Closing schools was more harmful than the pandemic itself.
My first reaction when I heard of the plans to close schools was to donate a rather expensive whole room hepafilter to my local elementary school. I offered it on Facebook in hopes that others would follow suit.
About a year later, there was an study published about how this was tested in hospitals and found to be more effective than masks at removing covid molecules from a room. The idea never caught on, much to my dismay.
This pandemic has been a lesson in how bureaucracies perform poorly thrust into unfamiliar, realtime crises. What they should be learning is that there are alternative means of organization (flat, heterogenous, entrepreneurial) that cope and adapt best under such trying challenges. Everyone knows this to be true. Bureaucracies are timid, brittle and slow-reacting -- a reflection of centralized, communal, authoritative organization. In a vexing crisis, innovative problem-solvers (who think independently) need to be afforded voice and power. Oversimplifiers and convention-enforcers need to be sidelined as observers. Comedians can become very important social critics, and help keep irrational fear in check.
The question is whether our K16 superintendants, principals, schoolmasters, and admin staff learned these lessons.
I live in Brazil which is one of the countries where schools stayed closed the longest, and a country with raging inequality and poverty where many families don't even have good WiFi at home or multiple computers for kids to study "remotely". I was horrified by school closures from the first day and even more horrified when I found out through my family in Canada that schools were reopening in Sept 2020 to ensure learning wasn't further disrupted (a fantastic decision), but this wasn't implemented here. As you would expect now loads of kids are years behind in school and it's tragic. We are in an election year and last night was the first presidential debate, the issue of learning loss due to the pandemic was brought up as an issue...the answers were lacklustre. How are we going to help kids make up for years of learning loss? WE CAN'T. We have failed a generation of kids. I'm not even a parent and my heart breaks for these kids, even university students who had two of the most important years of their lives robbed so elite teachers could stay safe at home while supermarket checkout ladies and bus drivers put themselves at risk every day for their "essential service". Education not essential? Just insane.
Unlike in Canada, In the USA we have not taught morals, ethics, or civics in many decades. So, we have vaccine deniers and mask deniers, which I firmly believe would exist in way fewer numbers if these troglodytes were taught morals, ethics, and civics. But, hey, public school budgets need to be cut...
What a heartbreaking letter. What crimes against humanity the various governments have waged . May God help these young people as they try to crawl out of this hell hole they were forced in to.
WE didn't betray the children. WE didn't ignore the meaning of the ever-accumulating statistical data. WE didn't imply that masks were effective beyond the tiny bit of decrease in transmission IN ENCLOSED SPACES WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE.
WE didn't do that. Teachers did. Or government officials. Or the Teachers' Union.
WE didn't hysterically promulgate a message of dubious veracity. School administrators, public health officials, pharmaceutical marketing departments, and oh yes, the mainstream media that people USED to depend on for factual information.
WE didn't imply that transmission occurred outdoors, in parks, on beaches, or at distances over 5 feet, absent coughing or shouting.
Not gonna say you're responsible. You were just obeying the rules, and your perceptiveness and empathy are admirable.
But I hope I am among an ever-growing WE who will not forget the perpetrators of this damage. Not forget, nor let our bitterness and anger be assuaged by time. Because those who willingly caused these harms to children, merely for political or personal advantage;, or who may see some political or personal benefit to having a partial generation of scared, anxious, guilty and weak children...those people are, and will remain ENEMIES of any normal, decent human being.
By comparison, the simple amoral greed of Big Pharma seems almost wholesome.
So, I tried to figure out how to get this amazing article to Bari, but I couldn't find any contact info on this site, so I'll just post it and hope she sees it. It's apropos to this article, so I'll take a shot.
How about an essay about how our children are now afraid of people. My nine year old nephew practically jumped into my arms when another person was walking towards us on the street.
The school Barak Obama attended in Hawaii, Punahou, is now planning to shame kids into taking the booster shots. My daughter, who is 15, recently told me that if a kid is “exposed,” (which means she was in a class with someone who was infected) she must stay home for five days unless boosted. “I don’t want to have to stay home.” my daughter told me. I explained to her that there was a much higher risk of kids getting sick or dying from the vaccine than from covid and that her school was not making rational decisions. Besides, the boosters weren’t even preventing the spread of the virus. Still, I could tell she did not want to be different (not boosted). I could tell it was a source of shame not to follow health protocol (like wear a mask while running around a track). I continue to write the “covid response team” at punahou, asking them to look at the data and reconsider. I even told them about my son, who came down with pericarditis after his second Moderna shot. On the way to class, he couldn’t breathe and had to go to the ER. But so far, Punahou School is not budging on their booster policy. Funny that such a prestigious school can’t tell the difference between “appearing to care for kids” and actually being concerned for the health and well-being of their students.
