This is idiocy. What good are schools if they can't even teach kids not to look directly at the sun? This is telling the kids they are incompetent and shouldn't be trusted.
My kid's school is not running from the eclipse but celebrating it. The science teachers have scheduled an assembly where they will explain eclipses, teach the kids how to use the eclipse glasses they're providing to all the kids (you can go grab free ones at some stores, like Warby Parker), and then they will take the kids out to the field to watch the eclipse.
I still remember the pinholes from 1979. Maybe I'll do that while my kid is at school with her glasses.
The schools here are closed Monday. Their rationale is that the buses will be in standstill because of traffic leaving the eclipse area. I think they're right about that part.
The question is whether this can be a learning experience - structure the day around the eclipse, teach a little about safety (permission slips that include an acknowledgement that filter-glasses will be provided, but permanent damage can result if they're removed and the school is not liable) and about the science. That could be a real positive. And schools often have great viewing areas.
So I disagree with their decision. They've had years to prepare for this. They could have started a unit in science classes a month ago, really build this up. Give the kids tickets so their parents could join in. Isn't this what learning is all about?
Nellie notes in TGIF that Seattle's schools will no longer teach algebra. Which is just an introduction to the path many sciences require. So Seattle's kids will not be able to go to college and become engineers and many other career paths unless their parents have the money and wherewithal to provide alternative education. The gap grows ever larger and the public schools seem to be the bad guys, not the good guys here.
I live in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by beautiful hiking trails, natural parks, lakes, ocean walks, etc. My family prioritizes getting outside into these places almost daily because we recognize how blessed we are to be here and also how much happier we all are when we’ve had some time outside.
My husband and I often notice that we are almost always the only people with children on these trails and in these parks. Lots of dogs being walked, but no children other than ours to be seen. This region has nearly 500,000 people living in it.
We don’t understand this at all, except maybe it can be explained by safety-ism? Widespread anxiety and depression? Addiction to screens? Parents who let their children decide what they’re going to do with their time?
I don’t get it. Go outside with your kids. Teach them to have love and respect for nature.
Kids can study gender, trans ideology, gay sex, drag queens, and the superiority of Palestine in school but a solar eclipse is a bridge too far? How twisted to force the kids to attend online school to prevent them from seeing it. Get those "eclipse" glasses for every kid in school and go outside. We've seen schools pay half a million dollars for Non Racist Kindergarten Training so I'm sure someone could rustle up a bunch of donated glasses. Also, can someone let the teachers know that the same eclipsed sun is hanging over the kids' houses?
"But after the elementary teachers’ union criticized the decision [not to close early], with its president arguing “it’s naive to assume students won’t look directly at the sun,” the school board announced it would cancel class after all."
Public school teacher's unions motto: Screw the kids, never miss an opportunity to get out of work by standing on "virtue."
As a rabid opponent of the public school system, I'll just file this quote away as reason no. 4,962 that the entire system should be razed to the ground and the earth salted under it's ruins.
All teachers should be required to read "Bad Therapy" by Abigail Shrier, and there will be a test!
I expect most readers here are familiar with Jonathan Haidt's After Babel substack, detailing the damage done to kids by smart phones and social media. Shrier makes a good case that phones are only part of the problem: safetyism at school and in the home, along with clueless parents have created an inward-looking generation of kids who have never been allowed to grow up, obsessed with their mental health and afraid to try anything for fear of failure.
Remember when fireworks used to have the instruction "Light the blue touch paper and retire to a safe distance"? Well I've just passed the book on to my wife to read, and she is a child psychiatrist. Actually it only says what she's been saying for years, so I don't expect an explosion!
I've cancelled my afternoon (university) class on Monday for the opposite reason: the classroom to which we've been assigned has no windows!
We'll only have about 80% of totality at our location, but I didn't want my students to miss out altogether. I've told them where I'll be on campus, Monday afternoon, and that I would have some extra viewing glasses with me.
I just cannot reconcile an "abundance of caution" with regards to a solar eclipse with the haphazard eagerness to put kids on stimulant medications, SSRIs, antipsychotics, and/or hormone blockers.
The craziest part about this is we just had an eclipse in 2017. Where I live was through the path of totality and we had many people traveling to our city to observe it. Even just 7 years ago, so much has changed. This was built in as a teacher workday so public schools are not in session (interestingly, one of my children who is in private school is still having classes—they have activities planned for the entire building, K-12, to go outside to watch). In 2017, school was held, it was treated as an amazing learning opportunity and a big celebration of a once in a lifetime event.
“Abundance of caution” is one of those phrases that makes me want to pull my hair out.
I, along with the rest of my elementary school, used a pinhole viewer made out of a shoebox for the 1979 eclipse. We also had a jungle gym and a two story firepole on our playground. By today's standards our school would probably be shut down for child endangerment. I'm so happy that i grew up when i did.
I’m sorry that we have so poorly educated our population that they fear this event. People, the totality of a solar eclipse is not only the only time it’s safe to watch the Sun directly, you SHOULD watch it directly, WITHOUT glasses. It is beautiful and magnificent and safe. True, the window of safety is only minutes long, but can we please not be hysterical idiots?
The main point is to maintain us (starting when we're children) in a constant state of fear, cowering under the warm, safe embrace of our government. It's this among so many other similar things. The world is scary and dangerous, but we'll keep you safe.
This is idiocy. What good are schools if they can't even teach kids not to look directly at the sun? This is telling the kids they are incompetent and shouldn't be trusted.
