The curriculum of the plague

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic can be read as an eruption of the Real: a traumatic event that overwhelms our capacity for symbolization and exposes the fragility of the imaginary. Albert Camus addresses this traumatic dimension in his 1947 novel The Plague, in which he reserves a rather puzzling statement for the closing paragraph: A plague never disappears, he wrote, but can lie dormant only to reappear once again “for the education of men”. What lessons can be learned from the pandemic we are experiencing right now? While Covid-19 is often discussed from a biological perspective, the magnitude of the tragedy raises questions far beyond the confines of the natural/medical sciences, questions about humanity, our limits and possibilities, and the transcendent. This article explores the potential educational aspect of the pandemic by framing the discussion in an exegetical reading of Camus’ novel. Through this reading, it claims that even within the tragic reality of its effects, the present pandemic might bring to the fore the notion of an existential kind of learning—one that is deeply personal, that cannot be programmed or learned from direct teaching, and that connects us in relevant ways to the lives of others. At the same time, this reading is not oblivious to the practical needs around decision-making on the part of educational policymakers, administrators, and teachers. As the novel shows, tragic events create a demand for quick action, so a few practical principles for curriculum decision-making are also offered.