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Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

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Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#42
post #6

I feel like there is too much emphasis on these and not enough on the ones that earnestly want to go back to work. There should be a balance here, as we really do need a lot of students to have access to schools in the fall. Remote learning doesn't work for everyone and leaves a lot of people behind. The overall consequences of another lost semester may be far worse than the consequences of reopening.

>may be far worse than the consequences of reopening.

Let's be perfectly clear, this isn't something abstract. The consequences are dead kids and dead teachers. Get that through your head. You of course imagine it won't be your kids that die but there's absolutely no reason to think that.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong statement: dumb kids are better than dead kids.

Deaths in children are essentially 0

Which is not relevant. This is not an issue regarding the health of the children as much as it is the health of the teachers.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#44
post #2

Maybe all nurses should quit, too.

Nurses get about double the salary and literally signed up for this type of work. School teachers often buy their own supplies and aren't remotely prepared for this.

I'm OK with giving teachers the choice not to return - but they should absolutely NOT be getting paid. And those who want to work can do so.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong statement: dumb kids are better than dead kids.

Deaths in children are essentially 0

The mortality rate in children would leave us with something like 10k dead kids country-wide if the virus is permitted to spread to everyone.

Mortality isn't the only issue, either. We're seeing plenty of signs some folks survive, but with long-term health impacts.

(An overwhelmed medical system will kill vulnerable kids in non-COVID ways, too. Mortality of things like car accidents and asthma attacks and suicide go up if the ICUs are full.)

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#46
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would prefer every student to be held back 1 semester from graduating high school than 1 more dead (if that were a possibility, but you get the point). I don't even understand how its possible to prefer sending kids back over one semester. Of course I think the bigger issue is its just parents that want kids out of the house for a multitude of reasons including getting back to their own work.

It is easy to go about and proclaim, "life is priceless", "I would prefer to have every student held back than one dead", and so on. What of students that have debt and now will have to wait more to get their "education"? Do you realize this is all going to cause more pain and suffering and possible deaths? Do you realize given more budget it is possible to save more people if you spend it wisely?

How does delaying your school career 1 semester cause death?

What debt? School debt? Are you talking about college? If you aren't attending school at all then you aren't adding to the debt (in most cases with Federal loans). If its online then you are still on track so I don't see your point.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#47
post #29

Human ingenuity has accomplished some marvelous things in the last century. I can't help but wonder how easily we could have tooled up for mass production of affordable PAPRs to distribute for times when remote work isn't very effective, like teaching children.

That acronym is gatekeeping, my friend.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#48
post #6

I feel like there is too much emphasis on these and not enough on the ones that earnestly want to go back to work. There should be a balance here, as we really do need a lot of students to have access to schools in the fall. Remote learning doesn't work for everyone and leaves a lot of people behind. The overall consequences of another lost semester may be far worse than the consequences of reopening.

I would prefer every student to be held back 1 semester from graduating high school than 1 more dead (if that were a possibility, but you get the point). I don't even understand how its possible to prefer sending kids back over one semester. Of course I think the bigger issue is its just parents that want kids out of the house for a multitude of reasons including getting back to their own work.

I'm also against schools reopening in the fall (though I haven't done much research and don't hold this opinion strongly).

But it seems like holding people back semesters eventually adds up to something that's as bad as a death. These kids are never going to get that semester back. And if you think they enjoy the at home alternatives half as much, or learn half as much or value that time in their lives half as much it seems like on some level the equivalent of 1000s of person lifetimes of value have been lost. I wouldn't hold back everyone one semester in high school in exchange for even on the order of 100s of deaths.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#49
post #16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the danger is overblown, there is risk ? yes of course, like everything else in life there is risk. Thats being said If they feel uncomfortable to work then they should quit, give opportunity for other teacher to take their job.

No. The danger is not overblown. New teachers just don’t appear out of the woodworks, it takes time to be trained. Plus, since in the US it’s such a poorly paid and poorly respected profession (at least not respected by society; Id imagine parents appreciate teachers), where will these new teachers come from?

Are you stupid? The danger is overblown. I'm not saying covid-19 is a joke, but the media has everyone terrified and even if you want to do something, the Government has literally shut everything down.

Re: Teachers are ready to quit rather than put their lives at risk

#50
This is another example of how modern economies are driven by individual choices about participation--in this case teachers refusing to provide service because they don't feel safe. The same choices are devastating a wide range of industries like aviation, hospitality, tourism, etc.

It's a little mindboggling that so many political leaders do not understand this basic concept. Economics is far from perfect but the effect of the pandemic on economic behavior was about as close to a slam dunk prediction as you can get.

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