Students and teachers nationwide are eager to get back into the classroom, but governors and school systems are choosing to let unfounded fears triumph over the necessity of educating the next generation.
Across the country, governors, teachers unions, and school systems are pushing for online learning or onerous rules for in-person schooling that sacrifice the learning, health, and well-being of the nation’s schoolchildren.
It is fully acknowledged that the online learning offered this spring was subpar and that children are falling behind academically as a result. Austin Beutner, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, acknowledged in a video briefing in early June that “we all know there’s no substitute for learning in a school setting, and many students are struggling and falling far behind where they should be.”
Learning shortfalls are estimated at 30%-50% in all subjects. Some school systems, including Arlington County Public Schools in Virginia, ended online learning early and punted coursework to the fall, ensuring that children entering the 2020 fall semester are already behind.
Children are also suffering health consequences from not being in school. From headaches and blurry eyes to lowered attention spans and the lack of socialization, children suffer unnecessary consequences from online learning. The lack of in-person instruction especially harms our most vulnerable students, who benefit from the attention and understanding of experienced teachers to meet their educational needs.
Whether it’s identifying learning disabilities or pushing students to reach their potential, the classroom allows a teacher to spot problems in a child falling behind and lend encouragement to one struggling to achieve. This human interaction is a critical foundation for a child’s development.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has further confirmed that children are at a higher risk of suicide, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse due to the isolation caused by the spring school closures.
In other words, children and parents need a full school week — in person. In surveys across the country, parents are unequivocally asking for a return to full weekday schooling, yet the schools are not meeting this need. Is it fair to children to be bumped around between daycare and alternative care such as family members or other arrangements because schools are only offering abbreviated or online-only schedules? While some parents may be able to deal with all of these alternative schedules, many cannot, leaving television, video games, or worse as the new “nanny.”
Government agencies have stated that virus spread among children is incredibly limited and that children, especially young children, rarely get the virus. Studies show that children do not even spread the virus to their families or elsewhere, which is why many of our European counterparts have already reopened schools and are keeping them open.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 3 stated that the mortality rate due to COVID-19 is at the epidemic threshold, meaning that if it drops any lower, it will no longer be termed an epidemic. Why, then, are schools still treating students like this is mid-March, when we had less information on the consequences of this virus?
Given that children rarely if ever contract the virus, spread it, or suffer much harm from it, and given that they need to learn, why are governors, teacher unions, and school systems going to these extremes?
The solution is straightforward. Let the teachers still wishing to stay out of the classroom do the online teaching. For those that wish to get back in, let’s reopen schools and let parents and children take responsibility for themselves — not going to school when sick, covering their coughs, and interacting normally, as the preponderance of studies show is suitable.
Children are experiencing mental and physical health problems from online learning, and sadly, the learning gaps will continue to grow. They deserve the opportunity to learn, socialize, and not fall further behind. Childhood is fleeting. We must prioritize a rapid return to normal society and get our children back to school.
Amber Condry is a Fairfax County mother of three children who formerly worked at the White House during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies.