There is, quite understandably, a huge hunger for good news right now. Coronavirus is so all-consuming, so potentially overwhelming, that people are searching for any shafts of light within the gloom.
No wonder. Turn on the radio and it’s no longer the reassuring background buzz of speech and music as you tuck into your cornflakes but a loudspeaker for ever-worsening Covid-19 statistics. Step outside the front door and the incongruous mix of silence and springtime sun is disorientating. Look to the week ahead and the usual markers have disappeared: no morning swim, no pint or cuppa with your friend, no rushing to your children’s dance lesson, no daydreaming about your Easter weekend away.
The usual wheel of routine has crumbled, leaving new space in our minds for anxiety - and an aching desire for some sort of cheer.
And there is plenty to be found: the stoic selflessness of NHS staff, the neighbours becoming more neighbourly, the children giving away their pocket money, the creation of a Scottish volunteer force. As the cliché has it, a crisis brings out the best in people - or maybe it shows goodness that’s already there but rarely makes it into the spotlight.
If anyone is looking for more tonics like these, they should get online to see the altruism and generosity that is rippling through - and beyond - education.
It will seem almost like ancient history by the time you read this, but last week was momentous. It already feels like the new normal, but let’s not forget the huge change that a huge number of people had to get used to, as pupils and students at nurseries, schools and colleges spent the week away from places that were constants in their lives.
The ramifications are so vast and wide ranging that no one understands them fully yet, but one immediate requirement was getting people fed. This huge logistical challenge resulted in some amazing work by staff who showed boundless dedication. As just one example, Glasgow City Council sent £20 of Farmfoods vouchers to around 32,000 households (with more to come) - the magnitude of the feat was shown in a picture of tottering plastic crates crammed full with envelopes. North Ayrshire delivered boxes of fresh ingredients and recipe ideas to families of children who receive free school meals - and there were plenty more similar stories.
Last week, people were also cheered up by Stephen Stewart, a teacher at Lochaber High, who was using the school’s 3D printer to make visors for NHS staff in the nearby Belford Hospital. After that, several more schools started sharing pictures showing how they were using equipment to create production lines for essential items in the health service.
One word from one person on Twitter summed up the general reaction: “amazing”.
This instinct to help doesn’t have to find a hi-tech outlet. When I went for my permitted daily exercise with my younger daughter last Sunday, I saw one of the staff at a care home mopping up outside and asked if there was anything we could do to help. She said some artwork by children would cheer up the elderly residents no end. The next morning, serendipitously, a teacher at my daughters’ school tweeted to say it would be great to see some artwork by the pupils. When she heard what the care home worker had said, she encouraged all her junior Picassos to share a masterpiece with people in their community.
If children’s creative energies can raise a little cheer, everyone benefits: those getting the gift and those who, in these trying times, find purpose in their acts of generosity.
Nurseries, schools and colleges are altruistic: they exist to improve the lives of others. Now, that desire to do good for others is fanning out far beyond their own front doors - just when it is most needed.
@Henry_Hepburn
This article originally appeared in the 3 April 2020 issue under the headline “The selflessness of school staff is a shaft of light amid the gloom”
