In-Person

The Problem With In-Person Learning at

This Phase of the Pandemic in America

1

Schools have been shut down since before the end of the last school year. But at this point, in August, with the Coronavirus still killing American’s by the score, countless schools have reopened their doors, classrooms, and libraries, cafeterias and offices to students. Some schools have opened with every class being offered online, some have taken the hybrid road with a percentage of classes being offered online, the other percentage in-person. Some schools have decided to reopen completely in-person. And for these schools, learning has become a matter of life and death.

2

Think about it. Look at the American student. Learning starts in Kindergarten and proceeds through the 5th grade at any particular elementary school building in this country. That’s ages 5-10. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of children as young as 6. Based on the data, the virus could be in that building.

The next grade + age group is known as Middle School. Where children become teenagers, and that means kissing. But the problem isn’t the infatuations of youth. It’s the preteen who decides to come to school even though they’re sick so that they can see, in some cases, their very first significant other. Grades 6-8, ages 11-13.

High School should scare anyone nowadays. It’s where the parties no one’s parents know about are weekly traditions. Where skipping out on classes, experiments with cigarettes and marijuana, and teen drinking lead to friendships and bonds but also to plenty of cases where the mask is probably not on a student’s face. Where there is little to no social distance between them. Especially not at the Homecoming dance, or Prom. Grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

The College student is at the highest risk. There isn’t a parent to be found unless they’re taking classes at the same campus as their children. Rare, but not unthinkable. Parties are everywhere. Kissing is everywhere. Ditching class? Also everywhere. I have faith in the average college student, but on average, their opportunity to drop the mask and be close to people is more than an impulse. It’s proven, to date, hard to control. Freshman - Degree Holding. Ages 16+.

3

This is reality. This is the student’s social life. Admittedly, it’s ruined by this pandemic. Who do you know wants to be told to stay away from people who aren’t their family? Those who do are not doing great psychologically. If you have the audacity to see your friends at this time then I suggest you mask up. I suggest that if you’re sick, stay home. I suggest you see your significant other, without a mask, where the two of you can be alone. If you can’t find that, put the mask back on. It’s ok.

But this is a pandemic, which is the worst it can be for “people” type of people. A virus that spreads through the air we breathe, by the uncovered sneezes and coughs left on bus seats where people wipe their snot. There’s germs on the commuter electric scooters no one cleans until the end of the day. They’re left in the air for 45 minutes after a sneeze. I would wear a mask. Because that sneeze could kill you if it comes from the wrong source.

This is days, weeks, perhaps your final days and weeks, on a ventilator, on bedrest. WithOUT your family. WithOUT your friends. Without ANY significant people at all except for the heroes around you wearing pretty much a spacesuit and a scalpel. Who knows what or how you’re eating. Or what happens when you have to expel it all…

4

At the beginning of the school year, we heard the President say it was imperative that education resume. It was after the same guy said businesses have to resume. After that guy saw what the shutdown did to the economy. After he couldn’t take the country losing money like it did. After he lost money when the stock market shut down too.

So the guy opens up the country again. Great. Is it time for that? No. Will there be a time for that? Not if you’re still looking at the statistics showing how many cases and deaths in proportion to hospital beds and effective tests. Not if you care about your significant people enough to not get them sick. Not if you worked an ER a day in your life.

5

If you are the President of the United States, of the World Health Organization, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you have the tools to make the best of differences in the matter of COVID-19 v Education. You and the people who are your colleagues affect the health of a country like America. This information belongs in your minds.

The information that people who are significant to us are indeed dying out there. These people- these Americans- deserve better. They deserve to learn. They deserve to love. They deserve to live. Will they? If that decision belongs to you, then I had good reason to write this piece.

If you are a student and you are reading this, keep your masks in rotation, wash your hands, keep your distance from anyone insignificant. Take your classes seriously.

Teachers, you were my key audience. You know what raises hands? Students in attendance. But they can raise their hands from a computer and you can teach yourself the platform if you are given the time. I suggest sharing platforms across state lines like ventilators between hospitals. The pod theory seems sound to my knowledge...

Pod theory: Small groups of students learn in person. If a student is infected, you only have to quarantine the group (or pod) instead of the entire building. If there aren’t enough teachers, bring a pod or two to school today, and the other tomorrow.

6

I’ve been thinking about the problem with in-person learning when the country actually started moving to reopen schools. I heard the President say that’s what he wanted, but I didn’t take him seriously. I thought someone would fight him on it. And hard. But that didn’t happen. Teachers started protesting but those cries died down, the marching slowed to a halt, and they started to go with it, far too soon.

The reason I have a problem with it, is because I have a son, nieces and nephews, my sister, all in school. I have a problem because I voiced my concerns to them, but they’re still risking their lives because of this… rush. All the panic, all the hype, and then to stuff everyone back into buildings where they can all get infected, sick, and die.

It’s this rush to get people out of their homes again, rush to get people into school, rush them back to work that gave me reason. When no one is rushing people off of the streets, no one is rushing Trump off of Twitter, no one is rushing money into the pockets of healthcare practitioners who are fighting this war with inexplicable strength.

7

You want my advice? Throw money where money is needed. Don’t toss it somewhere it stagnates without use. Pay for teachers to learn the skill to manage their classrooms wherever they can. Pay for Doctors and Nurses to be able to protect themselves with the right gear. Pay for transit systems to properly protect themselves from the onslaught of the unprotected homeless rides. Pay for the homeless to afford housing that doesn’t have them holding each other captive in endless battles with neighborhood drug lords.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Emmanuel Williams

August 22, 2020