The Bible has a different view of the maskless, veil-less face. It's life. We heard it first in Numbers, (במידבאר "In The Desert") "The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." We also learn that when the Lord hides his face we are undone, we die. To make a long story short, in the Gospels and Epistles, this shine has spread to us. We look to the shining face of the Lord and shine and then we look at the shining faces of others and shine some more. No wonder the kids are not all right. In Isaiah, the mask, the veil is equated with death and the promise is that one day God will remove that veil. C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman's book "Till We Have Faces," is, in my opinion, a meditation of all of the above.
I wrote to my local school board at the beginning of this 21-22 school year about mask wearing. It is the stupidest thing ever! My 15 yo is vaccinated, exactly because I thought it would save her from mask wearing, but nope! The only place I wear a mask is the doctor's office because they will NOT service you if you don't the damn thing. It is way past time to move on from these insane rules about distancing, masks, and the like. Covid game over!
The public health, political, economic and financial incomprehensibility here is not what I expected from Bari’s site. On the other hand, her comments with Bill Maher were at best sophomoric rants of a publicity desperate blogger. I support her by subscribing and find most of her commentary on media, politics to be insightful and brave. Not this shit. But hey, who’s perfect. I’ll keep subscribing because she’s mostly right. Gentlemen, the estate tax is a tax on inherited assets at death because those gains were never taxed during life by the capital gains tax. Inherited wealth gets a step up in basis providing heirs with significant tax savings going forward. Don’t know if it can ever dampen an oligarchy of wealth, but my friend and clients who build wealth know enough to plan for their heirs futures so the estate tax becomes an annoyance rather than a burden.
Closing schools was more harmful than the pandemic itself.
My first reaction when I heard of the plans to close schools was to donate a rather expensive whole room hepafilter to my local elementary school. I offered it on Facebook in hopes that others would follow suit.
About a year later, there was an study published about how this was tested in hospitals and found to be more effective than masks at removing covid molecules from a room. The idea never caught on, much to my dismay.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02669-2
This pandemic has been a lesson in how bureaucracies perform poorly thrust into unfamiliar, realtime crises. What they should be learning is that there are alternative means of organization (flat, heterogenous, entrepreneurial) that cope and adapt best under such trying challenges. Everyone knows this to be true. Bureaucracies are timid, brittle and slow-reacting -- a reflection of centralized, communal, authoritative organization. In a vexing crisis, innovative problem-solvers (who think independently) need to be afforded voice and power. Oversimplifiers and convention-enforcers need to be sidelined as observers. Comedians can become very important social critics, and help keep irrational fear in check.
The question is whether our K16 superintendants, principals, schoolmasters, and admin staff learned these lessons.
Yeah....kids are pretty resilient. They'll be fine. Won't be scared for life.
As a teacher I can say I echo every word in this article with one exception. The consequences were NOT unintended.
I live in Brazil which is one of the countries where schools stayed closed the longest, and a country with raging inequality and poverty where many families don't even have good WiFi at home or multiple computers for kids to study "remotely". I was horrified by school closures from the first day and even more horrified when I found out through my family in Canada that schools were reopening in Sept 2020 to ensure learning wasn't further disrupted (a fantastic decision), but this wasn't implemented here. As you would expect now loads of kids are years behind in school and it's tragic. We are in an election year and last night was the first presidential debate, the issue of learning loss due to the pandemic was brought up as an issue...the answers were lacklustre. How are we going to help kids make up for years of learning loss? WE CAN'T. We have failed a generation of kids. I'm not even a parent and my heart breaks for these kids, even university students who had two of the most important years of their lives robbed so elite teachers could stay safe at home while supermarket checkout ladies and bus drivers put themselves at risk every day for their "essential service". Education not essential? Just insane.
Unlike in Canada, In the USA we have not taught morals, ethics, or civics in many decades. So, we have vaccine deniers and mask deniers, which I firmly believe would exist in way fewer numbers if these troglodytes were taught morals, ethics, and civics. But, hey, public school budgets need to be cut...
What a heartbreaking letter. What crimes against humanity the various governments have waged . May God help these young people as they try to crawl out of this hell hole they were forced in to.
