We, as a generation, have struggled through the most difficult times in education. As a parent and an educator, I have painfully watched my son, Kenshin, struggle through remote learning, social distancing, loss of school activities, and a host of other irregularities. I often find myself wondering how the pandemic will affect my son. Will my son’s math, for example, be on par?

I’m not alone in worrying. The Pew Research Centre, for example, identified that 65% of the parents they surveyed were concerned about their children falling behind. Other polls report even higher levels of concern, citing 9 out of 10 parents worried about their children’s academics. While some caveats come with this data (it was based on US public schools) it’s fairly safe to say this is a global concern. Like other parents, my worry has also led me to attempt to “fill the gap” with extra studying and more work outside of school hours.

But how worried should we really be? Perhaps not as much as you would expect. In a famous experiment that occurred almost a century ago, Louis P. Bénézet, a former principal and superintendent, called for the complete removal of standard mathematical instruction in elementary schools. Students in the experiment stopped receiving mathematical instruction, and those who were in Pre-K never received any instruction at all. They went on to attend middle school.

The results? By the end of 6th grade, students from the experiment were able to “attain the level of accomplishment which the traditionally taught children had reached after 3 and ½ years of arithmetical drill.”  Bénézet published his work and promptly suggested that perhaps elementary schools shouldn’t teach arithmetic. While Bénézet’s research never led to any dramatic changes, it contributed to the “less is more” model of education. A great deal of hullabaloo, for example, has been made since research has shown homework for elementary students isn’t as beneficial as once believed.

Why is this important for us? I’m not suggesting that we drop instruction in arithmetic at AAS. For starters, we are not a New Hampshire public school in the 1930’s and there’s a plethora of complicating factors in his research (You can read the full publication here). But like many parents, I get antsy thinking about Kenshin missing even weeks of instruction, let alone an entire year’s worth of disruptions due to COVID. None of us want our children to be impacted by the pandemic, and thinking about it, I’m sure we’ve lost some sleep. But everything I have learned has taught me that education is a marathon, not a sprint to the finish line. Pushing our kids to run harder in the short term only leads to greater burnout in the long run. It’s worth remembering that.