Based on the headline alone before reading, I thought kids were skipping school and being delinquents. But several of the inset examples are of students with, e.g., learning difficulties, special...
Based on the headline alone before reading, I thought kids were skipping school and being delinquents.
But several of the inset examples are of students with, e.g., learning difficulties, special needs, etc., combined with anecdotes about the school environment generally being more inhospitable relative to pre-pandemic—so that was interesting to learn.
My kindergartener was absent something close to 20 days last year, each one was a legitimate health issue. Ranging from pnumonia, COVID, to stomach flu among others. On top of the, after over 6...
My kindergartener was absent something close to 20 days last year, each one was a legitimate health issue. Ranging from pnumonia, COVID, to stomach flu among others. On top of the, after over 6 months of working with doctors, school counselors and specialists, we have a diagnosis for IBS and diagnosis generalized anxiety. This gives us a 504 plan heading into the new year, and hopefully my child will finally be set up for success.
We as a society are underestimating the explosion of virus and bacterial infections in the wake of COVID. We are ignoring the mental health issues in the wake of the pandemic, and this is the price we are paying. Even children who are too young to actually remember it are learning our coping mechanisms for anxiety by watching us, by being exposed to us. Secondary PTSD is a real thing, a real diagnosis.
We want everyone to remain the statistic they were to us when we were remote. It feels like at least some teachers have forgotten how to look at their students with humanity and understanding. These kids are not statistics. If they are sick, then they are sick and should be encouraged to get better and not spread disease.
There are so many factors here and the article does a great job covering many anecdotes. But it ignores 2 uncomfortable factors: Their parents allow them to not go to school. Obviously there's...
There are so many factors here and the article does a great job covering many anecdotes. But it ignores 2 uncomfortable factors:
Their parents allow them to not go to school. Obviously there's cases where the kid legitimately shouldn't be in school, but surely that's not 28% of all students?
School administration pressures teachers to pass them anyways so there's no downside to missing school (graduation rates are at an all time high).
So, honestly, if I was a kid and I could stay home and get the same diploma as everybody else who is going to school then I would too.
Judging by the admittedly small sample size of the stories I see on r/teachers, I think the latter - alongside teachers quitting due to a mixture of administration's poor handling of the pandemic,...
Judging by the admittedly small sample size of the stories I see on r/teachers, I think the latter - alongside teachers quitting due to a mixture of administration's poor handling of the pandemic, and recent state hostility toward LGBT staff, students and education in general - is the likeliest culprit.
Edit: Wow, the site automatically turned that into a link. That's pretty dope.
The thing is school used to be about more than a diploma, and it seems like, at least in the US, we've forgotten the benefits to society critical thinking skills and being a well rounded person. I...
So, honestly, if I was a kid and I could stay home and get the same diploma as everybody else who is going to school then I would too.
The thing is school used to be about more than a diploma, and it seems like, at least in the US, we've forgotten the benefits to society critical thinking skills and being a well rounded person. I still think about the skills I gained from my Tech class (where we learned to program and build shit) and Introduction to Philosophy. They were my favorite classes and not part of any core curriculum.
I just wish we had incentives to make good people versus what we have now with No Child Left Behind.
This goes doubly for college: it makes me angry when people talk about it like it should be some sort of vocational training program. I have a degree in Computer Science, but some of the classes...
This goes doubly for college: it makes me angry when people talk about it like it should be some sort of vocational training program. I have a degree in Computer Science, but some of the classes that have had the most impact on me in the long term were electives. My two semester Physics stretch was optional (you could take any lab-based science course), but complemented the required Calc courses and made them much more interesting. And I took a few music classes, which allowed me to pick up the very fulfilling hobby of digital music production/arrangement after multiple prior failed attempts to understand piano.
Some of us like to actually learn things for their own sake, and it's obnoxious to have shortsighted people attacking one of the few environments that enable that.
People keep forgetting that covid is still around, that covid is mostly spread by kids, and that the new variant means an uptick in cases. But of course it's more convenient to blame remote...
People keep forgetting that covid is still around, that covid is mostly spread by kids, and that the new variant means an uptick in cases. But of course it's more convenient to blame remote learning and the lockdown... Even though a lot of the US never had a lockdown.
Yeah, my kids school system was basically if your kids popped a fever, no return to school until 24hrs with no fever and you needed a negative PCR covid test otherwise it was a additional 5 days...
Yeah, my kids school system was basically if your kids popped a fever, no return to school until 24hrs with no fever and you needed a negative PCR covid test otherwise it was a additional 5 days of no fever. The county then stopped doing the free PCR tests. So unless you could afford the PCR test, the kid was out extra days. Couple that with schools using in ear thermometers incorrectly resulting in lots of false positives and surprise!, More missed days.
“For almost two years, we told families that school can look different and that schoolwork could be accomplished in times outside of the traditional 8-to-3 day. Families got used to that,” said Elmer Roldan, of Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, which helps schools follow up with absent students.
There are 2 sides to this coin, though. Remote and asynchronous learning did not work well for many kids. They didn't have the discipline or willpower to do the work on their own, and parents...
There are 2 sides to this coin, though. Remote and asynchronous learning did not work well for many kids. They didn't have the discipline or willpower to do the work on their own, and parents didn't accept the responsibility of making sure it got done, so they just didn't do it at all. And the kids just got shuffled to the next grade anyway, and the issue snowballs. Not to mention the severe social shortcomings that kids developed during COVID due to remote learning.
