The corona virus is currently everywhere, literally, metaphorically, symbolically, in every possible interpretation of the word.  

Information overload

It is spreading at an impressive rate and as the whole world watches the virus infect more and more bodies, it is almost forgotten that it is also, perhaps even more, infecting our minds. It would be quite a challenge to find a radio station not talking about Corona, to turn on the news without being scientifically informed, to read a newspaper that does not discuss the foreseeable economic consequences. The whole of humanity is currently being thematically inundated by a single flood of corona information... as even this article proves in an exemplary fashion.

An overwhelming majority of this information, ranging from opinions, assumptions, prognoses, probabilities to more or less well-founded and proven truths and facts, deals with the negative consequences of the virus, the health hazards and risks, the possible number of fatalities, the economic consequences both for the individual and for whole countries. This focus is understandable, it is human, and consequently it is flawed or at least not sufficiently differentiated.

The obvious question is: what damage will the virus do? However, an equally legitimate question is: which opportunities does the virus offer?

Curfew - what now?

In Belgium, and therefore also in the German-speaking Community, there is currently a curfew, public life is in a coma. It is not dead, it will reawaken, there is no doubt about that. Nor is there any doubt that public life currently exists at the absolute minimum, in a way like the pulse of a coma patient, just barely alive.

There is no teaching in schools, every educational institution has abandoned its traditional teaching formats. These are the facts that have been imposed on us. At the same time, this compulsion does not mean that there is no alternative. This phase contains an opportunity for change, perhaps even a better opportunity than so-called normality. People do not like to change, because it is cumbersome. Change is more likely to occur when it is forced, and it may be necessary.

Education always works!

Right now we are sitting at home. The amount of time we have available has not changed. Especially in times of the internet, it is completely unproblematic to educate yourself alone and from home, in every possible way. An online language course is just as conceivable as the at least theoretical learning of an instrument, a refresher course in gardening or the accumulation of knowledge regarding world history. The list could be continued at will. For every learner, the brutal, because uncomfortable truth is: you can always educate yourself, the virus offers neither excuse nor even a justification.

And as for the education providers, their situation is also uncomfortable. The traditional face-to-face courses are being dropped, at least temporarily, which is a disadvantage at first. But here, too, an opportunity presents itself. Actually planned time is suddenly available, the resulting gaps can or must be filled, creativity is required in order to be able to offer education as before. This atypical phase is a perfect opportunity to leave familiar paths and try something new, perhaps to initiate an already planned experiment or to develop a completely new concept. Failed attempts can be discarded after the end of Corona as a learning experience, successful attempts could be taken over and implemented in the future.

After Corona is not before Corona ...

Corona will be with us for a while and it will cause a considerable amount of damage, this cannot be ignored and should not be trivialized. However, to measure this time only by this damage does not make up for it, it does not even minimize it. The best thing you can do is to learn from this time, to broaden your horizons, to try out new things and to discard the outdated. In this sense, we have been offered an opportunity for change. Corona will change a lot of things, there is no preventing it. It is up to us though whether it will be just for the bad or also for the good.

About the author: Cedric Dümenil has been working since November 2018 in the Erasmus+ National Agency, based in the Jugendbüro (Youth Office) of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, where he is responsible for the evaluation and processing of applications and projects in the fields of school education, vocational training and higher education. In addition to his work, he is also studying law at the University of Trier. In his remaining free time he is particularly interested in languages and literature.