COVID-19

"Return to Rigor" Isn't the Answer to Restoring Student Engagement

by Kevin Gannon

A post-COVID reaction to the improvisations made on grades, schedules and deadlines supposes that students are suffering from too much flexibility, but a singular focus on rigor won't address the causes of disengagment. 

Neil Gorsuch's Understanding of Major Civil Liberties Infringement May Have a Few Gaps

When the Supreme Court Justice called COVID restrictions "the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country" he seems to have revealed his own view that the rights of white men are the ones that count. 

To Understand Antivaxers, Consider Aristotle

There is a long history of refusal of scientific discovery; does this explain hesitancy or refusal of COVID vaccines? 

The Next Election Will Be a Fight over Our Memory of the Pandemic

by Jacob Steere-Williams and Gavin Yamey

Candidates seeking to claim either party's nomination in 2024 are going to try to convince the public that their COVID policies protected both health and freedom. Before they win the votes, they have to win the battle of how Americans remember the pandemic. 

Keri Leigh Merritt on the Politics of Grief and the Power of Historians' Witness to COVID

Three years since the public became aware of the seriousness of the COVID pandemic, a recent collection of essays turns the skills of historians toward reflection on grief, survival, and connecting understanding of the past to a better collective future.

Why Burned-Out Teachers are Heading for the Door

America's teachers are a diverse group, and the sources of their frustration likewise. But it's clear that a flood of educators out of the profession is a risk for America's schools as the pandemic is being followed by political interference with curriculum and book selection. 

Can a "Return to Normal" Happen Without Repairing Sociability?

by Nate Holdren

The push to return to many pre-pandemic modes of working and living is taking place without sufficient provision for mitigating risk, and with seriously damaged bonds of trust and mutual support; people are again in proximity to each other, but far from being together. 

National Parks Not Immune from National Tantrums

by Tiya Miles

Yellowstone National Park's 150th anniversary saw visitors and staff dealing with the same kinds of frayed civility and random abuse plaguing the rest of the nation. For better or worse, our parks are us. 

A Whitmer-DeSantis Showdown Would Put Two Visions of Public Health on the Ballot

by Andrew Wehrman

History suggests that Whitmer's approach to public responsibility for pandemic control works better than DeSantis's individualistic framework for controlling disease. Which one might win votes is another question. 

What Links COVID and Curriculum Conflicts in Schools?

Education historians Jack Schneider and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explain why there's a significant overlap between parents, especially conservatives, who objected to pandemic school closures and those who are demanding more control over curriculum decisions. 

The Selective Politics of the "Learning Loss" Debate

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Discussions of the disruption to learning caused by COVID-related school closures often ignore the endemic inequalities in American education and exposure to harm from COVID, and sideline the voices of teachers who have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous state of their facilities for years. 

The Risks of Declaring the Pandemic Over

by Molly Nebiolo

As long as America has had pandemics, it has had leaders who sought political benefit by declaring them over, so Joe Biden is in good company. But moving on needs to include planning ahead. 

COVID Shows the US as a Country Kept from Grieving

Historians Rhae Lynn Barnes, Keri Leigh Merritt, and Yohuru Williams have edited a new collection of essays putting the pandemic in historical perspective, with contributors showing how the pandemic robbed us of both life and time. 

I was Fired for Asking My Students to Wear Masks

by Michael Phillips

Sometimes academic freedom is about the ability of professors to advocate on behalf of the campus community's health against administrators who prefer silence as a matter of political expediency. 

Using DDT to Fight Polio was a Mistake, but Learning from it was Valuable

by Elena Conis

Recent Ivermectin mania echoes the moment in 1940s America when spurious science led American communities to demand to be sprayed with the noxious insecticide, believing it would prevent polio outbreaks; the episode underscores the need for patience in pursuing public health. 

Faculty Committee: U of Florida Fast-Tracked DeSantis Surgeon General Pick Into Faculty Post

The university’s faculty committee cited procedural irregularities in how Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo gained a tenured position.

What Can the History of Antivax Movements Tell Us about the Future of COVID?

Medical historian Nadja Durbach and philosopher Maya Goldenberg explain that challenges posed by vaccine resistance and mistrust of health authorities are not new; the lesson to learn isn't that resistance is inevitable, but that some of the social conflicts supporting it can be addressed.

How did this Level of Death Become Normal?

In absolute and relative terms, The United States has fared horribly in the coronavirus pandemic. Historians and social scientists help writer Ed Yong explain why the nation meets mass death with a collective shrug. 

The Paranoid Style Comes to Canadian Politics

by Eric Merkley

Canadian politics, until recently, seemed free of the kind of extreme sorting taking place in other democracies, where partisan affiliation, cultural values, and religious or ethnic identity all align closely. The Ottawa protests show cracks in the nation's liberal order that the far right is trying to exploit, says a political scientist.

Seat Belt Law History Shows Public Protections Don't Have to be Partisan

by Erica Westly

Seat belt laws originated in the conservative state of Tennessee, but spread with remarkable success to other states. Can this guide public policy around today's controversies like mask and vaccine mandates?