It was great to see the published paper copy of our article: “Realities of Implementing Community-Based Learning during Lockdown: Lessons from a Troubled Journey.” You can see photos of the authors below.
In the Editor’s Introduction to the Schools Studies in Education issue, Andy Kaplan writes,
In “Realities of Implementing Community-Based Learning during Lockdown: Lessons from a Troubled Year,” Raunak Chaudhari, Smriti Karanjit Manandhar, and Bertram C. Bruce examine the fortunes and misfortunes they encountered implementing a program at King’s College in Kathmandu, Nepal. They had conceived the program as a meaningful experiment in education reform, an effort to connect classroom learning to the needs and desires of the world outside the university. Although the onset of the pandemic seriously altered the original design of the course, the course provided many valuable experiences as well as an important example of how the ambitions of integrated learning create conditions of adaptability that are well suited to emergent and emergency circumstances.
Chip's journey 
That’s a compelling story. I’m sorry that his talents went unrecognized and unrewarded.
Here’s a passage from my next book (“Beyond the Classroom Walls”):
Similarly, learning through work must be seen as a central part of the education process. We need better ways to certify field trips, museums, libraries, community centers, practica, internships, work experiences, clinical training, and other non-classroom forms of learning. This implies that the school is more than one among many activities in our society; it is, or can become, the social center of the community. Community schools today fulfill many aspects of that function, but they are underfunded, and the work they do for the community is often seen as ancillary to the primary education function. We need to support and expand community schools. But most public schools are already underfunded. Support for engaging with the community rarely exists.
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I think the pandemic offered school systems the opportunity to revamp and modernize education, esp in the US, where it is usually dated and meant for the industrial age. Sadly I haven’t heard about this being done. I give Sam as an example. He spent hours and dollars and computer time learning how to fix cars and bikes. Upon graduation academic successes were noted for some of the students, students like Sam were not given credit or recognition for what they had accomplished. I am sure he was not the only teens who followed his passion and interests to learn about what interested him/her. His mini graduation ceremony at METCO hadn’t a clue that he had done this, couldn’t even pronounce his last name. (Read as Legno). Every kid should/could have been invited to write a one page, no more, about what they had done, and gotten credit for it. Schools in Switzerland on that level has teens graduated having started a career.
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