reopening schools
Parenting

Viral Thread Perfectly Explains How Reopening Schools Could Have Catastrophic Results

Parents and teachers across the country are currently waiting in limbo to see whether their school districts will fully reopen in the fall, or whether distance learning will resume. Although many countries around the world have, in fact, opened classroom doors in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the United States is doing extremely poorly in mitigating the threat of the virus, comparatively, and many believe it’s too soon to send kids back to school.

Yet, the Trump administration keeps pushing state governors to reopen schools, despite the obvious health risks involved to students, teachers, and parents—causing many to speak out on their own behalf.

Obvious health risks aside, however, there are even bigger potential implications for reopening schools too early, which cultural and political analysis Melissa Hillman pointed out recently in a viral Twitter thread. Hillman writes that localized outbreaks will cause schools to abruptly close, and with no planning ahead for remote learning, there will be huge disruptions in education—which teachers will ultimately be blamed for. If they survive, anyway!

At any rate, we will let Hillman explain:

In one final tweet, Hillman ominously poses a question to parents who think their kids are “sad” because they can’t play with their friends. “Imagine how they’ll feel when they’re within six feet of their friends and not allowed any closer,” she adds. “Not allowed any hugs. Physically alone all day.”

With any hope, voices of reason like hers will be heard by our nation’s elected officials, who may finally realize that they need to prioritize human lives over politics.

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