Why are most teachers too scared to return to in person teaching, but most parents want schools open

[Anonymous]

Average teacher age in the US: 42

Usually teachers don't make that much money compared to other professions that require at least a bachelor's is most areas. Unless they have a high earning partner.

Combine those two facts with the tool mentioned above and you have an older population of teachers who may have pre-existing health conditions and may also be bankrupted by a serious medical issue. Unlike in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In an average 6 month period, car accidents kill 16K Americans. During the same time period, COVID has killed 10 times that many people. During the same time period, COVID has killed more than twice as many working age Americans (18 to 65 year olds) as car accidents generally do.

And that's WITH stay at home orders, masks, and schools closed, for much of the time.

If we hadn't done those thing, the spread would have been far worse and the deaths would have been far worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its like Teachers got frozen in time and are stuck on March 20th when the US shut down and we thought everyone who left their house would get COVID and die.

Fast forward, we know so much more now. People are SAFELY returning to work with PPE, safeguards, modifications to their work space/hours/business but we still hear teachers crying about not wanting to die.
It is like they haven't realized that 90% of us are back in offices, businesses and going about or daily lives with masks and other precautions.
Oh!!! But the kids can't be safe!!!
Well, yes they can as proven by Day cares, camps, sports and playdates. THey can also wear masks. Gasp, I know!!!
You can also turn gyms, cafeterias, libraries into classrooms to spread kids out. You can also change the schedule a bit. Hell have 2 groups, one in the am, one in the after. Or get even more creative and have an evening session for those who want/need.

Teachers just dont' get it and I don't get why they want to DL. By all accounts it is more stressful, more work and really limitied learning can take place at gradeschool level. Why in the hell are they wanting this?

It also makes me wonder about my children's safety in their care. What about fires, active shooters, hurricanes? Will they run away and leave the kids to fend for themselves because they don't want to die??

This is exactly it, except I disagree with the last paragraph.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its like Teachers got frozen in time and are stuck on March 20th when the US shut down and we thought everyone who left their house would get COVID and die.

Fast forward, we know so much more now. People are SAFELY returning to work with PPE, safeguards, modifications to their work space/hours/business but we still hear teachers crying about not wanting to die.
It is like they haven't realized that 90% of us are back in offices, businesses and going about or daily lives with masks and other precautions.
Oh!!! But the kids can't be safe!!!
Well, yes they can as proven by Day cares, camps, sports and playdates. THey can also wear masks. Gasp, I know!!!
You can also turn gyms, cafeterias, libraries into classrooms to spread kids out. You can also change the schedule a bit. Hell have 2 groups, one in the am, one in the after. Or get even more creative and have an evening session for those who want/need.

Teachers just dont' get it and I don't get why they want to DL. By all accounts it is more stressful, more work and really limitied learning can take place at gradeschool level. Why in the hell are they wanting this?

It also makes me wonder about my children's safety in their care. What about fires, active shooters, hurricanes? Will they run away and leave the kids to fend for themselves because they don't want to die??

This is exactly it, except I disagree with the last paragraph.

Then find another school. No one is stopping you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Average teacher age in the US: 42

Usually teachers don't make that much money compared to other professions that require at least a bachelor's is most areas. Unless they have a high earning partner.

Combine those two facts with the tool mentioned above and you have an older population of teachers who may have pre-existing health conditions and may also be bankrupted by a serious medical issue. Unlike in Europe.

Well they earn less than most professions that require a degree because they work 8 months out of the year. Not to mention, the average public school teacher does not have the capacity to do much else.

That’s not true and is unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Average teacher age in the US: 42

Usually teachers don't make that much money compared to other professions that require at least a bachelor's is most areas. Unless they have a high earning partner.

Combine those two facts with the tool mentioned above and you have an older population of teachers who may have pre-existing health conditions and may also be bankrupted by a serious medical issue. Unlike in Europe.

Well they earn less than most professions that require a degree because they work 8 months out of the year. Not to mention, the average public school teacher does not have the capacity to do much else.

195-200 days is more than 8 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average teacher age in the US: 42

Usually teachers don't make that much money compared to other professions that require at least a bachelor's is most areas. Unless they have a high earning partner.

Combine those two facts with the tool mentioned above and you have an older population of teachers who may have pre-existing health conditions and may also be bankrupted by a serious medical issue. Unlike in Europe.

Ahem. An average age of 42 is not an “older” population.

[Anonymous]

Op, I have no idea what most teacher thing but anecdotally, I can tell you that one teacher wants to stay home because it is much more convenient . She is only pissed now that she will actually be required to teach live during school normal hours - she wishes it was like during spring, or conversely, like in Mexico where they just have to post a video, have the students watch it and come to class with questions. She is really upset that she will have to actually sit down and teach during school hours.

If the borders were open, she would move to some other country during this time and try to enjoy it while "teaching." Hopefully, she is in the minority, but she is so tone deaf that it hurst sometimes. I have to contain myself to not come out to blows since at the end of the day, *I* had great experience with my own children's teachers during spring and I am pretty sure I will have again given our school principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I have no idea what most teacher thing but anecdotally, I can tell you that one teacher wants to stay home because it is much more convenient . She is only pissed now that she will actually be required to teach live during school normal hours - she wishes it was like during spring, or conversely, like in Mexico where they just have to post a video, have the students watch it and come to class with questions. She is really upset that she will have to actually sit down and teach during school hours.

If the borders were open, she would move to some other country during this time and try to enjoy it while "teaching." Hopefully, she is in the minority, but she is so tone deaf that it hurst sometimes. I have to contain myself to not come out to blows since at the end of the day, *I* had great experience with my own children's teachers during spring and I am pretty sure I will have again given our school principal.

There are 3.5 million teachers in America. You can find least one teacher who wants almost anything. I have one ancient facebook "friend" who believes in lizard people type conspiracies. He's a plumber. I don't conclude from this that plumbers make their decisions due to lizard people fears. I conclude that my particular "friend" is nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I have no idea what most teacher thing but anecdotally, I can tell you that one teacher wants to stay home because it is much more convenient . She is only pissed now that she will actually be required to teach live during school normal hours - she wishes it was like during spring, or conversely, like in Mexico where they just have to post a video, have the students watch it and come to class with questions. She is really upset that she will have to actually sit down and teach during school hours.

If the borders were open, she would move to some other country during this time and try to enjoy it while "teaching." Hopefully, she is in the minority, but she is so tone deaf that it hurst sometimes. I have to contain myself to not come out to blows since at the end of the day, *I* had great experience with my own children's teachers during spring and I am pretty sure I will have again given our school principal.

There are 3.5 million teachers in America. You can find least one teacher who wants almost anything. I have one ancient facebook "friend" who believes in lizard people type conspiracies. He's a plumber. I don't conclude from this that plumbers make their decisions due to lizard people fears. I conclude that my particular "friend" is nuts.

I conclude that PP has an active fantasy life and makes up imaginary “teachers” to have someone to talk to during the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job is much harder to do at home. It’s hard enough to do at school. I live with my mom who is not in great health. So I’ll do much more work in order to keep her safe.

Ok, but parents are just as likely to have a vulnerable family member living with them, as teachers, yet survey after survey shows the vast majority of parents want schools to reopen and the vast majority of teachers want schools virtual. Since there is no reason to think teachers are more naturally cautious than the public at large, I think it’s safe to assume that there something else at play here

And as a teacher, I would never admit this IRL - even though I’m nervous about online teaching in the fall, mainly because we still haven’t been told what the hell it will entail, I still think it will be nicer than dealing
with the commute, discipline issues, staff politics, expectation to run after school clubs, etc than teaching in person.

Troll

[Anonymous]

OP is WRONG.

Most parents don’t want to go back to school in person.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/08/07/most-americans-do-not-want-to-send-their-children-back-to-school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is WRONG.

Most parents don’t want to go back to school in person.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/08/07/most-americans-do-not-want-to-send-their-children-back-to-school

It is interesting how many post graduate parents want the kids to attend; I wonder if they could control for private vs public in that scenario?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I have no idea what most teacher thing but anecdotally, I can tell you that one teacher wants to stay home because it is much more convenient . She is only pissed now that she will actually be required to teach live during school normal hours - she wishes it was like during spring, or conversely, like in Mexico where they just have to post a video, have the students watch it and come to class with questions. She is really upset that she will have to actually sit down and teach during school hours.

If the borders were open, she would move to some other country during this time and try to enjoy it while "teaching." Hopefully, she is in the minority, but she is so tone deaf that it hurst sometimes. I have to contain myself to not come out to blows since at the end of the day, *I* had great experience with my own children's teachers during spring and I am pretty sure I will have again given our school principal.

Thank you for these insights. Motivations around convenience and personal lifestyle (like wanting to travel and work from the beach) are perfectly valid. Digital nomads in IT have done it for years to great success. I only wish teachers generally approached this discussion with more honesty and transparency, instead of hiding behind commentary like "I don't want to die!" and "Parents must really hate their kids!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Every polls I’ve seen taken by a local school district Or private school in the last month has between 60 and 85 percent of parents in support of school reopening. National polls differ because of local covid situations.