The "Learning In The Amish Community" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Heading back from a trip to the grocery store in nearby Lititz, Pennsylvania.  Traffic is light, but thought I would head back through the back roads to see how the planting is progressing on the many Amish farms in the area.  

One-room Amish School on Fairview Road sets idle.

Passed an Amish one-room school and began to wonder how they handled the recent COVID crisis.  There are about 250-or-so Amish and Old Order Mennonite one-room schools in Pennsylvania and wasn't sure if they closed or stayed open after Pennsylvania's Governor Wolf ordered all Pennsylvania schools to close.  As it turned out, most all Amish schools closed their doors to there classes.  But, as in other public and private schools, learning never stopped.  Now, they didn't go online as quite a few other schools in the state did, since Amish do not have electricity in their homes or have access to the Internet.  The Amish schools switched to remote assignments with paper and pencil.  In most cases, the teachers, who are mostly young women who haven't been married yet, sent home worksheets and textbooks, giving instructions as to how to finish their lessons for the remainder of the school year.  Many of the teachers live closeby their school assignment and were able to visit with the students if it was necessary.  Some teachers even gave individualized instruction at their home or the home of the student.  Being that most Amish schools have only about 30 students, with many being siblings, it wouldn't be hard to visit a home to give instructions.  

Another school on Snake Hill Road also sets idle.

The teacher could walk, ride a horse, take a scooter, ride in their buggy or use an "Amish Taxi" which is driven by a non-Amish person.  Since Amish schools only go to the eighth grade, most students don't have a tremendous amount of homework in the first place.  Especially since the virus arrived close to the beginning of the growing season and most families would expect their children to help in the Spring planting, therefore hoping that their teacher hadn't given homework.  I did find one website that told of Amish teachers handing out schoolwork two times a week to at least try to stay on schedule.  The Amish don't normally listen to "English" (non-Amish) rules and guidelines and the decision to close schools was one of those rules handed down by the "English" State.  The decision to close schools was guided by the local Amish Steering Committees which are groups of laymen that serve as a liaison to various levels of government.  But, they did follow their "English" neighbors as far as closing the school door.  The Amish took the COVID crisis very seriously and respected the public health aspect of it and the guidelines handed down by the Governor.  Being that they don't stop school for holidays and other breaks, they finished school a few weeks ago anyway.  Again, the planting season usually signals the end of the school year in the Amish school.  Will they return in the fall as others will probably do?  My guess is they will more than likely stick to the same starting schedule as their "English" neighbors do.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.