, com a minha Mulher, e com a assistência da Filha que, embora a distância, continua diariamente connosco, partilhando até, via Skype, as refeições festivas das datas que calharam neste tempo esquisito, os dias do Pai e da Mãe e o dia dos meus anos. Penso muitas vezes em quem não tem esta sorte, os que vivem em lares ou sozinhos, sem família, em condições precárias. Reconheço a dificuldade em tentar resolver o problema, mas esse teria de ter tido, porventura, maior atenção.

Version 2.0

"Only Rita would start a sentence with 'I was planning to go to Paris in June'" said my neighbor, followed by laughter, in the middle of our second pandemic birthday party in the neighborhood. We got together in the service alley between the backs of the houses, had Straw-ber-Ritas, gluten-free cupcakes, chocolate marbled cake, and Brazilian cheese bread, which I made. We talked about my newly acquired biography of Dora Maar, hence my reference to Paris, gardening, pets, real estate, and the pandemic. All conversations lead to the pandemic: it has become the Rome of topics.

Some neighbors feel that we need to get this over and done with, just follow the Swedish model, but I feel that reality is more nuanced than just building herd immunity. Perhaps Dan Patrick, Texas's Lt. Governor framed it best when he said that many senior citizens would be willing to take a chance and sacrifice themselves so as to not hurt the country. But who are these people? There is a cartoon that I find fitting. In one frame someone asks a crowd who wants to change and all reply that they do, then in the next frame the crowd is asked who wants to change and nobody raises their hand.

Everything that we stand for as a society is that those that are strong sacrifice to protect the weak. That's one of the main differences between us and other animals; that's what makes us human. In other species, the weak are often sacrificed to protect the group because instinct drives the survival of the species, not of the individual.

Over the last 100 years, we have built modern man on exactly the opposite paradigm through the development of medicine, agriculture, safety standards that protect the individual, etc., even if that means that we as a species become weaker because we have ensured that many unfit individuals survive. And now this microscopic creature shows up and forces us to declare a preference.

My neighbors who advocate the Swedish model are convinced that they had Covid-19 at the end of February. Their premise is that if made it through and they're in their early 70s, it can't be that bad. I wonder if they would have the same opinion if one of them had died.

In the end, all of this is quite pointless. We are all going to die anyway, thus we merely manage the time of death, not death itself. Each of us remains insignificant, regardless.

Duas semanas depois

Como vos escrevi há duas semanas, tenho estado a acompanhar os números de óbitos e de mortes oficiais por Covid-19. Grande parte da minha análise limita-se a calcular desvios dos óbitos de 2020 relativamente ao que seria esperado pré-Covid-19. Nos dados oficiais de casos e mortes, devemos ter em conta que há um atraso de mais de uma semana relativamente aos outros países europeus, pois na Europa ocidental, Portugal foi dos últimos países a identificar o primeiro caso de Covid-19.

Vamos lá ver...

Começo com esta expressão tão comum do nosso Primeiro Ministro porque foi a sua entrevista à LUSA, de que li excertos no Diário deNotícias de hoje, que me levou a, não perdendo o balanço destes últimos dias em que escrevi sobre a revolução que começou e vai continuar este ano com o ensino a distância nas nossas escolas, dizer mais sobre o assunto.

Que disse António Costa? Segundo a entrevistadora, ele afirmou que no próximo ano letivo haverá acesso universal dos alunos dos ensinos básico e secundário à Internet e a equipamentos informáticos, e, questionado se cada aluno vai ter um computador, respondeu: “É muito mais do que isso. É muito mais do que ter um computador ou um tablet. É ter isso e possuir acesso garantido à rede em condições de igualdade em todo o território nacional e em todos os contextos familiares, assim como as ferramentas pedagógicas adequadas para se poder trabalhar plenamente em qualquer circunstância com essas ferramentas digitais".

Já agora...

