Posted on 07/17/2020 8:10:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
Every person I know in his 70s says kids should go back to school. Behind ensuring Americans have food, ensuring our children are well educated is a very close second in societal priorities.
For those who don’t get the outrage, let me try to put it in simple terms.
Yes, COVID-19 is dangerous, especially to our elderly population and those who are high-risk. Yes, there will be some young, healthy people who die from COVID, as is true with the 38,000 people who die from car accidents each year, or the 2,000 children who died last year from cancer.
As of June 17, 26 American children under the age of 15 have died from COVID. That is not a misprint: 26 children under the age of 15. By comparison, in the first six months of this year, an estimated 122 children under the age of 15 died from the flu, 536 children died in car accidents, and another 349 died in pool drownings. I don’t hear anyone saying we should stop putting kids in cars or letting them swim in pools.
We are stealing our children’s youth and ultimately will be stealing their adulthood, because they will lack the education and social skills to succeed, and we are saddling them with a greater and greater amount of debt as we destroy our economy. Disrupting schooling also forces parents to try to homeschool their children and work their job at the same time.
The effects will be more pronounced in poor communities that lack the technical infrastructure to allow children to access and be successful in distance learning. For the social justice warriors who have understandably been working for equal opportunity in society, this is the sword to die on.
Every person I know in his 70s—every single one—says kids should go back to school. I cannot imagine a single grandparent in this country who would not sacrifice isolating himself for the next six months so his grandchildren can have the joy of playing tag with their friends on the playground or dissecting a frog with their lab partners.
Yes, teachers are at greater risk than students. Doctors and nurses, many of whom are also high risk, continue to go to work every day treating actual COVID patients because that is their job. Individuals working in meat plants are keeping America fed, often under dangerous working circumstances.
Workers put themselves at risk by stocking the shelves at the supermarkets to ensure Americans survive. I cannot imagine teachers not willing to make the same sacrifices. Behind ensuring Americans have food, ensuring our children are well educated is a very close second in top priorities as a society.
You are an American, and you have the following choice every single day: if you are not comfortable with the progression of COVID, you should isolate yourself. Everyone else, put on your mask and practice good social distancing, but it is time to get back to work and life.
Teachers who are high risk can use Zoom to connect with students who will be in the school, and where possible with a young teaching assistant. Students who are high risk should attend schools that have been doing distance learning for a decade. I assure you, they are better at it than what I saw in public schools in the spring.
States should add resources to these online schools or potentially create a state-run online school. But it is time to stop stealing our children’s youth in the name of their grandparents.
Often in life, we need to choose the least bad choice. The absolute worst choice we can make as a society is to cheat our children of their youth and not properly educate them. This is not only selfish, but will damage our country for decades to come. Taiwan, Norway, and Sweden recognized this early and kept their schools open in the spring, and countries like Germany and Japan have already reopened their schools.
We are cheating our children of life by not allowing them to be kids. Besides school, we are cancelling their sports and clubs and theater classes. I am confident America’s senior and at-risk population—who should be isolated anyway!—are willing to stay isolated a little longer to ensure our kids have a childhood and are prepared for the future.
“I am confident America’s senior and at-risk population—who should be isolated anyway!—are willing to stay isolated a little longer”
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Exactly how long is a “little longer” that they should be locked down?
Parents were surveyed by their school districts, and overwhelmingly said we want our kids in school. They have come to rely upon schools to give their kids a place to go while they work. The school districts made plans to open in September with either full attendane with social distancing or blended half attendance half distance learning. Trump administration at the White House and Betsy Devoss at Dept. of Education said kids should go back to school. Almost immediately, the teachers’ unions voted not to return to regular teaching because it was not safe.
This is no joke ... they were talking about this just this morning on a local program in Sacramento (I can only imagine the insanity going on in SF and LA where the virus is completed by 4th stage TDS)!
These people are truly insane ... but they're persistent in getting what they want ... and they must be stopped.
What a misguided article,,,grandparents that I know want the kids in school including me. It is a political ploy who’s basis is disruption of society. All logic points to the kids going back to school but it doesn’t fulfill a political narrative
Given the recent surge in crime, teachers, especially those in already violent schools, especially where members of a certain ethnic-racial group disproportionately commit the violence and consequently escape whatever ineffective punishment that the school allows for children of other ethnic-racial groups, may have good reason for their mortal fear.
Really a good point ... and completely unrelated to the virus.
And people of that mentality are supposed to “educate” our children.
“...they will lack the education and social skills to succeed...”
What kind of social skills are the kids learning now in the schools? Maybe how to focus on schoolwork in the midst of violence and chaos.
Parents need to homeschool. If they can’t do that they need to work with others in the neighborhood to develop groups for homeschooling. Public schools need to wither on the vine. The private colleges are already shutting down.
A break from the indoctrination is a good thing.
...how long...
______________________________________
I hear the proponents making promises of “1-2 months” and the virus will *end*.
How? Even discounting the inflated & manipulated *test* numbers, how is it we aren’t at herd immunity, yet?
Why is this the only virus ever that doesn’t produce antibodies, yet we test for antibodies?
How exactly do the so-called asymptomatic, who by definition have no disease, but who are presumed to shed live, infectious virus, actually infect anyone? And if those asymptomatics are young, does it matter, since they are not at much risk and have a mild experience if they do ever show symptoms?
I have been increasingly social-distancing for years, so to me, as a senior, I simply don’t care. I limit my attendance at establishments that demand masks and carry one as a totem to use if necessary.
The kids are not getting good educations, from what I observe. They experience peer pressure and coercion from teachers and other students at school. Many of their parents are working from home or furloughed. Many furloughed have been receiving large incentives to not work, so they have less financial pressures. The aren’t eating out, going to movies or to Disneyland. They can afford for the parents to take time to educate the kids.
I know a mid-50s woman with a high school + associate degree in the arts home schooling 2 grandkids so parents can work: one on-site and one from home. She’s not stressed, even though she also has a chicken hobby/egg business and an active craft life while doing traditional housekeeping & cooking.
So, IDGAF. I see that it can be done without opening the schools and I expect if the schools remain closed, people will protest that portion of their property taxes (which may be the real reason).
They will find more and more reasons to lock us down and for longer and longer until something snaps.
This is a psyop, IMO.
Well, all I can say is somebody’s gotta tell somebody to pull the thumb out and get crackin’ on either a sure-fire quick cure or a vaccine - or both. Put that at the top of the “To Do List” and everything else falls into place.
What is misguided about it? It’s saying the same thing you said. I’m a grandparent and the sentiment the author stated is my sentiment.. Kids will suffer for a long time absent the companionship of friends. My grandchild is an only child so the absence of friends at school or in the neighborhood is magnified..at least, IMO. I say they should be back in school BUT WITHOUT MASKS...that mandate by itself is dangerous to their health!
“”Every person I know in his 70s—every single one—says kids should go back to school. I cannot imagine a single grandparent in this country who would not sacrifice isolating himself for the next six months so his grandchildren can have the joy of playing tag with their friends on the playground or dissecting a frog with their lab partners.””
Nah.
Homeschooling for the rest of the decade.
Exactly. I am beginning to wonder how we can make this permanent. Wouldn’t we be able to save tons of money on education if we didn’t need to have buildings, custodial staff, teachers for every 20 kids, and boatloads of administrators to help those teachers?
No need for either one.
You refuse to pay attention.
What a misguided article,,,grandparents that I know want the kids in school including me. It is a political ploy who’s basis is disruption of society. All logic points to the kids going back to school but it doesn’t fulfill a political narrative
I guess I should have read the article more carefully, you are right I am saying the same thing
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