Opinion: why the start of the 2020 school year in the USA turned out to be a failure
'19.09.2020'
Source: Yandex Zen
The start of the school year in 2020 was unusual, to put it mildly. How parents and children had to get used to a new format of education during a pandemic and why this situation turned out to be very beneficial for teachers, says the author of the blog "Notes of an Immigrant" Yandex Zen.
The school year began this time on September 8, but until August it was not clear what it would be like and how the children would start learning.
Since March, all the students have been at home doing “distance learning”. I don't know what it looked like in high school, but our child in the kindergarten (kindergarten) did not have any real-time online learning. The teacher emailed assignments for the week, which had to be done by Friday and sent back. They also gave free access to a couple of educational programs in mathematics and English - as additional materials.
In general, all the studies were on the shoulders of the parents. Children sat at home and ran wild without communication with their peers. All sections and circles were also closed. In June, the baby went to a children's summer camp and it became easier, but the uncertainty was frightening. Then the pool was opened, where he was engaged in swimming.
There were a lot of rumors in the summer. Every now and then, teachers across the country staged protests against the start of full-fledged studies. Their main argument was fear for their own health and the health of their family. However, I had and still have a strong conviction that the main reason was the unwillingness to start full-time work again.
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Judge for yourself: they don't even need to sit in front of a camera or phone for part of the day, like many workers sent to remote locations. On Monday you send the kids a task - on Friday you get it. Check it out over the weekend. How long does it take? And in general, the whole week is absolutely free. Do what you want, go wherever you want. Moreover, the salary is the same as always. It's not home to sit on unemployment benefits. Great life!
Everyone was in favor of resuming studies: from the President of the country and the Department of Education to the Association of Pediatricians. Everyone except the teachers' union.
And in August, the school district management finally decided on the format in which the new school year would be held.
First, parents could choose whether their child would physically attend school or study exclusively online from home in such a “cyber academy”. We chose the school, of course. However, 29% of parents sent their children to online education.
Secondly, the remaining children were assigned to classes, after which each class was divided into two groups: the first one should go to school on Monday and Tuesday, the second one on Thursday and Friday. On the rest of the days, you need to study from home online, and on Wednesdays, in general, all children should be at home. Apparently, the school is supposed to be sanitized.
So, just two days a week at school. This is unfortunate, but better than nothing at all.
In early September, all children were given new tablets, iPads with a hefty screen, and setup instructions. It is on tablets that children should learn online from home and carry them to school every day. The thing, of course, is convenient and fast, not like my ancient android tablet, but somehow it doesn't feel right to trust his six-year-old boy. True, they promised the opportunity to insure him, but for some reason only from October.
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Our child was in the first group, so on the first day of school we went there. Of course, you only need to study wearing a mask, and temperature control is carried out at the entrance to the school. I was not inside, but in theory they should have moved the desks farther from each other, especially since the classes were reduced.
The studies started, but in the first week, confusion and vacillation began. It seems that it is not entirely clear to teachers exactly how the studies will take place, especially its online part.
On Monday, September 7, there was a holiday in the country, Labor Day, so the schools were closed. Because of this, the first group of students attended school on Tuesday and Wednesday, the second on Thursday and Friday. A full online day in the first week seems to have been missed.
The son went to school for two days, on the third in the morning we sat down at the tablet and began to try to go online to the lesson. We didn't succeed. Realizing that there would be no case, I wrote about this to the teacher, but there was no answer. Apparently, we should have waited for a break. Then we called his classmate to ask how they were doing online. It turned out that she was at school. How? Why? Unclear. In the morning, for some reason, they decided to go to school: they sent their daughter there at random, waited a little - she did not come back.
I rushed to reread the letters. No, everything is correct - two groups, we should be at home, the schedule has not changed. The teacher's personal page contains the same information.
I called the school administration. They looked at the list of students and confirmed that the child should be at home and study online. Advised to contact the teacher. Soon she replied that her son could come to school tomorrow, Friday. Why did not work out with the online lesson, she did not explain.
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To top it off, the school nurse called in the evening and sternly asked why the child was not at school, if he was sick. When I began to explain to her about the schedule and the groups, I got the impression that she hadn't heard anything about it.
In this second week of school, it was decided that the children would go to school for four days, except Wednesday. This, of course, is very good, but it is not clear why this happened and for how long. What happens if someone gets sick at school? And if the regime in the city is tightened?
It is unpleasant when you are in an uncertain position. Every day starts like this: a message comes in that the school server has “crashed”. It takes about an hour and a half to fix it. I don’t know if there will be online lessons on Wednesday, I don’t know how those children who don’t go to school go to school. Wait and see.
Original column published on the blog. "Notes of an Immigrant" on Yandex Zen.
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