The Pandemic and the Safety of Schools
I haven't added to my site in a while but I am coming back with a take on the pandemic and the safety of schools. I write this for three reasons:
1. this website and my efforts are meant to provide an understanding for interested people about topics, practices and habits that contribute to a safe and healthy environment for children,
2. parenting doesn't come with a handbook, the pandemic can be scary and schools have mostly been viewed as safe places for our children and finally,
3. schools have long been a testing ground for social issues but they aren't; they are safe places for children to learn, discover, test their worldviews and create social relationships for the future.
The resistance, hesitancy or outright rebellion against masks isn't coming from children. In fact, my own children have on a couple occasions reminded me to put a mask on my face per the school policy. While we are on the topic of masks, let me clearly remind people who suggest that cloth masks "do nothing to prevent the spread of Covid-19", covering your face with a cloth masks protects others from you - not the other way around. But this is for the N95s too. The virus can enter your system via your eyes, ears, cuts and so forth - a person wears the mask to prevent the droplets from being propelled throughout the air. My wife noticed something funny in regards to molecule spread when we were watching a football game and we could see the air coming from the players breathing in the cold environment - that is an indication of how far your spray goes - and masks can limit and prevent that spread. Schools require masks of everyone on campus because no one knows about the prevention habits of families off campus so masks are important on campus to prevent the spread. But schools are also mandated to improve circulation in the classroom, provide hand sanitizer and monitor children's interactions in order to limit the possibilities of spread.
During these exceptional times, schools cannot be the testing grounds for politics, policies or the hangups of parents. Children need to be vaccinated. Period, Hard stop. It isn't about politics, your party affiliation or the feelings of parents. Your own parents had you vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and a variety of other illnesses. It is your responsibility as a parent to make sure [you and] your own children are vaccinated.
Speaking of testing, during the pandemic, we realized that for the best interests of children to be served - we have to do away with standardized, compulsory testing. I don't mean COVID testing, I mean subject matter testing. Lately I have been reading articles about the harm that homeschooling and being away from school has befallen children. Graduation rates and test scores have both decreased over the past two years and this is causing psychological problems in young people. In fact, I have read articles from the APA and medical doctors talking about building resilience in young children.
Resilience isn't about children "bouncing back" or "growing" as a result of the traumatic effects of life changing events. Moreso, resilience is about giving children the skills to cope with their new reality. In other words, like children who have experienced violence, bullying, abuse and so forth - even poverty for that matter - it isn't about them getting over it but learning to deal with it in a positive manner. But even more, and this is important for teachers and parents, it is equipping the people around them with trauma-informed practices that highlight the fact that children aren't "over it" they are dealing with it and moving forward - it is usually ill-equipped parents, caregivers and teachers who exacerbate the problems.
Kids are fine - adults are TERRIBLE at handling major change in a positive way.
So, in closing, do away with standardized testing. If we have learned nothing during this time, we have learned that testing children only provides a snapshot of a specific set of skills and with two years lost in building those limited skills tested - it is disingenuous to say we are actually testing what we want to test AND that the scores recorded this year show ANYTHING significant. It shows that children have not learned the information being tested. Well, yeah.
Also, support children by getting them vaccinated and getting vaccinated thus decreasing - not eliminating - the likelihood they will be very sick and in some cases sick at all from the Covid virus.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, model for young people that sometimes we do things that benefit others - maybe even more than ourselves - because it is the right thing to do. Can we teach a more important lesson during these times?
I haven't added to my site in a while but I am coming back with a take on the pandemic and the safety of schools. I write this for three reasons:
1. this website and my efforts are meant to provide an understanding for interested people about topics, practices and habits that contribute to a safe and healthy environment for children,
2. parenting doesn't come with a handbook, the pandemic can be scary and schools have mostly been viewed as safe places for our children and finally,
3. schools have long been a testing ground for social issues but they aren't; they are safe places for children to learn, discover, test their worldviews and create social relationships for the future.
The resistance, hesitancy or outright rebellion against masks isn't coming from children. In fact, my own children have on a couple occasions reminded me to put a mask on my face per the school policy. While we are on the topic of masks, let me clearly remind people who suggest that cloth masks "do nothing to prevent the spread of Covid-19", covering your face with a cloth masks protects others from you - not the other way around. But this is for the N95s too. The virus can enter your system via your eyes, ears, cuts and so forth - a person wears the mask to prevent the droplets from being propelled throughout the air. My wife noticed something funny in regards to molecule spread when we were watching a football game and we could see the air coming from the players breathing in the cold environment - that is an indication of how far your spray goes - and masks can limit and prevent that spread. Schools require masks of everyone on campus because no one knows about the prevention habits of families off campus so masks are important on campus to prevent the spread. But schools are also mandated to improve circulation in the classroom, provide hand sanitizer and monitor children's interactions in order to limit the possibilities of spread.
During these exceptional times, schools cannot be the testing grounds for politics, policies or the hangups of parents. Children need to be vaccinated. Period, Hard stop. It isn't about politics, your party affiliation or the feelings of parents. Your own parents had you vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and a variety of other illnesses. It is your responsibility as a parent to make sure [you and] your own children are vaccinated.
Speaking of testing, during the pandemic, we realized that for the best interests of children to be served - we have to do away with standardized, compulsory testing. I don't mean COVID testing, I mean subject matter testing. Lately I have been reading articles about the harm that homeschooling and being away from school has befallen children. Graduation rates and test scores have both decreased over the past two years and this is causing psychological problems in young people. In fact, I have read articles from the APA and medical doctors talking about building resilience in young children.
Resilience isn't about children "bouncing back" or "growing" as a result of the traumatic effects of life changing events. Moreso, resilience is about giving children the skills to cope with their new reality. In other words, like children who have experienced violence, bullying, abuse and so forth - even poverty for that matter - it isn't about them getting over it but learning to deal with it in a positive manner. But even more, and this is important for teachers and parents, it is equipping the people around them with trauma-informed practices that highlight the fact that children aren't "over it" they are dealing with it and moving forward - it is usually ill-equipped parents, caregivers and teachers who exacerbate the problems.
Kids are fine - adults are TERRIBLE at handling major change in a positive way.
So, in closing, do away with standardized testing. If we have learned nothing during this time, we have learned that testing children only provides a snapshot of a specific set of skills and with two years lost in building those limited skills tested - it is disingenuous to say we are actually testing what we want to test AND that the scores recorded this year show ANYTHING significant. It shows that children have not learned the information being tested. Well, yeah.
Also, support children by getting them vaccinated and getting vaccinated thus decreasing - not eliminating - the likelihood they will be very sick and in some cases sick at all from the Covid virus.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, model for young people that sometimes we do things that benefit others - maybe even more than ourselves - because it is the right thing to do. Can we teach a more important lesson during these times?