The sentence that stands out to me is this one - "So what should be the underlying premises of public education in a globally networked society that may have to remain periodically socially isolated and physically distanced, as well as for future pandemics?"

You have also reminded me of the concept of cognitive apprenticeship, which I learned from John Abott - https://www.changelearning.ca/get-informed-understanding-human-learning-born-learn-adolescence-cognitive-apprenticeship.html

As an education leader I'm constantly thinking about leading change - not easy when we have such ingrained ideas of the basic grammar of schooling.