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Post by robeiae on Aug 12, 2020 16:12:38 GMT -5
Here's an argument: Parental Choice Will Win Elections This FallAs someone with a kid set to start their school year from home, I'll note some things: 1) I want my daughter to be able to go to school. I want the school to take precautions as necessary and of that means delaying the start of the school year, so be it. But I'd rather that the school year got pushed back than started online. Winter and spring breaks could be shortened, school could be extended into summer. 2) My daughter desperately wants to go back to school. 3) The online schooling is robbing a lot of kids of experiences and programs that they have worked hard to earn. For instance, my daughter is in an art program and she has friends in drama and dance programs. 4) Since I'm heavily involved with Cato, I'll tell everyone something: Cato and other libertarian orgs are raking in the cash by beating the "school choice" drum. Thoughts?
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Post by markesq on Aug 13, 2020 10:33:27 GMT -5
I'm in a similar position -- three kids aged 15, 15, and 14. They all want to go back and my son is desperate to get back to soccer, both at school and club. And everything you say is true, kids are missing out. The bottom line for me, though, is that Covid doesn't care. Not about our kids wants and needs, not about ours, and not about politics. Until we have a vaccine or otherwise get the virus under control, in-person schooling is too risky (imo). Every time there's a gathering, either school or party, sure enough there's an outbreak. Irony, maybe: for a change of scenery, to get away from 105 degree days, and to maintain our sanity, we're taking a road trip in a month. We rented a place in the middle of nowhere and will just sit around, read, and enjoy the stars at night. I may even be able to get back to writing. Thing is, the nearest town happens to have a motorcycle rally each year, which we didn't know. Yep, we'll be right next to Sturgis, South Dakota.
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Post by robeiae on Aug 14, 2020 15:02:07 GMT -5
Here's a painful chart (from tracktherecovery.org):
So low income kids are getting creamed from the move to online learning, while high income kids are improving.
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Post by Vince524 on Aug 15, 2020 17:01:10 GMT -5
My take is probably different.
My wife is a teacher. She got really high marks by the parents for how she did distance learning. I mean praise from some who never say anything nice. She had small groups, was on every day with all students, and got them through the material. Like in-person school, some students barely tried, but some who struggled actually did better because of how she did it.
Other teachers were barely on. Okay, a 1st or 2nd-grade kid? You're limited. I get not being on as much, but some of her colleagues in higher grades (She's 4th to 5th math, and 5th history, science, & religion) weren't on that much.
My foster daughter & son got lessons and were on zoom a couple of times a month. They did the work (Him with a little arm twisting but he did it) but they were told they wouldn't fail even if they did badly.
So yes, mostly in person is better. The question for me is safety.
My wife is being told kids have to have masks, but the rule as to when they wear it seems to change. They can take it off once sitting, 6 feet apart. It's the teachers' discretion.
Also, I imagine little kids will go to school with Scooby-Doo masks and then come home with Spongebob masks after their trade with their friends.
What about kids with high-risk health issues, or who live with someone with the same. Or what about faculty and staff like my wife?
It seems to me, the moment you open schools, the danger of contracting COVID goes up. How much would depend on different factors. The health of those exposed, how closely students, teachers, staff adhere to safety rules, etc. How much risk is acceptable? And who gets to choose? Parents might have the option of distance learning. Will teachers be given that option to distance teach?
My wife told her school due to her health issues (and mine) she can't be there in person and wants to work from home. She's offered to teach any kids from any class that choose to stay home. Even if from a different school.
We're waiting for an answer.
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Post by robeiae on Aug 16, 2020 7:18:31 GMT -5
I understand the concerns people have about safety. My position is--and maybe I wasn't clear--that this online stuff isn't meeting the needs of students, so why bother? Better to delay the start of school years until it can be done safely, even if that means cancelling/shortening winter and spring breaks and next year's summer vacation.
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Post by robeiae on Aug 17, 2020 8:09:24 GMT -5
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Post by markesq on Aug 17, 2020 12:48:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I see people talking about the pandemic being "the great equalizer." Nothing could be further from the truth -- it's highlighting and widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots. And personally, I've never been more aware of (and uncomfortable) being one of the haves.
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Post by robeiae on Sept 1, 2020 8:23:07 GMT -5
Miami-Dade public started yesterday, online learning only.
