Briefing | Lessons from disaster

How covid-19 is inspiring education reform

Catching up will be hard to do

IN THE FIRST three months of the pandemic Shawnie Bennett, a single mother from Oakland in California, lost her job and her brother, who died of covid-19. Grief made the trials of lockdown more difficult—including that of helping her eight-year-old daughter, Xa’viar, continue her schooling online. In November Ms Bennett signed her daughter up for online classes provided by a local parents’ group, which arranged for her to see a tutor every Saturday morning. A test this month showed that her reading skills are improving fast.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Catching up is hard to do”

Power and paranoia: The Chinese Communist Party at 100

From the June 26th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Briefing

A lawyer who specialises in shipping and maritime law.

Even in India, bureaucracy is being curtailed

Many small steps could make a big difference

An illustration shows a carpenter, a surgeon and a business person—representing the infrastructure, health-care and finance sectors—cutting through red tape.

Many governments talk about cutting regulation but few manage to

Yet radical deregulation is often a big boost to growth


Why Chinese AI has stunned the world

DeepSeek’s models are much cheaper and almost as good as American rivals


The right in Congress and the courts will reshape Donald Trump’s agenda

As dominant as the new president is, there is still life in Washington’s institutions

How far will Donald Trump go to get rid of illegal immigrants?

It is his signature policy, but the obstacles are daunting

Young customers in developing countries propel a boom in plastic surgery

Falling costs and converging beauty standards spur new habits