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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

No, I understand the situation perfectly well. Closed schools ensured that those families most at risk, with in-person jobs and multigenerational households, mixed households as much as possible as without testing or masks. That's not an argument why schools should have been closed, but an argument why using the suffering of at-risk communities to support school closures is BS. We should have focused efforts on protecting families at greatest risk with more testing, free N95s for when a family member had symptoms and continued in-person school that did not require so much mixing of households in crowded, indoor, poorly ventilated spaces.

And no, you are wrong again. Closed schools minimized vectors for these kids. They would have had to stay with both parents and grandparents anyway -- schools just would have added in more contacts.

Again, this wasn't a common situation. But it is and was a real one, and before you make grand sweeping statements, think about your preconceptions. Think about who counts for you, and who doesn't.

And stop beng so wrong all the time.

I’m not the PP you are responding to but this is completely nonsensical. There has been a ton of evidence that COVID spread was lower in schools than in the respective community (at least until omicron, I’m not sure if that was true for that variant). It is terrible that people were at risk through their jobs and I’m angry that our country didn’t do a better job of providing a safety net for people who didn’t have a choice about working in person or not working. But it has nothing to do with schools.

[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.

You’re still entrusting your kids education to the exact same people.

[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.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

What the heck does this have to do with remote schooling? Are you saying if kids were in school, they wouldn’t have needed grandparent babysitting that resulted in transmission and death?

[Anonymous]

And even if your kid did perfectly fine with distance learning, they will be in a class where the majority are significantly behind. Thus your kid will be stuck doing remedial as well. Apparently kids can’t be pulled out for remedial or separated by skills into different classrooms to better address each kids needs.

[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?

They are right to work states and do not have unions. They are not protected and can be fired for any reason.

[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?

They are right to work states and do not have unions. They are not protected and can be fired for any reason.

As long as teacher unions are allowed to be in charge, the children will never have a decent education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

New PP and our experience as well. We moved this year from MCPS to a very blue county in CO that was prioritizing schools staying open. I look back and wish we had done it sooner. Our experience here is so much better in every way than when we were in the DMV.

+1
Left dc for a very blue Florida county and it’s like night and day. Our school has never mandated masks, maybe there have been 3 closures since March 2021 for COVID? And closures were isolated to the classroom, not the entire school.

Dems don’t want to admit that red states got some things right. We were/are so desperate to wave our anti trump flags, that we don’t want to consider or say outloud that some republican leaders had decent ideas and priorities. Not saying red states got it all right. Not even close. But some thing were handled incredibly better than in places like dmv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools being virtual in Fall of 2020 was terrible, but let's not put all the blame on the school district or the teacher unions. Parents had a large role in that as well. MCPS was just going with the political climate in Montgomery County at the time. If they had opened in person in the Fall, people would have flipped out. Fact is, MCPS opened up for in-person in Spring 2021, and a large number of parents still chose to keep their kids home.

This is very true. I know a number of families who opted to keep their kids home after school opened back up in March 2021. I even know a handful living in districts with a continued virtual option who have kept them home this school year as well, due to Delta and then Omicron. I personally think they’re insane but whatever. No high risk health issues.

[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.

Woah I was not aware anyone was chaining teachers inside classrooms. Was very much under the impression they could leave the teaching profession if they no longer wanted to be in the teaching profession, just like I’m able to do with my job. Where is the outrage? This is very serious.

[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?

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.

Woah I was not aware anyone was chaining teachers inside classrooms. Was very much under the impression they could leave the teaching profession if they no longer wanted to be in the teaching profession, just like I’m able to do with my job. Where is the outrage? This is very serious.

NP I would imagine they did some sort of survey/assessment of how many teachers would return vs. quit if they did in-person? If not enough would return, they wouldn’t be able to educate the students.

[Anonymous]

Please stop with this crap. Trying to save lives means things won't be ideal or maybe even great. Or even mediocre.
Missing school isn't really going to be that much of an impact in the face of deaths.

Maybe this was a good time to practice and teach resilience for the next bad thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

New PP and our experience as well. We moved this year from MCPS to a very blue county in CO that was prioritizing schools staying open. I look back and wish we had done it sooner. Our experience here is so much better in every way than when we were in the DMV.

+1
Left dc for a very blue Florida county and it’s like night and day. Our school has never mandated masks, maybe there have been 3 closures since March 2021 for COVID? And closures were isolated to the classroom, not the entire school.

Dems don’t want to admit that red states got some things right. We were/are so desperate to wave our anti trump flags, that we don’t want to consider or say outloud that some republican leaders had decent ideas and priorities. Not saying red states got it all right. Not even close. But some thing were handled incredibly better than in places like dmv.

While this has some truth to it it is not because authorities in red states knew what they were doing or gave the situation a lot more intelligent thought and analysis. It was pure luck. It was also a case of government being willing to sacrifice people to the pandemic in order to pander to their base. It may have turned out better after the fact but you are delusional if you think Ron Desantis is some genius who knew just how to handle a pandemic properly.

[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?

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.

Are you living under a rock? Do you not realize how much safer most private schools are? Smaller classes, the funds to upgrade their systems, weekly testing, socioeconomic groups that are more likely to be telecommuting, if you are multigenerational household, etc. It’s like comparing apples and oranges

[Anonymous]

I was going through a pretty bad divorce way before covid, and had to work and sometimes the childcare just wasn’t available or financially feasible. I had a camera set up as well and my then 3rd grader stayed home as needed (not on a daily basis though). I was always terrified I would be reported to CPS. Turns out the pandemic made it ok?

[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.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

What kind of sick monster was TELLING the kids that it was "because of them?"