It didn't have to be this way.
Children all across America could be going back to school without needing to wear masks. Teachers don't have to be entering the school year struggling to figure out how to create a safe classroom, while reprehensible and irresponsible public officials prevent schools from mandating mask-wearing. We don't have to be starting the school year trying to process the deaths of over 616,000 Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic.
If every medically able American got the COVID-19 vaccine, the delta variant would not spread at the same rate. COVID-19 cases and deaths would be dramatically lower, and schools could open more confidently, likely without the need to wear masks. In some ways, wearing a mask is not a big deal.
As an adult, putting a mask on to go to the grocery store takes minimal effort and is a minor inconvenience.
While many children don't find masks wearing that big of a deal, they are missing out on very important social cues and need to see the whole teacher's face to truly connect and learn. Many children, including my own, who has hearing loss need to use see lips to develop communication skills. It is a big deal to have our children have to start a school year again wearing masks. Just to be clear, mask-wearing with in-person school is without question better than remote learning. I know this first hand.
Where we are right now is disappointing. It feels like during the summer of 2020, most Americans just put this school thing away in a box and tried to get back to "normal" as much as possible. Then August hit, and no one was ready for school. No one even knows what they had to do to get prepared. This summer feels the same. Every policy choice and public health decision since this pandemic started should have considered what was best for the children of America. It didn't feel that way last August, and it doesn't feel this way right now.
It is offensive to me that people who can get vaccines but chose not to are putting our children's health at risk and compromising the educational experience of America's children. And I don't understand the amorality of the people who peddle misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines and those who support them. It is frustrating that I have to take on an extra burden to take care of my students in an unnecessarily difficult situation because others failed to be decent human beings.
At the same time, I feel that I have the great privilege of serving children and their families in this difficult time. My job has meaning. It has a purpose. No, my job is not the most important thing in my life. My family is. This is the reason why it is so important that my time away from them has meaning.
I have really enjoyed my work during the summer at school. I've worked on schedules and gotten a chance to get to know some awesome new colleagues. I am excited to be part of a fantastic team, working so hard for our wonderful students, and sad that so many have let our children done so badly.
No comments:
Post a Comment