Some Thoughts on the Conclusion of the 2021–2022 School Year

This year has been hard in a way that no year has ever been hard before.

All illustrations are by the author.

I teach seniors at a public high school in Chicago, and their last day of school was Friday. Last year, I thought the students in the graduating class of 2021 had the hardest time of any class ever. They hadn’t gotten to set foot in a…