Across the nation, schools have given students the option of returning to in person classes, and it’s opened up a whole new discussion. Most schools are offering hybrid classes, which means the bulk of the work will still be done remotely with the exception of the two days spent in socially distanced classes. There are a lot of factors to consider before making the decision.
Parents are apprehensive about their children returning to an environment in which it is likely to come in contact with someone exposed to COVID, however, their children are more than eager to return. It comes as no surprise that the effectiveness of the education students are receiving has been jeopardized due to factors such as toxic households, health issues caused by the sedentary lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to, and the lack of focus on studies during a global pandemic. Returning back to a building meant for education could motivate children as opposed to being home and remaining uninspired to pursue their education. Students have made very big sacrifices in an attempt to keep things as normal as possible when it comes to their education, but it’s been seven months of staying indoors nearly every day and it’s caught up with them. K-12 students are online for six hours every day without socializing with their peers, and students pursuing higher education are sitting through 4 eighty minute Zoom classes every day back to back. It’s bound to have an impact on them, so it’s completely understandable why they’d push to be back in school. As the CDC reports, children with disabilities and those coming from low income households are more likely to benefit from the opening of schools because they are with professional teachers who are trained to teach equally and to accommodate, and this can be hard to do over technology.
Many businesses have reopened and adults are going back to their regular jobs resulting in little to no time to aid their children in homework or other struggles that come with childhood and adolescence. Most parents rely on their kids to go to school for eight hours a day, not counting extracurricular activities, and many have scheduled their work around their kids. The return of students would lead to some sort of normalcy for households with working parents who can’t stick around all day to help their kids. Families that consist of single parents, two working parents, and low income households may not have the option to keep their children home for much longer, especially if their children are younger.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I’d like to argue that teachers are severely underpaid, and are even more so underappreciated as they scramble to accommodate classes of 25+ students online. Teachers’ efforts have been overlooked in terms of the job they do to make the best out of the situation to refrain from affecting children’s education even further. They have scrapped their previous methods of teaching and taught themselves to be just as effective online as they are in person, they have had to teach themselves new ways of connecting with students, and elderly teachers have had to become well versed with the ever so unreliable technology. Despite all the sacrifices teachers and professors have had to make, they have not seen a pay raise in the United States, aside from a handful of schools in local counties. The AP news website has a section dedicated to reporting news on teacher pay raises, and as you scroll through the articles, it’s clear that pay raises aren’t being made a matter of importance across the nation. Plans are dying or being postponed, and budgets are being cut despite the extra mile the teachers go to make online learning work. If students were to go back to their in person classes, it would help teachers relax a bit on the days they are at the school. They won’t have to worry about scheduling issues and extra help because they’ll be able to connect to students without a concern about technological issues. Since pay raises are not being taken seriously in this country, a positive to consider is teachers having less of a burden on them as they return to their natural environment.The CDC has set up guidelines for schools reopening on their website, offering the best information households need to consider their decision about sending children back to school, as well as measures institutions need to take in order to make the buildings safe and COVID free. These measures include frequent tests, wearing masks, disinfecting, social distancing and, if COVID has been found in schools, to begin contact tracing. There is a plan for everything set up by the CDC ranging from school bus protocols to serving lunches. Ultimately, it’s up to each family to decide for themselves about their stance on students and teachers returning to schools.
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