My brother is a college professor and director, and maps talked a lot about the severely stunted growth of incoming freshman during the last couple of years, and how used they are to not having to actually turn in assignments.
Let's also keep in mind that the 2021 - 2022 school year still had high COVID-19 prevalence, and the vaccine booster for Omicron/Delta variants wasn't approved for under age 12 until May, 2022. I...
Let's also keep in mind that the 2021 - 2022 school year still had high COVID-19 prevalence, and the vaccine booster for Omicron/Delta variants wasn't approved for under age 12 until May, 2022. I know that Michigan, one of the states with very high absenteeism in the study, permitted remote learning throughout that school year.
Most of the parents of my acquaintance dealt with their kids getting sick over and over again during that period. There was a massive surge of RSV, influenza, and COVID-19 Omicron cases filling pediatric hospital wards.
I suspect that comparable data for the 2022-2023 school year will show substantial improvement in attendance rates, and wouldn't place too much faith in the AP report as proof of a long-term trend in poor parenting or school avoidance.
Based on the headline alone before reading, I thought kids were skipping school and being delinquents.
But several of the inset examples are of students with, e.g., learning difficulties, special needs, etc., combined with anecdotes about the school environment generally being more inhospitable relative to pre-pandemic—so that was interesting to learn.
My kindergartener was absent something close to 20 days last year, each one was a legitimate health issue. Ranging from pnumonia, COVID, to stomach flu among others. On top of the, after over 6 months of working with doctors, school counselors and specialists, we have a diagnosis for IBS and diagnosis generalized anxiety. This gives us a 504 plan heading into the new year, and hopefully my child will finally be set up for success.
We as a society are underestimating the explosion of virus and bacterial infections in the wake of COVID. We are ignoring the mental health issues in the wake of the pandemic, and this is the price we are paying. Even children who are too young to actually remember it are learning our coping mechanisms for anxiety by watching us, by being exposed to us. Secondary PTSD is a real thing, a real diagnosis.
We want everyone to remain the statistic they were to us when we were remote. It feels like at least some teachers have forgotten how to look at their students with humanity and understanding. These kids are not statistics. If they are sick, then they are sick and should be encouraged to get better and not spread disease.
There are so many factors here and the article does a great job covering many anecdotes. But it ignores 2 uncomfortable factors:
So, honestly, if I was a kid and I could stay home and get the same diploma as everybody else who is going to school then I would too.
Judging by the admittedly small sample size of the stories I see on r/teachers, I think the latter - alongside teachers quitting due to a mixture of administration's poor handling of the pandemic, and recent state hostility toward LGBT staff, students and education in general - is the likeliest culprit.
Edit: Wow, the site automatically turned that into a link. That's pretty dope.
The thing is school used to be about more than a diploma, and it seems like, at least in the US, we've forgotten the benefits to society critical thinking skills and being a well rounded person. I still think about the skills I gained from my Tech class (where we learned to program and build shit) and Introduction to Philosophy. They were my favorite classes and not part of any core curriculum.
I just wish we had incentives to make good people versus what we have now with No Child Left Behind.
This goes doubly for college: it makes me angry when people talk about it like it should be some sort of vocational training program. I have a degree in Computer Science, but some of the classes that have had the most impact on me in the long term were electives. My two semester Physics stretch was optional (you could take any lab-based science course), but complemented the required Calc courses and made them much more interesting. And I took a few music classes, which allowed me to pick up the very fulfilling hobby of digital music production/arrangement after multiple prior failed attempts to understand piano.
Some of us like to actually learn things for their own sake, and it's obnoxious to have shortsighted people attacking one of the few environments that enable that.
People keep forgetting that covid is still around, that covid is mostly spread by kids, and that the new variant means an uptick in cases. But of course it's more convenient to blame remote learning and the lockdown... Even though a lot of the US never had a lockdown.
Yeah, my kids school system was basically if your kids popped a fever, no return to school until 24hrs with no fever and you needed a negative PCR covid test otherwise it was a additional 5 days of no fever. The county then stopped doing the free PCR tests. So unless you could afford the PCR test, the kid was out extra days. Couple that with schools using in ear thermometers incorrectly resulting in lots of false positives and surprise!, More missed days.
Relevant quote:
There are 2 sides to this coin, though. Remote and asynchronous learning did not work well for many kids. They didn't have the discipline or willpower to do the work on their own, and parents didn't accept the responsibility of making sure it got done, so they just didn't do it at all. And the kids just got shuffled to the next grade anyway, and the issue snowballs. Not to mention the severe social shortcomings that kids developed during COVID due to remote learning.
My brother is a college professor and director, and maps talked a lot about the severely stunted growth of incoming freshman during the last couple of years, and how used they are to not having to actually turn in assignments.
Let's also keep in mind that the 2021 - 2022 school year still had high COVID-19 prevalence, and the vaccine booster for Omicron/Delta variants wasn't approved for under age 12 until May, 2022. I know that Michigan, one of the states with very high absenteeism in the study, permitted remote learning throughout that school year.
Most of the parents of my acquaintance dealt with their kids getting sick over and over again during that period. There was a massive surge of RSV, influenza, and COVID-19 Omicron cases filling pediatric hospital wards.
I suspect that comparable data for the 2022-2023 school year will show substantial improvement in attendance rates, and wouldn't place too much faith in the AP report as proof of a long-term trend in poor parenting or school avoidance.
There is still high covid prevalence, but people are pretending it's a cold or flu and not testing.