My kid's school is not running from the eclipse but celebrating it. The science teachers have scheduled an assembly where they will explain eclipses, teach the kids how to use the eclipse glasses they're providing to all the kids (you can go grab free ones at some stores, like Warby Parker), and then they will take the kids out to the field to watch the eclipse.
I still remember the pinholes from 1979. Maybe I'll do that while my kid is at school with her glasses.
The schools here are closed Monday. Their rationale is that the buses will be in standstill because of traffic leaving the eclipse area. I think they're right about that part.
The question is whether this can be a learning experience - structure the day around the eclipse, teach a little about safety (permission slips that include an acknowledgement that filter-glasses will be provided, but permanent damage can result if they're removed and the school is not liable) and about the science. That could be a real positive. And schools often have great viewing areas.
So I disagree with their decision. They've had years to prepare for this. They could have started a unit in science classes a month ago, really build this up. Give the kids tickets so their parents could join in. Isn't this what learning is all about?
Nellie notes in TGIF that Seattle's schools will no longer teach algebra. Which is just an introduction to the path many sciences require. So Seattle's kids will not be able to go to college and become engineers and many other career paths unless their parents have the money and wherewithal to provide alternative education. The gap grows ever larger and the public schools seem to be the bad guys, not the good guys here.
I live in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by beautiful hiking trails, natural parks, lakes, ocean walks, etc. My family prioritizes getting outside into these places almost daily because we recognize how blessed we are to be here and also how much happier we all are when we’ve had some time outside.
My husband and I often notice that we are almost always the only people with children on these trails and in these parks. Lots of dogs being walked, but no children other than ours to be seen. This region has nearly 500,000 people living in it.
We don’t understand this at all, except maybe it can be explained by safety-ism? Widespread anxiety and depression? Addiction to screens? Parents who let their children decide what they’re going to do with their time?
I don’t get it. Go outside with your kids. Teach them to have love and respect for nature.
Kids can study gender, trans ideology, gay sex, drag queens, and the superiority of Palestine in school but a solar eclipse is a bridge too far? How twisted to force the kids to attend online school to prevent them from seeing it. Get those "eclipse" glasses for every kid in school and go outside. We've seen schools pay half a million dollars for Non Racist Kindergarten Training so I'm sure someone could rustle up a bunch of donated glasses. Also, can someone let the teachers know that the same eclipsed sun is hanging over the kids' houses?
"But after the elementary teachers’ union criticized the decision [not to close early], with its president arguing “it’s naive to assume students won’t look directly at the sun,” the school board announced it would cancel class after all."
Public school teacher's unions motto: Screw the kids, never miss an opportunity to get out of work by standing on "virtue."
As a rabid opponent of the public school system, I'll just file this quote away as reason no. 4,962 that the entire system should be razed to the ground and the earth salted under it's ruins.
All teachers should be required to read "Bad Therapy" by Abigail Shrier, and there will be a test!
I expect most readers here are familiar with Jonathan Haidt's After Babel substack, detailing the damage done to kids by smart phones and social media. Shrier makes a good case that phones are only part of the problem: safetyism at school and in the home, along with clueless parents have created an inward-looking generation of kids who have never been allowed to grow up, obsessed with their mental health and afraid to try anything for fear of failure.
Remember when fireworks used to have the instruction "Light the blue touch paper and retire to a safe distance"? Well I've just passed the book on to my wife to read, and she is a child psychiatrist. Actually it only says what she's been saying for years, so I don't expect an explosion!
I've cancelled my afternoon (university) class on Monday for the opposite reason: the classroom to which we've been assigned has no windows!
We'll only have about 80% of totality at our location, but I didn't want my students to miss out altogether. I've told them where I'll be on campus, Monday afternoon, and that I would have some extra viewing glasses with me.
Aren't schools closing to avoid liability. "You didn't keep my kid from looking at the sun. I'm suing."
I just cannot reconcile an "abundance of caution" with regards to a solar eclipse with the haphazard eagerness to put kids on stimulant medications, SSRIs, antipsychotics, and/or hormone blockers.
"An abundance of caution" is code for "don't sue us!"
The craziest part about this is we just had an eclipse in 2017. Where I live was through the path of totality and we had many people traveling to our city to observe it. Even just 7 years ago, so much has changed. This was built in as a teacher workday so public schools are not in session (interestingly, one of my children who is in private school is still having classes—they have activities planned for the entire building, K-12, to go outside to watch). In 2017, school was held, it was treated as an amazing learning opportunity and a big celebration of a once in a lifetime event.
“Abundance of caution” is one of those phrases that makes me want to pull my hair out.
I, along with the rest of my elementary school, used a pinhole viewer made out of a shoebox for the 1979 eclipse. We also had a jungle gym and a two story firepole on our playground. By today's standards our school would probably be shut down for child endangerment. I'm so happy that i grew up when i did.
I’m sorry that we have so poorly educated our population that they fear this event. People, the totality of a solar eclipse is not only the only time it’s safe to watch the Sun directly, you SHOULD watch it directly, WITHOUT glasses. It is beautiful and magnificent and safe. True, the window of safety is only minutes long, but can we please not be hysterical idiots?
The main point is to maintain us (starting when we're children) in a constant state of fear, cowering under the warm, safe embrace of our government. It's this among so many other similar things. The world is scary and dangerous, but we'll keep you safe.
How is being in a classroom less safe for kids than wandering around outside with a day off?
I'd like to understand exactly how many such eye injuries have been experienced in the past.