1st grade is a bad as we suspected

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Thank you for subbing! We NEED you!

+1000. I don’t know why so many people are being nasty to OP.

Education begins at home. I have a niece in 1st and a nephew in 3rd. They had a father working in COVID wards and a mother WFH in a high-stress job. They were put through Kumon to supplement the poor DL and they’re perfectly fine. Other parents chose not to do this and they’re being defensive. And don’t whine to me about their privilege. Many of you have the same privilege yet you failed your kids.

Perhaps because OP was being nasty about young kids and their parents.

Some parents have really let their kids down over the last 18 months. This is an undeniable fact. Yes, DL was a disaster, but some parents tried to mitigate the disaster, others did not or made it worse by allowing and encouraging terrible behavior and learned helplessness.

FOAD. You have no clue what some parents were dealing with.

Maybe. But not most of the parents posting here.

You don’t know that, but even if you’re right, so what? Your comment wasn’t limited to only parents here.

Parents, even the ones who “we have no idea what they are dealing with” are still ultimately responsible for how their kids turn out. I’m the end, if their kid is a HS drop out or whatever, no one is going to blame the pandemic from back in K.

Yes, there could be a whole wave of kids that turn out behind from the effects of the pandemic, and it's the school system's fault for acting like 5 year-olds can do a school day on Zoom. The majority of parents were doing the best that they could, but not everyone can afford supplementing and tutoring or even has a lot of time for homeschooling.

They can stay mad and blame whoever they want, but in the in it’s THEIR kid they are punishing by not taking their own steps to remediate.

You mean virtual tutoring?

With only one school-aged DC, it was easy for me to put all his difficulties on me being a terrible parent, not knowing how to communicate things that he wasn't understanding in virtual, etc. But the more I talk to other parents, it was evident that even within the same families, some kids did better with Zoom school than others. Everyone has different personalities and learning styles. My sister, for example, elected virtual for her two ES kids even though they could have gone in person. (they're in FL). So it was a deliberate choice - she was still working, but part-time and flexible, and she was up to the task of supporting their learning. Her first grader largely did ok- easygoing kid, picks things up easily. Was already ahead of most of his peers. Her 3rd grader, on the other hand, is more high strung, doesn't pick things up as quickly, and defiant with my sister in a way she just isn't in class. Kids went back midway through the year since the outbreaks never materialized and everyone was miserable.

1+. It is interesting how PPs immediately assume all children (as young as 5 years!) can access and engage with online learning to an equal extent such that any difficulties with the last 1 yr+ must be attributable to parental neglect. In no other context would they be pushing the idea that somehow 4+ hours on screens were appropriate or well-suited to K-3rd education. In fact, they would argue that 4+ hours on screens *was* parental neglect...

The problem is those same parents then stuck the kids on the iPad for the rest of the day after school too.

No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

Oh please. No one listens to teachers. When they speak up, they are mocked and degraded by parents, the media, their own bosses. I can’t help but think there are much more powerful and better paid people who dropped the ball on this one.

By the way, I am a teacher and taught in person pretty much the entire pandemic. I was happy to do it. But I was also at a school that offered reasonable work conditions, respect, and care for their employees. How many teachers can say the same?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m a first grade mom. Fortunately my kid is doing great because we hired a pod teacher and allowed play dates for socialization. But from check ins with her teacher, I’m under the impression she is now way ahead of her peers. And there have been some class-wide emails about behavior issues the teacher is asking us to address at home and I’m so grateful my child isn’t involved, but I also feel horrible for the school staff dealing with this. This group of kids really was an after thought throughout the pandemic.

You should feel bad for your child. Her class is probably a chaotic mess and she is probably bored to death.

I do feel bad for her. For the other kids who are behind. For the teacher. I also have a lot of anger at society for deciding it was ok to sacrifice this age group to save by and large the elderly. We could have had kids masked and in school last year.

Yes, so many of us parents of young elementary school students were screaming from the rooftops last year that the kids were not okay and no one cared at all. Instead we got a bunch of gaslighting emails from school administrators patting themselves on the back and claiming there was little to no learning loss.

There was a pandemic. The schools did the right thing.

+1,000

-1000. There was no medical or health justification for keeping schools closed for 18 months! It is clear now, and it will be even more glaringly obvious when this area’s policies are actually access and compared to other states (MA, RI?) and countries that kept their schools open. Mark my words, you all will sound like flat-earthers. I can see that the cover up is already beginning….

My kids were in school every day for the 2020-2021 school year. Yes, it was a smaller school (80 kids per grade in elementary school) and yes of course they were all masked all the time except when eating or playing outside, but there were zero cases of on-campus transmission. ZERO. I can't believe that that was all due to the upgraded air filters and the ability to eat lunch outside. In multiple classrooms the desks weren't even six feet away - they were at least three but not all six. And these are elementary school kids - they're not perfect in mask wearing or staying apart. Also, the buses were running all year long. No, they weren't all filled to capacity all the time, but the kids didn't have entire rows to themselves with no one in front of or behind them. Personally, I think schools should have been open with masks and other measures to the extent possible and the transmission wouldn't have been much worse than it already was. But that's just my two cents using hindsight, which isn't fair.

