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Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

Or daycare centers. There are no daycare centers for children over 5. That was called school. If you need childcare for your child over 5, you have to hire a full time nanny or sitter which is many times more expensive, and harder to arrange.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP.

Our social institutions have created the expectation of schools being a source of childcare Monday through Friday. To eliminate that and criticize those who perceive it as "childcare" is unfair. You cannot set expectations and then yank them out from underneath of people who are relying on them.

That expectation was an assumption and an incorrect assumption. I hope everyone now knows better and will in the future not plan to have more kids than they are willing to parent without 13 years of free babysitting.

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Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

Many of us parent were highly involved before the pandemic, and it's still incredibly difficult to manage kids' schooling along with jobs and everything else. Most other countries prioritized young children's schools being open, so it's not a ridiculous idea to expect that.

Then hire help. Simple. You need help. In the past you relied on school. School isn't your help now so you need to hire someone if you cannot do it yourself. You can always move to those other countries if you think they are so much better.

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Anonymous wrote:I find the overall argument ridiculous. Teachers aren't just in charge of lecturing. Schools are there to engage and teach students skills beyond just reading and writing, but how to be a student, focus on tasks, take responsibility, etc. They're clearly not able to do that virtually.

Teacher here. How do you know they're "clearly" not able to do that virtually? And how on earth could you lump all together?

Anonymous wrote:Are all of you 'only the rich should reproduce' idiots forgetting that in order for YOU to remain 'on top' someone else has to be on the bottom supporting you. Who do you think is going to keep performing the service jobs that make your 'lifestyle choices' possible if the lower class doesn't reproduce?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the overall argument ridiculous. Teachers aren't just in charge of lecturing. Schools are there to engage and teach students skills beyond just reading and writing, but how to be a student, focus on tasks, take responsibility, etc. They're clearly not able to do that virtually.

Teacher here. How do you know they're "clearly" not able to do that virtually? And how on earth could you lump all together?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

Many of us parent were highly involved before the pandemic, and it's still incredibly difficult to manage kids' schooling along with jobs and everything else. Most other countries prioritized young children's schools being open, so it's not a ridiculous idea to expect that.

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Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

School is not childcare. Parents "relied" on free babysitting incorrectly. They made an assumption that they were entitled to babysitting in addition to education. That assumption was incorrect.

Of course they did but people cannot be responsible or involved with their own kids so its turned into free babysitting. It must be such a shock to them to have to spend so much time with them now.

I’m sure the more unpleasant the child is, the more angry the parents have been over school being virtual. I’m in no rush to shove my kids out into an un heated classroom.

This. Every time someone begins to rant about opening schools I think to myself what a pita their kid must be.

And any time I hear statements like what the PPs just wrote, I think to myself that I hope someone else in their kid's life is teaching their kid about compassion and understanding, because these are the parents of the horrific little bullies who bully my kid with significant SNs. Clearly the PPs are incapable of teaching their kid to be kind. Someone else will have to do the job. God knows my poor kid has suffered enough from your terrible parenting.

LOL. Look at you totally not taking responsibility for your actions!

Anonymous wrote:I find the overall argument ridiculous. Teachers aren't just in charge of lecturing. Schools are there to engage and teach students skills beyond just reading and writing, but how to be a student, focus on tasks, take responsibility, etc. They're clearly not able to do that virtually.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

School is not childcare. Parents "relied" on free babysitting incorrectly. They made an assumption that they were entitled to babysitting in addition to education. That assumption was incorrect.

Of course they did but people cannot be responsible or involved with their own kids so its turned into free babysitting. It must be such a shock to them to have to spend so much time with them now.

I’m sure the more unpleasant the child is, the more angry the parents have been over school being virtual. I’m in no rush to shove my kids out into an un heated classroom.

This. Every time someone begins to rant about opening schools I think to myself what a pita their kid must be.

And any time I hear statements like what the PPs just wrote, I think to myself that I hope someone else in their kid's life is teaching their kid about compassion and understanding, because these are the parents of the horrific little bullies who bully my kid with significant SNs. Clearly the PPs are incapable of teaching their kid to be kind. Someone else will have to do the job. God knows my poor kid has suffered enough from your terrible parenting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

School is not childcare. Parents "relied" on free babysitting incorrectly. They made an assumption that they were entitled to babysitting in addition to education. That assumption was incorrect.

Of course they did but people cannot be responsible or involved with their own kids so its turned into free babysitting. It must be such a shock to them to have to spend so much time with them now.

I’m sure the more unpleasant the child is, the more angry the parents have been over school being virtual. I’m in no rush to shove my kids out into an un heated classroom.

This. Every time someone begins to rant about opening schools I think to myself what a pita their kid must be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School is child care. Many parents relied on their kids being out of the house for the school day and teachers handling everything education related. Now people have to step up and parent and do things like assure the assignments are done and make sure their kids go to class. Its pretty sad that some parents were never involved in the first place.

School is not childcare. Parents "relied" on free babysitting incorrectly. They made an assumption that they were entitled to babysitting in addition to education. That assumption was incorrect.

Of course they did but people cannot be responsible or involved with their own kids so its turned into free babysitting. It must be such a shock to them to have to spend so much time with them now.

I’m sure the more unpleasant the child is, the more angry the parents have been over school being virtual. I’m in no rush to shove my kids out into an un heated classroom.

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Anonymous wrote:To all those complaining that parents only see schools as babysitters and who want schools open so that they don't have to pay for childcare - why aren't you thinking about the large number of families who cannot pay for childcare?? Most of the upper middle class can figure this out and pay for alternatives. Those that are more financially challenged can also figure this out, but can't afford this option or for other reasons it may not be as easily solved.

So when you start hating on all parents for wanting schools back in, for any reason, please note that you are hating on some very vulnerable people in our society. The ones that can't afford tutors, who can't be one of the 2 million women who have dropped out of the workforce, the ones that technology does not come as easy to, etc.

I see this on so many posts and I can't imagine the liberally focused majority on this board can't open their minds to this....

If they can’t afford kids, shouldn’t have had them. It’s a choice to be a parent. They were irresponsible. Teachers did not force them to reproduce even though it didn’t fit their lifestyle.

If they didn't want to teach children in schools, they shouldn't have become public school teachers. It's a choice to be a teacher. They were irresponsible. Parents didn't force them to get education degrees and take jobs in public schools, even though the job didn't fit their lifestyle.

It's truly disgusting how people who think like this are allowed to spew such selfishness and hatred towards their fellow citizens, and of course the anonymity of the internet gives them complete coverage, but *****ism has made it fashionable to be nasty, brutish nd proud. Those children that were born are here now, regardless of whether you deem them deserving of birth. And it's society responsibility to take care of them, or risk dealing with the crime, desperation and poverty that will eventually characterize them as adults (as well as the human capital you are sacrificing from neglecting millions of future productive citizens). Every other advanced society knows this, they invest in all of their children rather than let the selfishness of a small percent of greedy parents dictate public policy, and we wonder why America is slowly collapsing.

The silver lining in all of this is that all the cracks in our messed up socioeconomic system is being exposed and I think most people are starting to see how stupid and exploitative it was to turn schools into babysitting arenas in the first place by creating unequal tax systems, and forcing families to have to bring in two incomes just to scrape by in the first place.

No, it's THEIR PARENTS' job to take care of them. The schools' job is to provide education. They are providing education. Take care of the children you chose to bring into the world.