Posted on 07/29/2020 12:25:28 PM PDT by Kaslin
This coming fall, my wife and I find ourselves stumped like so many other parents out there: what do we do with our three boys if the schools aren’t open?
Through our own hard work, we’ve been blessed to be able to afford childcare and distance learning measures that go above and beyond what the public system can offer. But what about so many parents out there – single parents going it alone, moms and dads out of work trying to make ends meet? With unemployment soaring, who is standing up for them and their precious children who deserve an education?
Science and medicine are on their side. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that we should start with – not merely consider –the goal of having students physically present in the classroom this upcoming school year. Any parent, myself included, can readily tell you that trying to keep squirming children active and engaged in front of a Zoom screen is not possible. Not only is keeping kids home ineffective, as a health professional and former public health official, I know that it’s also dangerous. Prolonged absence from schools means that terrible ills such as abuse, learning disabilities, mental health issues, and food insecurity slip through the cracks without the watchful eye of caring teachers. Moreover, these tragedies disproportionately affect minority and disadvantaged students.
While the science may tell us that kids belong in school, special interest groups and out-of-touch politicians tell us they know better. Whether it’s arrogance or ignorance, these elites are on the precipice of making sweeping decisions that could set children back for years.
So, what should be done? It starts with being honest: there is simply no way to eliminate the risk of the virus entirely before the school year starts. Rather, we must work to mitigate it and tip the scale in favor of education over the quantified and mitigated risk.
It’s already happening. This summer, private day cares and camps reopened by adapting to a new process – social distancing, masks, screening questions and daily temperature checks to name a few. To date, there is no data to support that the virus has spread in my home state of New Jersey due to their reopening or that children have been disproportionately affected. For our public schools, the conversation should not be whether schools reopen; it should be how to reopen them safely through risk mitigation efforts. We must start to accept this and plan for process changes now. It’s a small price to pay for the invaluable benefit school provides to both parents and our children.
Americans are understandably scared in the wake of the great human and economic toll that COVID-19 has taken on our country. From my experience as a former public health official, I have the humility to admit that mere discussion of supportive facts and figures may not be enough to assuage those who have seen their lives ravaged by this terrible disease. On the other hand, I can also see how political leaders make the mistake of communicating almost exclusively through emotion to a weary public that is desperate for some certainty. As Americans we must pivot, not freeze. We must implement stopgap process changes with the same ingenuity that has fueled the miracle of the American Dream for over 200 years. This is a basic risk-reward calculation, and for our kids and parents, we owe it to us all to make the brave and science-supported choice to send our kids back to school this fall.
We kill over 250 kids every year transporting them to and from school, but we still transport kids to school.
Life is risk and our current culture has gone mad.
Right or wrong, truth or lies are not important. The DNC has sent the orders and the rat infested teacher unions will use every trick to keep the schools closed.
“The poor” and unmotivated/poor coping skills families can just lose out. M
Ironically they may end up better off. Who knows.
Good opportunity for churches to reach out maybe.
It’s almost too late for article and reason and persuasion such as these. While the United States focused on bars and restaurants all summer, the rest of the civilized world opened up their schools more or less completely.
Meanwhile it’s hard to find a whole state or even a district within a state that is offering in person education in the United States this fall. I’ve checked CA, WA, NC, and others, looking for school for my 18 year old senior who is an adult and so could live anywhere.
And “fall” is here—many districts are rolling out their inferior “distance education” to millions of American students—isolated and in front of a laptop all day—within the next two weeks.
The teachers unions are winning.
“When done right”. Thats like cutting out waste, fraud and abuse.
What are the risks? The teachers might have to work for a living?
A new report, cited by the chief medical officer as the federal government advocates the reopening of schools, says children are unlikely to transmit Covid-19 between each other or to adults.
There are Multiple Studies by Multiple Countries.
NO SCHOOLS
NO TAXES!
You can't run around issuing national emergency declarations, shutting down schools and businesses, and clamoring about a "war" against an "invisible enemy" ... and then expect people to just take your word for it when you tell them it's OK to go back to work, school, etc.
Back in the early spring the American public was told that these shutdowns were necessary for TWO WEEKS -- to "flatten the curve."
We're still dealing with this sh!t -- FOUR F#%&ING MONTHS LATER.
These teachers have all the leverage they need to stay home from work indefinitely.
Good luck putting this genie back in the bottle, all you morons out there who bought into this hysteria back in March.
My son’s high school is planning to open with 2 days a week in person and 2 days “remote.”
My sophomore says that if it goes all online for a prolonged period, he won’t be able to do it. He’s in Honor’s English, a grade ahead in math, but it was really hard for him this spring.
If it all goes down the toilet, I’m planning to help him find a GED program and then get him to work.
He could probably pass a GED program without even taking the courses!!
You’re probably right. He was in private school through 8th grade. Likely has as good an education right now as many seniors in the public school.
The hysteria was outlandish I put ALL the blame for that at the media feet!! They are SOLELY responsible for this absolute BS!! Then the case counts are ridiculous did they COUNT every damn case of H1N1, or SARS when O was POTUS no they did not, O stopped ALL testing as a matter of fact!!
My high school education from years ago is FAR BETTER than the education a BA gets in college today!!
The American education system is a dumpster fire.
Our sissified school districts in Alaska won’t hear this. They even put out a survey to the parents and the vast majority of us said to open the schools!
Then, they decided to make it all online. Horse crap.
The Rats want to keep the schools closed...to keep moms out of the workforce...to keep the unemployment rate up...to hurt the President.
The conversion of public schools into Marxist daycare is a disgrace upon this nation.
That people rely on them for daycare shows their weakness and inability to care for their own. Each as bad as the vitriol we used to reserve for the classic welfare mother.
Marxist daycare is a hollow argument for conservatives.
As for economic contribution, only if you count the fact the monies were seized from the truly productive, and distributed to an enormous bureaucracy, after skimming a double digit percentage for union political activities.
And gold-plated pensions.
Amen. Unfortunately the governors squandered 6 months on lockdown without coming up with a plan for in-person schooling. Of course the unions will not permit teachers to teach by video feed nor will they permit teachers in classrooms even though this has been done successfully in dozens of other countries.
If we had any sense we would declare the teachers to be essential workers and mandate they go to work like the rest. It is a bizarre world where grocery workers and strawberry pickers are essential but teachers are not.
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