My daughter is entering 8th grade. She spent the day trying to get on the school website, succeeding occasionally,but then getting kicked off or timed out. Teachers fared no better. At one point yesterday afternoon, my daughter and some twenty classmates were able to successfully log on and enter one virtual classroom, only to sit there for twenty minutes doing nothing, as the teacher was never able to log on.
Needless to say, no one learned jack shit.
Today, my daughter's friend was supposed to come over so they could "go to school" together, but the internet in my development--the whole thing, which is full of school-aged kids--is down, so I had to take my daughter to her friend's house. Don't know if they've been able to log on, yet.
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Post by robeiae on Sept 3, 2020 8:44:34 GMT -5
So, Miami-Dade has been getting a lot of shit from parents, from teachers, from everyone.
Yesterday wasn't so bad, today has started okay, but here's some other deets:
The school system paid through the nose for a "learning platform" that proceeded to crash on day one and has been buggy ever since, causing a lot of teachers to simply dump it and contact students directly to set up Zoom classes.
The school system also opted to partner with Comcast as ISP. And if you ask literally ANYONE who lives in South Florida which cable/internet company is the worst, they will say Comcast, even if they work for Comcast (hand to God in this). Day two say Comcast get overwhelmed (somehow) and fail miserably to fend off a DOS attack.
This is all so dumb. Zoom was the simple and intelligent choice (if one is determined to do online learning). The kids finished up the last school year with Zoom, for the most part.
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Post by robeiae on Sept 9, 2020 7:06:13 GMT -5
Survey of registered voters: www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/09/09/rcp_back-to-school_poll_gaps_are_personal_not_political_144157.htmlIf you look at the findings, the last point above seems odd. To whit: The explanation offered in the article is that parents aren't worried because they see their kids doing okay and parents are enjoying having them home. I have a slightly different explanation, based on the fact that this polling data involved only registered voters: it's partly skewed by socioeconomics. Consistent with other stuff in this thread, I'd argue that kids in middle to upper class homes are doing the same are better in the current environs, while lower middle class to lower class kids are doing worse. The people without kids at home are actually considering the big picture, by and large, more than the people with kids at home. I suspect that if the same survey was done with no regard to voter registration, the numbers would converge and possibly even end up reversed.
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Post by markesq on Sept 9, 2020 11:45:52 GMT -5
I agree, Rob, on the economic disparity issue. To wit:
We're having an interesting time -- we've left Texas and are at a large cabin in Wyoming, beautiful views, a hot tub, plenty of space for all. The kids (15, 15, 14) are Zooming into classes and for them it's kinda new and interesting to do it that way. The shine will rub off, but it's been pretty easy. My wife and are are able to work from here, too.
It really makes me wonder and worry how people less lucky than us are managing.
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Post by robeiae on Sept 11, 2020 13:23:45 GMT -5
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Post by robeiae on Sept 11, 2020 13:45:27 GMT -5
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Post by Optimus on Sept 11, 2020 19:12:21 GMT -5
What the hell is the point? If you're gonna pay them anyway, why make them drive the ghost routes? Why waste the money on gas? Why depreciate the value and longevity of the buses by putting unnecessary miles on them?
This is fractally stupid (i.e., stupid at every level).
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Post by robeiae on Sept 29, 2020 8:38:56 GMT -5
Here's a very long piece that covers a range of issues on reopening schools (it's built around a story of a kid in Baltimore): outline.com/gNMqY6Worth the read. It notes--among other things--how teachers don't trust the parents of their students to follow safe practices re Covid-19. And I guess, why should they trust parents, given how many parents routinely would send their kids to school with fevers or the like. But the reality here is that such parents and kids are more likely to be on the lower income side. So again, most of the damage being done here is impacting the kids who can least afford the losses. Also this, from the piece: But the piece is also at pains to be totally anti-Trump, which is unfortunate (not to say the Trump admin deserves no blame, because it deserves plenty). For instance: The Feds don't run public education. They just don't. It's always been up to the States and the districts to manage the situation; teachers and admins all know that. So saying " oh, everything was moving along until Trump mouthed off is total bullshit. Indeed, if any teachers and admins switched their positions on reopening just because of Trump (for spite, obviously), then they're really part of the problem here, they're the ones more worried about politics than about the kids. But I still think the article does a good job, otherwise. The conclusion:
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