The schools need to be open. Child abuse ER visits are up 35%[0]. Let that sink in. If a child goes to the ER for abuse, it's not because they have a black eye. They likely have broken bones, or are unresponsive. Thirty-five percent!
Schools provide surveillance into things like child abuse, the need for hearing aids, the need for speech therapy classes .. and school lunches provide nutrition standards for many underprivileged children. All of that in gone.
I know plenty of friends who taught on-line University classes prior to 2020 who told me the students cheat and the courts are pretty much bullshit. You get out of any program what you put into it, and college students have the ability to put things into their programs. Children needs socialization with other human beings.
The threat to children is minuscule. The threat to teachers under 40 years of age is also not great. We can pay the wages of older teachers and help them find new roles, quickly remove teachers who become CoV2 positive and find means to keep the schools open. Closing down schools is the worst idea possible.
Israel saw a clear correlation between schools opening, and the spread ofthe virus, in a way that affected the entire country. [0]
The threat is not negligible. Students act as carriers, like they always have, and then the super-spreader event occurs through teacher and staff contacts, who take it with them and continue the spread. That's without speaking about transport.
> Isn't it sad that as a society, it has come down to schools to provide security to children, as opposed to their own family.
It hasn't. Families _are_ the primary way we provide security for children. No family is perfect but most keep their kids safe. Some don't, all over the world, so we have checks and balances. People trained to fill that role are called "mandated reporters". Teachers are arguably the most important mandated reporters because they spend so much time with the kids every weekday.
And even well-meaning, financially secure parents can miss things like the need for speech therapy. Teachers know what's developmentally normal, know what resources are available, etc.
> I think the root cause is the fragmented family system in the US. Marriages and divorces happen so much that the ultimate sufferers are the children.
How do the stats compare in some other country that doesn't have as much divorce?
When I say "no family is perfect", I mean just that: exactly 100% of families are "not perfect" in how we raise our kids. But I don't mean abuse; I mean we all make mundane mistakes in how we handle situations rather than being like the grown-ups on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, maybe that we plunk the kids down in front of the TV sometimes when we should spend more quality time with them, etc.
Keeping kids safe from child abuse is a pretty low bar and most families meet it. According to one stat I found [1], at least 1% of kids are abused every year. That's horrible and would be even worse if not for mandated reporters, but it doesn't mean that schools provide security for kids and families don't.
Schools provide surveillance into things like child abuse, the need for hearing aids, the need for speech therapy classes .. and school lunches provide nutrition standards for many underprivileged children. All of that in gone.
I know plenty of friends who taught on-line University classes prior to 2020 who told me the students cheat and the courts are pretty much bullshit. You get out of any program what you put into it, and college students have the ability to put things into their programs. Children needs socialization with other human beings.
The threat to children is minuscule. The threat to teachers under 40 years of age is also not great. We can pay the wages of older teachers and help them find new roles, quickly remove teachers who become CoV2 positive and find means to keep the schools open. Closing down schools is the worst idea possible.
[0]: http://adam.curry.com/enc/1593719588.319_scottatlasonschools...