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

[Anonymous]

I think that first little girl, Mia (?), is going to be okay. That child is witty and sharp as a tack.
I’m not so sure about the second girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Nice revisionist history. Europe was open summer 2020 and showed it was safe. Most of the country except for super blue enclaves opened fall 2020. It’s absolutely criminal what happened in the DMV.

try

+1. There was no reason for schools to have not reopened in Fall 2020.

[Anonymous]

Private school teacher here who went back in fall 2020 in person and sent my own child to a learning hub to do it. Now my kid is severely struggling and our family is hurting. There were no good choices. We are paying the price. Upper middle class. Moco family. We will never be the same. And my colleagues and I worked our tails off to support our students. And I know public school teachers who would have done the same if given the chance (and did yeomans work online). It was a messed up time and it will continue to mess us up for years to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

Yeah, none of us forgot what it was like. We were living it, remember? Every time we dared to question when our kids could go back to school (because, you know - we knew very early on that there was minimal risk for kids) we were shouted out - BE BETTER PARENTS! THIS IS WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR! SCHOOL IS NOT DAYCARE! We saw our children's learning loss up close, and did our best to help, but - wow - have our own jobs, and aren't trained as teachers (which, last I heard, required college degrees).

But American society somehow deemed teachers in need of extra protection - more so, than the people working at grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants? And this farce went on for long after the unions demanded priority access to vaccinations.

I am the daughter of a (non-union) public school teacher, and I will never forget how the teachers let down the children in this country. They had an opportunity to be heroes, and squandered it. They look like a bunch of spoiled, entitled babies.

Another voice agreeing. And to add to the bolded, when some of us raised issues of indefinite school closures being bad for kids' mental health, it was: YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH BEFORE, YOU JUST WANT TEACHERS TO DIE!!!

Which is an odd thing to say to those of us who are actual mental health professionals. And now there's a terrifying increase in mental illness in kids (and adults, FWIW), a real shortage in professionals able to treat them, and neither is going to change anytime soon.

So, yeah.

[Anonymous]

I know people keep talking about increased mental health issues in children but is it true and was it caused by virtual learning vs. other aspects of the pandemic?

[Anonymous]

I think people are missing the point. It’s not the politics or teacher’s union that is frustrating in this area, but the anxiety ridden residents that live in our area. People are still wearing masks in Montgomery county, outside as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

Yeah, none of us forgot what it was like. We were living it, remember? Every time we dared to question when our kids could go back to school (because, you know - we knew very early on that there was minimal risk for kids) we were shouted out - BE BETTER PARENTS! THIS IS WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR! SCHOOL IS NOT DAYCARE! We saw our children's learning loss up close, and did our best to help, but - wow - have our own jobs, and aren't trained as teachers (which, last I heard, required college degrees).

But American society somehow deemed teachers in need of extra protection - more so, than the people working at grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants? And this farce went on for long after the unions demanded priority access to vaccinations.

I am the daughter of a (non-union) public school teacher, and I will never forget how the teachers let down the children in this country. They had an opportunity to be heroes, and squandered it. They look like a bunch of spoiled, entitled babies.

Another voice agreeing. And to add to the bolded, when some of us raised issues of indefinite school closures being bad for kids' mental health, it was: YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH BEFORE, YOU JUST WANT TEACHERS TO DIE!!!

Which is an odd thing to say to those of us who are actual mental health professionals. And now there's a terrifying increase in mental illness in kids (and adults, FWIW), a real shortage in professionals able to treat them, and neither is going to change anytime soon.

So, yeah.

+1. My husband wants nothing to do with our school and FCPS - he's so angry about the ongoing closures last year and the way they've handled everything. My kid had major anxiety issues at the beginning of the year bc he didn't know how to make friends anymore and other kids were mean to him. Schools expect these first and second graders to have bounced back and re-entered in-person school with no ramifications. That is so far from the reality. Now he says he wants to keep wearing a mask because "he doesn't like people seeing his face." We're among the very lucky ones and it's still heartbreaking to see what this has done to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know people keep talking about increased mental health issues in children but is it true and was it caused by virtual learning vs. other aspects of the pandemic?

I don't think the spike in behavioral and mental health issues was due solely or even primarily to virtual learning. My state opened schools in fall 2020, and according to every teacher, administrator, and mental health provider I talk to the kids are a hot mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know people keep talking about increased mental health issues in children but is it true and was it caused by virtual learning vs. other aspects of the pandemic?

