amit
amit
I read this heartfelt post at McSweeney’s by Jen Coleman, a high school English teacher, on children already returning to schools amidst the pandemic. It makes no sense to me that someone somewhere is making a decision that puts these budding souls at risk just so that the perception of... amitgawande.com
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pratik
pratik

@amit Comparing school reopenings to school shootings is a bit extreme. I don’t think any school administration (not state agencies) is planning on opening unless the positivity rate is below 5% in their jurisdiction. If done right, the benefits of in-person learning far outweighs the costs of remote learning.

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ronguest
ronguest

@amit @amit Forgive me but I think the reality is not uniformly dire. Being a parent of a couple of elementary and high school kids who have done remote learning over a period of months followed by in-person I'd like to comment.

The precautions taken by the districts around here are thorough and the facility, teachers and students are provided every preventative measure that has been recommended. The teachers as well as parents/students are allowed to choose remote if desired. No one was forced. In fact people can change their mind every 9 weeks.

After nearly a month of in-person attendance student infections are at .046 percent (population is over 20,000). District employee infections are only a bit higher at .14 percent. Those figures include at-home as well as in-person people. And as @pratik said in-person learning is superior not just for education but for overall development as people.

Covid remains extremely dangerous but I believe with proper precautions in-person attendance should be an option.

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amit
amit

@pratik Yeah, I do realize that the comparison is too extreme -- usually McSweeney's typically are. However, the decision of school openings is not even being considered here in India. Maybe it is the priorities being set? Opening up has been a tad bit slower and with a lot more caution here.

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pratik
pratik

@amit I think India is in a much worse situation now than U.S. is. Well, at least most part of U.S. In most regions that were hit hard earlier in the year, the situation has improved a lot and in Texas, school openings are tied to positivity rate at the county level. Many schools have reopened without a sharp uptick. Federal response has been dismal and confusing but locally, things are better.

But of course, all discussions are politically tinged now due to the election and people who supported reopening are now (rightly) suspicious coz Trump supported it. He's usually just saying things that he thinks will help him win reelection even if it doesn't make sense.

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amit
amit

@ronguest It's heartening to hear that the necessary and more aggressive precautions are being taken. As a parent of an elementary school kid who is learning digitally from home, I have no doubt whatsoever that in-person is superior to this form. And it should be an option. By only point of cotention is around when can we do that. The belief around my circle is to be a bit more cautious while opening up, especially the schools. Maybe what matters is the difference of the overall demographic and how the things are setup around education. //@pratik

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In reply to
SimonWoods
SimonWoods

@ronguest "a bit higher"? Really? Three times as much is "a bit"?

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ronguest
ronguest

@simonwoods IMO it is not significant given the small population size. Adding/removing a single positive person swings the number too much to be meaningful.

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khurtwilliams
khurtwilliams

@ronguest data driven decision making. Brilliant.

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