Anyone listen to this week's this American Life? It is terrifying what school closures has done

[Anonymous]

I'm shook by This American Life's "School is Out Forever" podcast this week that looks at two families and how the pandemic shaped them.

To summarize: One single mom ended up having to leave her third grader at home alone and used a security camera to watch her at work. She'd speak to her daughter over the speaker. Daughter and mom developed a codependent relationship and tried to transition back to school but couldn't handle not being with her mom all day and mom couldn't handle not knowing all of what her daughter did all day. Mom ended up pulling her out of school to do "virtual school" and it turns out her daughter wasn't doing any work at all. Reminds me of Black mirror "Arkangel"

Second story is a girl who basically did not go to middle school due to pandemic/ COVID/ family instability. Apparently that is just fine and she's graduating middle school and going to high school despite any schooling for two years.

If these stories are even the case for .05% of kids in America, I'm terrified for the future of this country.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/

[Anonymous]

People are weird and do weird things all the time, whether as a result of a pandemic or something else.

I think there are plenty of reasons to be terrified of the future of this country but not sure the absence of school for two years was one of them. I'm not happy about schools being closed either but, pandemic.

People who home school are supposed to have *some* kind of standards and are subject to some kind of regulations are they not? If a child is not receiving an education that's an issue for CPS.

[Anonymous]

We did not have to close schools for as long as we did. And we will see the results for years to come.

It was a fascinating episode. Interestingly, the mom with the panopticon setup did everything she could to make it work, as so often advocated for by the posters here who will defend remote school to the end of time. Yet her daughter is really struggling.

[Anonymous]

I was surprised about the lack of thought on the part of the administration at the 2nd girl's school to her missed learning and socializing. They knew she had disappeared, they knew she had not been attending school for the past 1.5+ years, they knew she was back and eagerly awaited her. Yet... they completely failed to anticipate any of these speed bumps (or not even speed bumps, but massive road barriers!). Instead of spending that 1-on-1 time with her figuring out getting her caught up, she spent it talking about high school applications! That just seemed so off and so tone deaf. I get the perspective that if they held her back, it would be demoralizing and maybe make her less likely to get through high school, although to me it could go both ways. But it seems like this is exactly the learning loss the whole education industry has been talking about during Covid and they did nothing for her. I hope they wake up and get her in some pull outs to get caught up in math, writing, reading. If administrators aren't getting organized about this, the ins and outs of the learning loss, then the kids really will be screwed long term. Plus, isn't this what the millions in Covid relief $ to schools is precisely for??

[Anonymous]

I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

[Anonymous]

So what? My kids thrived in virtual learning! School is not childcare! /s

[Anonymous]

Can we talk about how this being "terrifying" etc is the new overreaction?

You can offer criticism or different points of view without ladling on the drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Also a dem here, glad my kid is back in school, but if I were a teacher, or my kids were (grown up) teachers, I'd want to support their choice not to go back into an unvaccinated environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Why were most red states able to open, at least hybrid? Are their teachers unions less powerful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Also a dem here, glad my kid is back in school, but if I were a teacher, or my kids were (grown up) teachers, I'd want to support their choice not to go back into an unvaccinated environment.

My husband is a teacher and went back in August 2020 to a private school. Got vaccinated in January 2021 and he was fine. Even from an educator family, I will always loudly say that Democrats failed kids because we chose teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Why were most red states able to open, at least hybrid? Are their teachers unions less powerful?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised about the lack of thought on the part of the administration at the 2nd girl's school to her missed learning and socializing. They knew she had disappeared, they knew she had not been attending school for the past 1.5+ years, they knew she was back and eagerly awaited her. Yet... they completely failed to anticipate any of these speed bumps (or not even speed bumps, but massive road barriers!). Instead of spending that 1-on-1 time with her figuring out getting her caught up, she spent it talking about high school applications! That just seemed so off and so tone deaf. I get the perspective that if they held her back, it would be demoralizing and maybe make her less likely to get through high school, although to me it could go both ways. But it seems like this is exactly the learning loss the whole education industry has been talking about during Covid and they did nothing for her. I hope they wake up and get her in some pull outs to get caught up in math, writing, reading. If administrators aren't getting organized about this, the ins and outs of the learning loss, then the kids really will be screwed long term. Plus, isn't this what the millions in Covid relief $ to schools is precisely for??

My DS didn’t complete his math curriculum in 7th grade because schools closed in March. His 8th grade year MCPS didn’t complete the math curriculum either because DL. He started ninth grade this year and was struggling in math. I called and reminded the teacher to at these kids hadn’t completed a full curriculum since sixth grade. He LITERALLY hadn’t thought about it. I was floored. There was no institutional efforts around learning loss, just a phone call from me. That’s it.

[Anonymous]

I am so mad at these Democrats for closing schools for so long. I want to hear one of them admit it was a mistake and say sorry. Here in ultra liberal MOCO, its radio silence on school closures - almost like it never happened. I will not be voting for a single incumbent.

[Anonymous]

Folks who are angry now must have forgotten what it was like the first year of the pandemic. No one knew what the virus was capable of - what it would do to adults and kids alike. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Our leadership makes decisions based on the information available. It is unfortunate kids were out of school for so long, however, it’s now up to us to come together and help our kids and not expend unnecessary energy on the blame game. If it was your son/daughter who died because schools were open, you’d sing a different tune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are weird and do weird things all the time, whether as a result of a pandemic or something else.

I think there are plenty of reasons to be terrified of the future of this country but not sure the absence of school for two years was one of them. I'm not happy about schools being closed either but, pandemic.

People who home school are supposed to have *some* kind of standards and are subject to some kind of regulations are they not? If a child is not receiving an education that's an issue for CPS.

It depends on the state. Some places have no regulations whatsoever.