… que me abalancei ontem a publicar um texto sobre o futuro deste ano lectivo, vou comentar a decisão de hoje do governo sobre o assunto. Assisti calmamente à longa intervenção do Primeiro-Ministro e ao jogo de perguntas e respostas habitual nestas conferências de imprensa, e ainda que tenham ficado por esclarecer alguns aspectos do que foi aprovado, as linhas orientadoras são claras. Depois, apreciei também reacções de alguns parceiros do Ministério da Educação, que foram, na generalidade, de aprovação.

Percebo perfeitamente a lógica das medidas tomadas. Na situação de emergência em que vivemos queremos que os políticos que governam tomem decisões. Acontece, porém, que precisamente porque a situação é complexa, a tomada de decisões é muito arriscada: por isso o governo aprovou medidas prudentes e aparentemente consensuais. Acentuou sempre a prioridade na luta contra o Covid-19 respeitando as orientações das entidades responsáveis da saúde. Mas ao mesmo tempo aproveitou para temperar essa posição de cautela (“porque ninguém pode prever quando isto acaba”) com a notícia de que o 3º período do ano lectivo começa de acordo com o calendário no dia 14 de Abril…  com toda a normalidade… 

A grande divergência entre o que eu penso seria a melhor solução e a decisão do governo está na manutenção do ensino básico “a distância”, com o tal apoio da Telescola (muito bem encaixada na RTP Memória!) e com avaliação final, exceptuado o exame do 9º ano e provas de aferição. Estarei atento ao que se vai passar mas não auguro que sejam tempos fáceis para professores e alunos estes meses de um ensino “a distância” misto.  É grande a minha curiosidade acerca de como vão ser integrados os elementos fornecidos via TV na programação que os professores irão gizar nas suas disciplinas. E temo que a imposição de uma avaliação de contornos perigosamente vagos venha a causar grandes perturbações. Perdoe-se-me o que vou dizer: houve falta de coragem para tomar a decisão certa, isto é, não haver qualquer avaliação. Não vejo como vai ser possível um docente definir uma avaliação que objectivamente considere justa para todos os alunos nestes tempos conturbados.

De resto, as medidas tomadas estão de acordo com o que expus ontem. A conclusão do secundário teria sempre de ter um exame – a não ser que a entrada no ensino superior fosse diferente. Devia ser, aliás – mas isso é outro problema e nunca seria desejável uma mudança sob pressão das circunstâncias.

Temos definido um percurso para os próximos meses de um ano escolar algo complicado, único. Apesar das minhas reticências em relação à solução ensaiada para o ensino básico (e nem sequer quero ter a presunção de ter razão) quero acreditar que todos os intervenientes no processo vão fazer o seu melhor. E – quem sabe! – até pode acontecer que desta experiência improvisada por uma circunstância fortuita se possam encontrar pistas inovadoras a considerar num futuro.

Consequências do Covid-19 na educação: que fazer do resto do ano lectivo?

Tenho pensado em como se pode (ou, talvez com mais propriedade, como se deve) decidir o complicado problema do presente ano lectivo, interrompido pelo surto do Covid-19. Algumas vezes, faço-o como se partilhasse alguma responsabilidade como quadro do Ministério da Educação (situação em que estive no passado durante uns anos); outras como professor, que fui durante muito tempo: cerca de nove anos no ensino secundário, dois numa escola do magistério primário, e mais de vinte no ensino superior (politécnico e universitário), neste último caso como docente, tendo exercido alguns cargos de gestão.

É verdade que há praticamente catorze anos estou afastado das lides escolares, mas acredito que apesar das mudanças – ou, talvez, por causa delas – o meu pensamento não terá perdido a vertente de coerência que sempre quis manter. Por isso senti-me hoje tentado a pôr por escrito o que tenho pensado. Previno que o que vou dizer aplica-se quer ao ensino dispensado pela escola pública quer ao privado. E ainda que não faço qualquer referência aos alunos que na escola inclusiva (que se deseja) tenham dificuldades de aprendizagem.