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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the democrats did closing schools was terrible and I'm basically an independent now because of it.

Yup. My husband jokes the school debacle turned me -- the liberalist liberal who ever libbed -- Republican. That's not exactly true. But it's not exactly false either.

Dcum alerted me to bari Weiss and her weekly newsletter common sense. It’s free to sign up. You might like it too.

[Anonymous]

I think you guys are overreacting big time. These are two outlier stories that do not reflect the reality that is going on in my child's school now, for sure. For example, my kid is in middle school and while she fell below the state test for math last year (just missed it) during the hybrid teaching, she has caught up again this year. Teachers are working hard to get kids caught up in my kid's other classes like history and english as well (my kid was not behind there). I'm sure some kids are having worse experiences, but the kids at my daughter's school do not seem to be having significant, lasting problems caused by the pandemic.

Listening to everyone complain about kid's mental health in here citing kids voluntarily wearing masks as "evidence" (wut?) reminds me of the criticism that pro-maskers get when they cite studies about how covid damages the human brain and causes diabetes and strokes in higher numbers and has yet unforseen other consequences. You guys sound a little wacko. Maybe try to calm down and be a calming, stable presence for your kids. This is not the way forward.

[Anonymous]

oh god bari weiss. *throws up in mouth a little*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The repercussions of extended online learning for my high school student were significant and will affect his life for years to come. It was clear at every turn in those 18 months that my child’s education and wellbeing was not a priority. I am angry at everyone — school board, admin and teachers — and will not soon forget.

We entrusted our children’s education to these self-centered bureaucrats and they revealed their true colors. About 90% of them care nothing about the children. We’ve been scammed. My best friend’s daughter opted to repeat the 9th grade because she just didn’t learn anything virtually.

These monsters have damaged so many of our children.

Agree. I have an elementary schooler with special needs. EVERYTHING suffered. He regressed academically. Lost self-esteem because virtual was so hard for him, lost friends. His needs aren't even severe. But I knew, from those first two weeks of shut down this would happen. I knew when Fall 2020 was virtual that it would take YEARS to recover. I called, I emailed, no one on the school board cared. In fact, I feel totally and completely jerked around, We will open, Oct., Nov., Dec., Jan. If I had known it would go on that long I would have moved to where schools were open. Therapy, tutors and lots of money just to TRY and get him on track (forget "caught up").

I HATE FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you guys are overreacting big time. These are two outlier stories that do not reflect the reality that is going on in my child's school now, for sure. For example, my kid is in middle school and while she fell below the state test for math last year (just missed it) during the hybrid teaching, she has caught up again this year. Teachers are working hard to get kids caught up in my kid's other classes like history and english as well (my kid was not behind there). I'm sure some kids are having worse experiences, but the kids at my daughter's school do not seem to be having significant, lasting problems caused by the pandemic.

Listening to everyone complain about kid's mental health in here citing kids voluntarily wearing masks as "evidence" (wut?) reminds me of the criticism that pro-maskers get when they cite studies about how covid damages the human brain and causes diabetes and strokes in higher numbers and has yet unforseen other consequences. You guys sound a little wacko. Maybe try to calm down and be a calming, stable presence for your kids. This is not the way forward.

Such delusional privilege.

[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?

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.

There was a child mental health crisis long before Covid. Covid is just an easy scapegoat. Then we don't have to admit it has anything to do with our lifestyles or our parenting styles.

[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.

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.

Totally agree that schools should've been open in Fall 2020. However, I live in a moderate part of a very red state in the Midwest and our schools didn't open. They didn't get kids in person until right before the holidays. We switched to private school so she could go in person.

And don't get me started about how ridiculous it is that private schools could be open while public schools were closed.

[Anonymous]

You guys know that this this TAL episode was originally designed to be one mostly-pro-virtual-school story and one anti-whatever-tf-happened-during-covid school story, right? But they put a little coda on it because they found out the kid from the first story wasn't actually doing her work the second time she went virtual.

Contrary to the two stories in here, not everybody's virtual experience was bad. I'm the mom above with a middle school girl, and she still talks about the year right after covid first happened, where schools here were still virtual, as a time when she really found her voice and confidence in herself. She caught back up in math, but found inner strength. For her it was a net gain.

Sorry if your kids did not have that experience, but it's not all doom and gloom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys know that this this TAL episode was originally designed to be one mostly-pro-virtual-school story and one anti-whatever-tf-happened-during-covid school story, right? But they put a little coda on it because they found out the kid from the first story wasn't actually doing her work the second time she went virtual.

Contrary to the two stories in here, not everybody's virtual experience was bad. I'm the mom above with a middle school girl, and she still talks about the year right after covid first happened, where schools here were still virtual, as a time when she really found her voice and confidence in herself. She caught back up in math, but found inner strength. For her it was a net gain.

Sorry if your kids did not have that experience, but it's not all doom and gloom.

My kids HATED virtual school, and yet they are fine and it was not all doom and gloom. I’m actually disappointed how low expectations at school are as a result of the pandemic, in terms of behavior, in terms of level of work, doing it on time, allowing for endless corrections/revisions, etc. It’s like they can’t expect anything of anyone. It’s sad.

[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.

That's what you're hiding behind - but I was mad then and I'm mad now. I knew it was going to be horrendous socially and educationally all along. Anyone with one iota of common sense knew that.

Whatever. I'm tired of irate parents who claim they knew it all all along. Bull frickin sh**. God help us if another pandemic comes along, because a-hats like you will not want any measures in place and God forbid it's a virus that hits kids worse than adults (which is more common and was a weird thing about COVID) then kids will die because jerks like you will be out in the streets refusing to follow any precautions.

Let's move forward. We cannot change the past. Let's invest all energy in helping kids now and planning ahead.

[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.

If this is your take, you are a jerk. But hey, angry parent always gotta have a scapegoat.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/briefing/covid-risks-poll-americans.html

Covid and the ‘very liberal’

“ The American focus on Covid’s dangers, by contrast, has caused disruption and isolation that feed educational losses, mental health troubles, drug overdoses, violent crime and vehicle crashes. These damages have fallen disproportionately on low-income, Black and Latino Americans, exacerbating inequality in ways that would seem to violate liberal values.
“Rather than eliminating the risk of Covid, you’ve got to manage the risk,” Elizabeth Howe Bradley, a public health expert and the president of Vassar College, told me recently. “If you really go for minimizing the risk, you’re going to have unintended consequences to people’s physical health, their mental health, their social health.” She added: “It’s Public Health 101.””

[Anonymous]

Tired of this being politicized. If you are going on about liberal or not…blah blah blah. People had different reactions, different risk assessments. Leave politics out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tired of this being politicized. If you are going on about liberal or not…blah blah blah. People had different reactions, different risk assessments. Leave politics out of it.

The point is that people want to complain now but it’s the liberals and I’m a liberal, although not a crazy liberal that you see in Montgomery county that stopped listening to the cdc when they gave the green light to loosen restrictions. I wasn’t wearing a mask outside, because their guidance said not too.

[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?

Affluent parents put their kids in private schools that stayed open.