Reply to Why are parents so fixated on reopening schools in-person?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The answer is simple yet it continues to be discussed ad nauseum. Distance learning has created an enormous disruption for working families, making it nearly impossible for many parents to meet the demands of their jobs while managing distance learning. Many families are struggling to figure out how to manage it and there are no good choices and people are under tremendous pressure. There are a group of parents who cannot understand this for a variety of reasons:

-They were stay at home parents (mostly mothers) before the pandemic
-They were able to become stay at home parents (mostly mothers) after the pandemic
-They have BS jobs where they don't have to think or produce anything and can pull the wool over their bosses eyes by checking email every so often
-They refuse to accept any risk at all with covid and would rather accept the shitty outcomes of distance learning or reduction income

Because of the bubble of privilege in which they are living, it is very difficult for them to understand why other families want schools open for in-person learning. Hence resorting to the tiring "schools aren't child care" and other sanctimonious accusations frequently hurled in this forum.[/quote]

I would add to your list:  "They can afford tutors and pods for their kids, and are not worried about their kids falling behind."[/quote]

This addendum is key. It's about money, money, money. And people with large disposable incomes actually have more cash on hand this year because they aren't going on European vacations or eating out at nice restaurants three days a week. A lot of that money is just getting channeled into their kids and more than making up the difference in DL's shortcomings. I think a lot of the "Actually, DL is better!" crowd are wealthy public school parents whose kids actually are better off because they are getting a ton of specialized, one on one, attention from tutors and even from their parents, which they did not used to get.

Meanwhile, if you are MC or lower, you can't afford to just pay someone to watch your school age kids, and you don't have time to supplement because you are now doing 2 full-time jobs (your actual job and childcare, plus parenting which is actually a different thing than childcare). Plus, unlike wealthy parents who are hiring it out, these parents are actually sitting in the room during DL and can see how terrible it is and are horrified by how little their kids are learning and how much time is wasted on stuff like getting people to mute or turn on their cameras.

These parents are also stressed about socialization and are doing their best to provide it, but without a formal pod, its catch as catch can, and if your kid normally struggles a bit with the social side of school, it's REALLY bad now because it must all be self-initiated and you can't trust that your child will have to interact with peers by virtue of being physically near them all day at school.

I think we need to keep schools closed for the time being because of rising cases and the holidays, but I'm not content with DL nor do I think it's a long term solution, because I don't have the funds to make it one.[/quote]

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