Teacher here and I completely agree. I was also in person all year and there was no in campus transmission. BUT there was also widespread compliance with precautions like masking and ventilation. For the many schools here this wasn’t the case, they were in a tough spot. There should have been much more political will and oversight to open the schools safely.

[Anonymous]

For the many schools WHERE this wasn’t the case, sorry.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for subbing! We NEED you!

+1000. I don’t know why so many people are being nasty to OP.

Education begins at home. I have a niece in 1st and a nephew in 3rd. They had a father working in COVID wards and a mother WFH in a high-stress job. They were put through Kumon to supplement the poor DL and they’re perfectly fine. Other parents chose not to do this and they’re being defensive. And don’t whine to me about their privilege. Many of you have the same privilege yet you failed your kids.

Perhaps because OP was being nasty about young kids and their parents.

Some parents have really let their kids down over the last 18 months. This is an undeniable fact. Yes, DL was a disaster, but some parents tried to mitigate the disaster, others did not or made it worse by allowing and encouraging terrible behavior and learned helplessness.

FOAD. You have no clue what some parents were dealing with.

Maybe. But not most of the parents posting here.

You don’t know that, but even if you’re right, so what? Your comment wasn’t limited to only parents here.

Parents, even the ones who “we have no idea what they are dealing with” are still ultimately responsible for how their kids turn out. I’m the end, if their kid is a HS drop out or whatever, no one is going to blame the pandemic from back in K.

Yes, there could be a whole wave of kids that turn out behind from the effects of the pandemic, and it's the school system's fault for acting like 5 year-olds can do a school day on Zoom. The majority of parents were doing the best that they could, but not everyone can afford supplementing and tutoring or even has a lot of time for homeschooling.

They can stay mad and blame whoever they want, but in the in it’s THEIR kid they are punishing by not taking their own steps to remediate.

You mean virtual tutoring?

With only one school-aged DC, it was easy for me to put all his difficulties on me being a terrible parent, not knowing how to communicate things that he wasn't understanding in virtual, etc. But the more I talk to other parents, it was evident that even within the same families, some kids did better with Zoom school than others. Everyone has different personalities and learning styles. My sister, for example, elected virtual for her two ES kids even though they could have gone in person. (they're in FL). So it was a deliberate choice - she was still working, but part-time and flexible, and she was up to the task of supporting their learning. Her first grader largely did ok- easygoing kid, picks things up easily. Was already ahead of most of his peers. Her 3rd grader, on the other hand, is more high strung, doesn't pick things up as quickly, and defiant with my sister in a way she just isn't in class. Kids went back midway through the year since the outbreaks never materialized and everyone was miserable.

1+. It is interesting how PPs immediately assume all children (as young as 5 years!) can access and engage with online learning to an equal extent such that any difficulties with the last 1 yr+ must be attributable to parental neglect. In no other context would they be pushing the idea that somehow 4+ hours on screens were appropriate or well-suited to K-3rd education. In fact, they would argue that 4+ hours on screens *was* parental neglect...

The problem is those same parents then stuck the kids on the iPad for the rest of the day after school too.

No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

It's as if you are reading this thread selectively, skipping over most of the posts that don't fit your narrative.

Kindergarten is about community. And this year's 1st graders didn't get it last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry pressed submit too soon kids learn things at different ages and in some European countries kids wouldn't start formal education until 6/7 anyway. So I'm not super stressed out with my child is arbitrarily behind in some skills and ahead in others when I know that she is still working hard and improving I think the bigger impact on the pandemic has been just the social emotional regulation. I think that students are still really struggling in that domain and I think the impact of the pandemic is going to be felt for years to come

Most of those countries have languages that are easier to master as far as reading and writing than the English language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

[Anonymous]

Why are we stressing this. Most kids will be fine. There are millions of kids all around the world who were impacted by the pandemic. They are only behind our decided standards and average of when a child should know or be able to do something. Society will adjust and so will kids. Many kids will grow academically, socially, and physically by leaps and bounds this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we stressing this. Most kids will be fine. There are millions of kids all around the world who were impacted by the pandemic. They are only behind our decided standards and average of when a child should know or be able to do something. Society will adjust and so will kids. Many kids will grow academically, socially, and physically by leaps and bounds this year.

Hopefully.

Not having a hand preference as a first grader? I hope that's just a blip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first grade mom. Fortunately my kid is doing great because we hired a pod teacher and allowed play dates for socialization. But from check ins with her teacher, I’m under the impression she is now way ahead of her peers. And there have been some class-wide emails about behavior issues the teacher is asking us to address at home and I’m so grateful my child isn’t involved, but I also feel horrible for the school staff dealing with this. This group of kids really was an after thought throughout the pandemic.