Major organizations think it is happening:

Pediatricians, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Children’s Hospitals Declare National Emergency in Children's Mental Health
https://www.aacap.org/aacap/zLatest_News/Pediatricians_CAPs_Childrens_Hospitals_Declare_National_Emergency_Childrens_Mental_Health.aspx#:~:text=In%20the%20first%20six%20months,on%20this%20mental%20health%20emergency.%E2%80%9D

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this conversation about how we had to close schools because otherwise kids would get Covid and give it to vulnerable family members.

Perhaps you all can afford nannies/tutors/SAHPs so school closures mean your kids are not in group care? That’s not how it works for most families.

Our friends got Covid (as did their parents) because their kindergartener was in daycare (old daycare offered spots for older kids who needed it, and they both work so they needed it). Kid gave it to parents and grandparents. Fortunately everyone came through okay but school closures didn’t prevent anything in their case. They have to work. They need childcare. A full time nanny wasn’t an option.

We knew another family who did have a nanny, they still all got Covid (nanny caught it from her son who she lives with who got it from his in person job). Again, school closures didn’t help at all.

My kid was in group care through the entire 18 mo closure. We never got Covid, though there were a few outbreaks in my kid’s classes. Again, we work do we didn’t have a choice.

The thing I never understood was why it was okay for our daycare and camp teachers to risk possible exposure, but not teachers. Daycare providers generally make a lot less, plus they have really limited protection in terms of sick leave or other things.

We just shortchanged kids on school to protect one well-educated, higher paid group of people, by keeping kids with a lower-paid, less respected group of people. We didn’t prevent spread of Covid, we just shifted it to others.

Spot on.

The people who claim school closures “saved lives” are so incredibly privileged and ignorant. No, they did not. They just shifted the burdens to the most vulnerable populations.

Exactly. I worked in person the entire time, my DD went in person (almost) the entire time, DH was WFH. We never got Covid. Most people I know that have had Covid have no idea who/where they got it from. And a lot of them were very cautious.

[Anonymous]

I live outside of Atlanta now, but grew in Chicago and DC. When my kids started school on time in August 2020, numerous friends told me I had blood on my hands. No apologies from them. Ever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in a highly blue school district and with the exception of the spring of 2020 my kids have been doing in-person school and in-person activities this entire time. None of us have gotten covid (at least not that we know) and I don't know anyone personally who had a severe case or died. The red areas around us were even more wide open. Your individual experience does not equate to what the entire country experienced.

This.

I am a teacher and with the exception of spring 2020, I have been teaching in person all along. I do think more districts should have followed suit but it’s also crazy making to see the media narratives that make it seem like all schools in this country were closed. Because they were not.

Even with staying open, it’s been tough, as we have had to modify our schedule to follow CDC guidelines, resulting in less class time last year and then this year there have been a million absences. It’s super stressful and not normal but it still beats online school by a mile, and the students almost all would agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people keep talking about increased mental health issues in children but is it true and was it caused by virtual learning vs. other aspects of the pandemic?

Major organizations think it is happening:

Pediatricians, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Children’s Hospitals Declare National Emergency in Children's Mental Health
https://www.aacap.org/aacap/zLatest_News/Pediatricians_CAPs_Childrens_Hospitals_Declare_National_Emergency_Childrens_Mental_Health.aspx#:~:text=In%20the%20first%20six%20months,on%20this%20mental%20health%20emergency.%E2%80%9D

PP who raised the issue and yes, it is true. The Surgeon General issued a report, FFS.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/12/07/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-on-youth-mental-health-crisis-further-exposed-by-covid-19-pandemic.html

No, it’s not solely due to virtual learning, but you know what doesn’t help children’s mental health? Social isolation. Removing the foundation of in-person education. Insisting to kids that said removal is NBD. Cramming in the educational content missed during virtual, as if the previous year didn’t happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that first little girl, Mia (?), is going to be okay. That child is witty and sharp as a tack.
I’m not so sure about the second girl.

Yeah she took on well to virtual school, and I think it should be integrated into the curriculum more. I think in FL a student has to take at least one virtual class before graduating.

It definitely wasn't the preference, but when the busses arent showing up, teachers aren't showing up, and their are so many distractions Mia's mom made a great choice.
Each state should have a virtual school, and I'm not referring to K12. K12 is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don’t think it was just teachers unions though. A LOT of “liberal” parents supported virtual learning tor a long time. It became too political around here and anyone who dared to speak otherwise was branded a trumper. When you combine parent silence with loud unions and poor leadership among the decision makers, you get inertia.

States like CT and RI managed to open most schools in the fall of 2020 even if it was hybrid. I can’t imagine the unions in those states are akin to those in southern states. But there was will and leadership at the state level and I think that made a huge difference.