Elementary school students in Wiesbaden (in June): In many places, more symbolic acts remained
Photo: Arne Dedert / DPAThe first Corona summer is gradually coming to an end. And nobody knows how many will follow. The long-awaited safe vaccine is not in sight, nor is there any healing treatment. This is the situation: For the foreseeable future, Covid-19 will help determine our everyday lives. We have no choice but to live with the epidemic, to work and, even that, to learn.
To the author
Henrik Müller is professor for economic journalism at the Technical University of Dortmund. Before that, the graduate economist worked as deputy editor-in-chief of manager magazin. In addition, Müller is the author of numerous books on economic and monetary issues. Every week he gives a pointed outlook on the most important economic events of the week for SPIEGEL.
Lessons begin on Monday in Berlin, Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein, and on Wednesday in North Rhine-Westphalia. The school year is starting, but how it will go is largely unclear to students and parents.
What could pass as an exceptional situation at the beginning of the pandemic has now to give way to a new normal - a state that is sustainable for everyone involved and for society as a whole. Or rather: that's how it should be. But it is not like that.
We are not yet adjusted to the new normal
In the first phase of the corona crisis, the focus was on containing the pandemic. That was right. Little was known about the virus, its transmission routes and risks. Accordingly, public life was largely shut down. The schools closed on March 13th.
The first schools reopened six weeks later. But in many places it was more symbolic acts: a few hours a week, spread over a few days. Comprehensive, continuous full-time teaching was out of the question. And it is to be feared that it will continue in the new school year. And not because of local school closings, which may be inevitable here and there in the event of limited outbreaks of the epidemic, but because we are not yet adjusted to the new normal and still hope to be able to return to the pre-corona state soon.
"A reliable technical and organizational infrastructure that could cope with a complete closure of educational institutions does not yet exist in Germany," stated the Leopoldina, the national academy of science, in a statement a few days ago.
It cannot and must not go on like this. The schools - and universities - must remain functional even under Corona conditions. This is not just a matter of fairness towards students and parents, who were largely thrown back on themselves during the shutdown phase. This is also a requirement of economic reason: The costs of the schools-out approach are gigantic in the long run, not only for the "generation lockdown", but for society as a whole.
Home schooling as a visitation
Home schooling is not a substitute for classroom teaching. Social contacts wither, the learning intensity decreases. A survey by the Ifo Institute comes to the result that the time in which children spend time at school under shutdown conditions has been halved: from seven and a half to three and a half hours a day. A third of the pupils surveyed only spent two hours a day studying. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) had previously produced similar results.
Sure, most students will be able to make up the learning gaps this spring if lessons normalize from now on. However, if the new normal consists of further cancellations and shortening of lessons, e-mail homework and video lessons, this will have a lasting impact on the lives of many students.
Those who suffer from missed lessons in their youth have to cope with lower incomes as adults. As a rule of thumb, education economists assume that four months of school closure reduce subsequent income by an average of 2.5 percent annually.
A failure of the education system causes immense costs for the economy as a whole. Researchers at the Washington think tank Brookings have calculated terrifying figures for the USA: According to them, the long-term costs of a four-month school closure add up to 2.5 trillion dollars, 12.7 percent of the US economic output.
Working mothers and their "extra care work"
From a global perspective, the costs can hardly be overestimated. More than a billion schoolchildren and students are currently affected by corona-related educational impairments, Unesco calculates.
The longer this phase lasts, the more unbearable the resulting stresses become. Based on this consideration, Taiwan and Denmark have reopened schools and daycare centers early on. Elsewhere it's more sluggish. And if the virus outbreaks again, closings are threatened again.
A study by scientists led by Russel Viner from University College London warns that alternatives to the practice of school closings must be developed. Education is one of the "strongest influencing factors on the health and prosperity" of a society. Long-term school closings have serious effects on education levels, future incomes, the health of the generation concerned and future economic productivity levels, according to the researchers. Politicians cannot avoid such long-term ones Weighing costs against epidemiological benefits.
The material and immaterial losses incurred by the parents of these students - and by their employers - are not even taken into account. Those who are stuck in the homeschooling / home office trap can hardly develop their full productivity. This also affects economic performance as a whole, as does individual career opportunities.
Mothers are particularly affected, as researchers from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) put a "large part of the additional care work" on them. In a study they found that the life satisfaction of mothers in households with children under 16 years of age fell noticeably in the course of the shutdown, an effect that was not noticeable in men. Fathers can rave about slowing down and having regular meals with their family. For mothers, this was clearly an ambivalent experience. When in doubt, everything suffers: the children, the job, the partnership.
Whatever it takes!
In view of the immense costs, the authorities should invest massively so that educational institutions are suitable for everyday life in the Corona era. The primary goal: Schools should remain reliably open whenever possible - and whatever it takes .
If additional rooms are required, renting vacant exhibition grounds or hotel rooms should not fail because of the money. If additional staff is needed, hiring skilled people from other industries who will lose their jobs in the wake of the recession should not be taboo. If the mask requirement in the classroom makes teaching safer, we should get used to it. If air purification systems and room dividers actually reduce the risk of infection by corona-contaminated aerosols, they should be installed.
Whether the money is available for such measures is a question of political priorities. In the first phase of the corona crisis, the main focus was on combating the economic and social consequences. Lobbyists from all industries and trade unions stood in line and offered each other proposals to spend state money. The result is the largest support program in German economic history.
However, students do not have a powerful lobby. Most of them are not even of voting age. And as far as the parents are concerned - especially if they are caught in the home office home schooling trap - they really have other things to do than get involved politically, take to the streets or otherwise in their legitimate interests to draw attention.
This makes the political pressure from employers and trade unions all the more important. During the shutdown in spring, when many companies suffered from a massive drop in sales, short-time employees in home schooling may seem dispensable for the companies. But in the course of the gradual economic recovery, since it is a matter of ramping up production again and innovatively adapting to sometimes radically changed markets, employees are needed who can give their job undivided attention during working hours. Company managements and works councils should therefore have a vital interest in reliably open schools. Whatever it takes.
The most important business dates of the week ahead
Monday Up Arrow Down Arrow
Berlin / Potsdam / Kiel - Fit for Covid I - Start of the school year in Berlin, Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
Beijing - Corona Inflation or Deflation? - China's statistical office publishes figures on the development of consumer prices in July.
Reporting season I - Porsche SE business figures.
Tuesday Up Arrow Down Arrow
Reporting season II - business figures from Aurubis, Jungheinrich, Prudential.
Wednesday Up Arrow Down Arrow
Düsseldorf - Fit for Covid II - Start of the school year in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Reporting season III - business figures from Eon, Salzgitter, Talanx, HHLA, Singulus, Bechtle, KfW.
Thursday Up Arrow Down Arrow
Reporting season IV - business figures from Deutsche Telekom, RWE, Deutsche Wohnen, United Internet, TUI, K + S, Douglas, Axel Springer, RTL, Drägerwerk, Nordex, Freenet, SGL Group.
Friday Up Arrow Down Arrow
Beijing - everything on schedule !? - China's statistics bureau released data on the development of the economy in July.
Luxembourg - low point or trend reversal - Eurostat publishes a flash estimate of economic performance and employment in the euro area and the EU as a whole in the second quarter.
Reporting season V - business figures from Hapag-Lloyd, Hella, Varta.