An Inconvenient Truth

Last week a local news outfit reached out asking if someone in the college would be willing to be part of a story on how the pandemic is changing things forever.  I responded to my communications and marketing team that I wasn’t their guy because I didn’t think the pandemic was going to change much and that stories like this are just hype.  They found someone else.

My response was a bit of an exaggeration. In short, I think the changes that will last are those where companies found ways to offer customers greater convenience at a cost they could swallow. This hasn’t been entirely sorted out in that customers sought safety first and that was typically delivered in a convenient manner  often at no cost because companies were willing to sacrifice some margin just to survive. Going forward, if safety is no longer an issue, it will come down to what people will pay for a convenience. I’m thinking things like meal delivery services and telemedicine for minor health issues might fall into this category.

I also admit that my response was driven in part by my own industry where speculation is rampant about the end of face-to-face education because online modalities are just so convenient for everyone. The primary problem I have with this argument is that learning is never convenient. The best lessons are learned hard. Transformation and understanding come from the struggle. If you’re not willing to get out of your pajamas or your house to learn something new, how likely is it that you’re really going to learn something you didn’t already know? This doesn’t mean things should be made needlessly complicated (that’s just annoying). Nor does it mean that good grades or a certification cannot be earned without effort. They clearly can. But good grades and learning are different things. The key point is that the future of education doesn’t lie in convenience; it lies in increasing understanding, transforming minds and giving people hope for a better future. Whatever methods best produce those outcomes at a price people are willing to pay will prevail. That was true before the pandemic and it will be true after it, as well.