You should feel bad for your child. Her class is probably a chaotic mess and she is probably bored to death.

I do feel bad for her. For the other kids who are behind. For the teacher. I also have a lot of anger at society for deciding it was ok to sacrifice this age group to save by and large the elderly. We could have had kids masked and in school last year.

Yes, so many of us parents of young elementary school students were screaming from the rooftops last year that the kids were not okay and no one cared at all. Instead we got a bunch of gaslighting emails from school administrators patting themselves on the back and claiming there was little to no learning loss.

There was a pandemic. The schools did the right thing.

This IS a pandemic. It's not over.

[Anonymous]

First grade isn’t the problem at our school. It’s the second graders that are a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

I am UMC with a partner and pretty minor, run-of-the-mill mental health challenges, and this pandemic nearly broke me. I recognize every day that I was only able to keep things together for my now first grader because of my privilege and frankly luck (easy kid who adjusted easily to Zoom school and seems to pick everything up at school without effort). I seriously do not know how people do it without a partner, without tons of money, without totally losing their minds.


Thank you, PP. I agree 100%. This is such a depressing thread.


Yes, no matter how widespread the problem, nor how well documented the overall learning loss, it is always the first instinct to blame everything on the parents (Mom!), and to continue to shortchange children. It is interesting how far apart "liberals" are in this country ("Close the schools for a year or you are a Trumper!") from democratic socialist countries (Denmark, Sweden) that prioritized in-person schools over other activities.

Exactly. Liberal countries we admire sent the kids to school without masks, and encouraged them to socialize within their cohorts. They recognized Covid as an adult emergency and prioritized normalcy for kids. Unsurprisingly, their measured response led to high levels of trust in public health and good vaccine uptake among adults.

Contrast all that with the CDC which recommends masking two year olds with no off-ramp. I hate Trump as much as anyone. Yet sometimes I just wish he had recommended closing schools and masking kids from toddlerhood and up. I think our pandemic response would have looked different. This isn’t settled science, it’s a reaction to Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No one is saying online learning was super effective for K students. But if parents literally did nothing additional for all of last year, while knowing virtual was ineffective, that’s on them.

Perhaps you can come up with things parents could have done or should be doing, to make this all work out?

I have a friend who is a nurse, with 3 kids, 8th grader, 5th grader, and K. All through the pandemic, she has been working, often long hours. Her husband works overnight, so that someone is home most of the time, but obviously, in between work, they have to do things like chores and sleeping. Since dad sleeps during the day, he is unable to supervise anyone. Oldest kid was in 8th grade. Self sufficient. He was responsible for making sure that the K kid was logged on, but that was about the extent of what he could do, because he can't do his schooling and supervise the K kid. Obviously, the kid learned nothing all last year. No idea how the little one is doing this year, but I'm assuming that he is among the kids that is behind.

They could have worked with the little one every day on the basics. Zero excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am UMC with a partner and pretty minor, run-of-the-mill mental health challenges, and this pandemic nearly broke me. I recognize every day that I was only able to keep things together for my now first grader because of my privilege and frankly luck (easy kid who adjusted easily to Zoom school and seems to pick everything up at school without effort). I seriously do not know how people do it without a partner, without tons of money, without totally losing their minds.


Thank you, PP. I agree 100%. This is such a depressing thread.


Yes, no matter how widespread the problem, nor how well documented the overall learning loss, it is always the first instinct to blame everything on the parents (Mom!), and to continue to shortchange children. It is interesting how far apart "liberals" are in this country ("Close the schools for a year or you are a Trumper!") from democratic socialist countries (Denmark, Sweden) that prioritized in-person schools over other activities.

Exactly. Liberal countries we admire sent the kids to school without masks, and encouraged them to socialize within their cohorts. They recognized Covid as an adult emergency and prioritized normalcy for kids. Unsurprisingly, their measured response led to high levels of trust in public health and good vaccine uptake among adults.

Contrast all that with the CDC which recommends masking two year olds with no off-ramp. I hate Trump as much as anyone. Yet sometimes I just wish he had recommended closing schools and masking kids from toddlerhood and up. I think our pandemic response would have looked different. This isn’t settled science, it’s a reaction to Trump.

We have no precautions and adults refuse them. Silly argument.

[Anonymous]

Contrast all that with the CDC which recommends masking two year olds with no off-ramp. I hate Trump as much as anyone. Yet sometimes I just wish he had recommended closing schools and masking kids from toddlerhood and up. I think our pandemic response would have looked different. This isn’t settled science, it’s a reaction to Trump.


We have no precautions and adults refuse them. Silly argument.

So how does masking a population of lower risk than vaccinated adults help anyone? Help me understand.