Op-Ed: New test scores show students lost a lot of ground in the pandemic. Overreacting won’t help.
The latest in a series of editorials and commentary pieces on the impact of the coronavirus on students.
“If you want to learn, and you want to be a student, you take a class!”
That’s the message coming from the school system, as the number of students receiving free schooling in the state and across the nation has plummeted dramatically. In some places, school closures in response to the coronavirus pandemic are already being lifted.
That’s right—parents are sending their kids back to class in some locations.
While many parents are doing the right thing by giving their kids an opportunity to earn an education, the pandemic has proven that they don’t have to.
In fact, these parents are helping send their kids backwards—it would appear more parents are sending their kids to the principal’s office.
At the same time, some schools are doing the exact opposite.
Instead of sending their kids to class, many school systems are cutting back on class hours. That’s right—schools are asking kids to drop a class, and then have them go right back in without taking the class again.
In some cases, schools are offering online classes instead of regular classes.
Meanwhile, other school districts are asking children to go directly home from school so they have time to take care of their personal needs.
These types of actions are not only short-sighted, they reflect an extreme lack of understanding of the impact of COVID-19.
The virus is not a flu. It is not a cold. It is not a cold flu. It is the coronavirus, which is a highly contagious and fatal virus that has caused the overwhelming majority of people to contract it.
COVID-19 is responsible for more than 5 million cases