The combination of powerful teachers unions, along
with democrat-controlled cities and states, could only lead to one sad finale: schools
will not re-open in most of California this fall. There is a very good chance
they will not resume until after the election in November.
In mid-March, many
schools sent their students home. Extending Spring break from one week to three
weeks is not an ideal plan for educational standards, but somewhat understandable.
Then the three weeks turned into six weeks, and that turned into two months, which
crept on until the end of the school year. The final blow is that no student
will be permitted to return in the fall. How has this been allowed to happen?
Within the first
month of school closures it became evident that little, if any, instruction was
going on in the public schools. Excuses of no computers or slow internet speed have
been cited as the reason, a justification that does not stand up to the facts. A
more acceptable reason would have been to acknowledge that children parked in
front of a screen for five hours a day just does not work. However, if the
unions and districts were to admit that, it would be that much harder to continue
the charade of unsafe classroom environments.
There is no reason
to cancel the start of the fall semester. If so, why have schools opened in Germany,
France, Sweden, and all of Europe? The same information about the effect of
Covid-19 on children under the age of eighteen is available to all the teachers
unions and school boards. They have it. They have read it. The sad fact is that
it does not fit their political agenda to open schools.
Teachers say they
are scared of getting the virus. These are the same people who, in the past, went to work every
day and were exposed to a menagerie of virus, colds, flu, and assorted other
pathogens. It is one of the perils of life in a classroom. Yet we do not shut
down schools every winter when colds and flu are rampant.
What seems to be
left out of the argument for keeping students at home, is the extreme detrimental
effects that far outweigh any slight risk of virus transmission. The loss of
months of education is by itself reason enough to reopen schools. However, that
is only one part of the problem. Children need socialization and a structured environment.
A very small percentage of students might be lucky enough to have a parent who
can teach all the course work, arrange for interaction with schoolmates, keep
up with the homework, and all the other daily activities that are now missing from
that child’s day. But what about all the other students? It is doubtful they
have had any instrution since mid-March.
The isolation has taken
its toll on countless young people. I shudder when I think of children who have
been locked inside abusive homes for the past four months. The special needs
children have been particularly hurt by the lack of assistance that they would
have received at school.
If the teachers
refuse to do their job, the taxes we pay for the schools should be refunded. It
seems every two years another measure or two is passed increasing our taxes by
hundreds of dollars. Some other day I might go into the deplorable state of
what is actually being taught here in the Golden State. Rather, what is not being
taught. At this point, I really do not care. I only want the kids back in the
classroom.
Parents need to
stand up and let their voices be heard. But that will not happen in a town where
free speech is not allowed, in a state where anyone who questions school
closures is labeled as in favor of death.
My question again
is, how has this been allowed to happen in the United States of America?
