剧变, 动荡, 在整个人类历史上，变化一直伴随着我们, and these tectonic-shaping forces seem to be fully eng年龄d in 2020.
当我思考今年发生的事情时，我的思绪回到了另一个动荡的年份，1968年. Throughout much of 1968, a thoughtful American could have wondered, with much justification, 美国民主的伟大实验是否处于崩溃的边缘. Multiple thr吃s were evident: violent anti-war riots were happening on many college campuses; the Tet Offensive underscored an increasing belief that the President and Pentagon had lied to the American people about ‘winning’ the Vietnam war; deep racial divisions fueled violence in multiple cities and was punctuated by the assassination of Martin Luther King; and only a few months later, 总统候选人罗伯特·肯尼迪遇刺事件震动了整个政治体系.
我不记得自1968年以来，我曾想过美国民主是否受到了根本性的威胁, or if the core DNA that defines who we are as a people, 作为一个国家, was thr吃ened with essential alteration. 直到2020年. I vividly remember my thoughts and feelings throughout 1968. 现在，我想知道，随着2020年的到来，我的学生们会有什么想法和感受?
Human history is mostly evolutionary in its nature, punctuated by moments of life-altering revolutions. 动乱和动荡是激进变革的引擎，无论是积极的还是消极的，对人类和他们创造的社会都是如此. Solebury students are now witnesses to such upheaval and 动荡. A global pandemic has altered everything about how we work, 学习, 旅行, 假期, 吃, 收集, 重新创建, 交互, 诸如此类. Layered over this global thr吃, 几个世纪以来的系统性种族主义，在我们国家诞生之初就根植于我们的国家结构之中，现在正以美国人从未见过的方式受到挑战. 职业、大学和学校运动队的名称正在改变. The names of schools and colleges are being replaced. Monuments are being removed. “黑人的命也是命”运动让美国关注自己的过去、现在和未来. 这将是我们最终摆脱系统性种族主义的时候吗?
索利伯里的学生每天面对的是一个自1860年或1968年以来最分裂的国家, observing a political system incapable of unifying our nation, or offering its people leadership, 面对流行病和强大的种族平等运动. 事实上, 在最高层，我们民主的一个基本支柱- -权力的和平移交- -正受到质疑和挑战.
如果动荡不安和变化弥漫在2020年笼罩我们的气氛中, this air is also laced with hope. The young people who populate 韦德娱乐app下载地址 are the most accepting, 包容, 在我45年的教育生涯中，我接触过的最开放的学生. They give me hope; they are the future. 土地管理局的运动可能只是最终打开大门的楔子的末端，释放出一股猛烈的风，吹过我们的社会，从我们的许多机构中根除系统性的种族主义, putting us firmly on the path of real change for all Americans. 这一流行病使我们社会中贫富之间的根本差距大为突出. With this knowledge that we can no longer ignore, 或埋葬, 我们现在会选择创造一个人人都有机会的社会吗, 而且不止几个?
I have long held fast to the belief, 希望, that the root of all progress we as a species have made, 并且永远不会, 是教育. 在我写下这些话的时候，距离2020-21学年的开学还有41天. We are four months and a few days hence from March 12th...the date our universe at Solebury was turned upside down by Covid-19. 然而,, despite the upheaval, 骚乱, and the change in our daily lives, 索伯里致力于提供高质量的教育并维持我们的社区. Whatever the virus holds for us on the opening day of class, 9月10日, 我们将继续提供这个强大的教育和培育社区.
动荡、动荡和变化无疑永远不会从人类的经历中消失. Education cannot take a break either.