WE didn't betray the children. WE didn't ignore the meaning of the ever-accumulating statistical data. WE didn't imply that masks were effective beyond the tiny bit of decrease in transmission IN ENCLOSED SPACES WITH MANY OTHER PEOPLE.
WE didn't do that. Teachers did. Or government officials. Or the Teachers' Union.
WE didn't hysterically promulgate a message of dubious veracity. School administrators, public health officials, pharmaceutical marketing departments, and oh yes, the mainstream media that people USED to depend on for factual information.
WE didn't imply that transmission occurred outdoors, in parks, on beaches, or at distances over 5 feet, absent coughing or shouting.
Not gonna say you're responsible. You were just obeying the rules, and your perceptiveness and empathy are admirable.
But I hope I am among an ever-growing WE who will not forget the perpetrators of this damage. Not forget, nor let our bitterness and anger be assuaged by time. Because those who willingly caused these harms to children, merely for political or personal advantage;, or who may see some political or personal benefit to having a partial generation of scared, anxious, guilty and weak children...those people are, and will remain ENEMIES of any normal, decent human being.
By comparison, the simple amoral greed of Big Pharma seems almost wholesome.
So, I tried to figure out how to get this amazing article to Bari, but I couldn't find any contact info on this site, so I'll just post it and hope she sees it. It's apropos to this article, so I'll take a shot.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/05/18/how-shaming-my-school-boards-racism-cost-me-my-job-but-not-my-stand/
I wouldn't be surprised if all this will end up creating an angry generation. And honestly I can't and won't blame them.
How about an essay about how our children are now afraid of people. My nine year old nephew practically jumped into my arms when another person was walking towards us on the street.
The school Barak Obama attended in Hawaii, Punahou, is now planning to shame kids into taking the booster shots. My daughter, who is 15, recently told me that if a kid is “exposed,” (which means she was in a class with someone who was infected) she must stay home for five days unless boosted. “I don’t want to have to stay home.” my daughter told me. I explained to her that there was a much higher risk of kids getting sick or dying from the vaccine than from covid and that her school was not making rational decisions. Besides, the boosters weren’t even preventing the spread of the virus. Still, I could tell she did not want to be different (not boosted). I could tell it was a source of shame not to follow health protocol (like wear a mask while running around a track). I continue to write the “covid response team” at punahou, asking them to look at the data and reconsider. I even told them about my son, who came down with pericarditis after his second Moderna shot. On the way to class, he couldn’t breathe and had to go to the ER. But so far, Punahou School is not budging on their booster policy. Funny that such a prestigious school can’t tell the difference between “appearing to care for kids” and actually being concerned for the health and well-being of their students.
The Bible has a different view of the maskless, veil-less face. It's life. We heard it first in Numbers, (במידבאר "In The Desert") "The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." We also learn that when the Lord hides his face we are undone, we die. To make a long story short, in the Gospels and Epistles, this shine has spread to us. We look to the shining face of the Lord and shine and then we look at the shining faces of others and shine some more. No wonder the kids are not all right. In Isaiah, the mask, the veil is equated with death and the promise is that one day God will remove that veil. C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman's book "Till We Have Faces," is, in my opinion, a meditation of all of the above.
I wrote to my local school board at the beginning of this 21-22 school year about mask wearing. It is the stupidest thing ever! My 15 yo is vaccinated, exactly because I thought it would save her from mask wearing, but nope! The only place I wear a mask is the doctor's office because they will NOT service you if you don't the damn thing. It is way past time to move on from these insane rules about distancing, masks, and the like. Covid game over!
I don’t have children but reading this utterly breaks my heart. I can’t imagine being a parent or teacher going through all of this.
The public health, political, economic and financial incomprehensibility here is not what I expected from Bari’s site. On the other hand, her comments with Bill Maher were at best sophomoric rants of a publicity desperate blogger. I support her by subscribing and find most of her commentary on media, politics to be insightful and brave. Not this shit. But hey, who’s perfect. I’ll keep subscribing because she’s mostly right. Gentlemen, the estate tax is a tax on inherited assets at death because those gains were never taxed during life by the capital gains tax. Inherited wealth gets a step up in basis providing heirs with significant tax savings going forward. Don’t know if it can ever dampen an oligarchy of wealth, but my friend and clients who build wealth know enough to plan for their heirs futures so the estate tax becomes an annoyance rather than a burden.