“INTERACTIVE U” IN THE U.S.A.

Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age, and die.

Online education continues to be the newly growing trend that Gerald Celente had forecast in 1996 in his book Trends 2000: How to Prepare for and Profit from the Changes of the 21st Century.

Last week in Chicago, educational officials announced due to rising cases of COVID, all classes in the fall will be online.

The same strategy is being planned in all Boston public schools, while Dallas educators have delayed reopening schools until 8 September as they consider what options to take.

Decisions to keep physical classrooms closed and limit all education to remote learning already have been made in Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Houston; Atlanta; and Philadelphia.

Last week, Princeton University announced all undergraduate students will be “fully remote” for the upcoming fall semester.

Princeton’s President Christopher L. Eisgruber issued a letter stating the decision to not open classrooms was due to New Jersey’s high virus rate, which “has led us to conclude that we cannot provide a genuinely meaningful on-campus experience for our undergraduate students this fall in a manner that is respectful of public health concerns and consistent with state regulations and guidance.”

In early July, Harvard, Yale, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst announced nearly all classes will be online.

On 20 July, several Black colleges in Georgia, including Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta University announced the fall semester would be online. The University of California, Berkeley announced the same plan around that time.

While there are currently more than 500 colleges and universities saying they will reopen classrooms, every week has seen more and more choosing to go fully online.

Teachers and Parents: Courageous or Fear-Driven?

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in mid-July, only one out of four American adults think it’s safe enough to reopen schools, citing the recent rise in infection rates. The poll also revealed four in ten parents confirmed they would keep their children home if classes resume.

As for teachers, in July, the Los Angeles teachers’ union, the second largest in the country, issued a demand for full-time remote learning, calling the push to reopen schools in the fall “dangerous, anti-science agenda that puts the lives of our members, our students and our families at risk.”

And in early June, a poll conducted by Education Week showed 65 percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders surveyed strongly advocated that school buildings should remain closed to slow the spread of the virus.

TRENDPOST: All of this fear of reopening schools among both educators and parents in the U.S. exists despite positive results from the 20 countries which have schools operating and no increased spread, along with strong advocacy from the CDC to reopen schools. According to the CDC:

“The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Death rates among school-aged children are much lower than among adults. At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant.”

TRENDPOST: As we have and will continue to note, as global economies decline and online courses increase, there will be new, strong political movements for governments to lower school taxes. The argument will be that with online learning, far fewer teachers will be needed and all costs related to brick-and-mortar school buildings will be substantially lower, thus, taxes should be sharply cut.
This anti-tax movement, in addition to anti-vaccine movements, will serve as platforms for new Freedom Parties.

TREND FORECAST: As we had forecast at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak when schools across the globe were shut down in March, it signaled the onset of a 21st century online learning system, “Interactive U,” which Gerald Celente had forecast in 1996. 

The new education system that will replace the current one, which was invented by the Prussians at the onset of the Industrial Revolution, will offer great investment rewards for OnTrendpreneurs® who wish to seize on this megatrend.

At this time, Indian companies are leading the field of online learning.