“This fall, public school districts should prioritize full-time, in-person classes for grades K-5 and for students with special needs.” So says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Many are using this report to endorse opening all education institutions FULL-TIME and even decrying distance learning as a failure. If you want to read the full report, you can download it in PDF for no cost. Go to: Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This is one of the worst pieces of research I have ever seen in my life. It is claimed in the report that “The report includes an updated review of the evidence from around the world and a set of recommendations on mitigation strategies for the corona-virus in school settings.” In actuality, there is little factual data supporting a reopening strategy but a great deal of conjecture. Some of the so-called findings would seem to support NOT opening. For instance:
“there is no definitive evidence about what suite of strategies is most effective for limiting transmission within a school setting when students, teachers, and other staff are present.”
(145 Pages of this report is mostly information you could get online about the effects and history of the Covid Pandemic.)
“The existing guidance documents offer an extensive list of potential strategies but little guidance on how districts and schools can or should prioritize them.”
(Little guidance but they are making their recommendations to open the schools anyway).
“Many of the mitigation strategies currently under consideration (such as limiting classes to small cohorts of students or implementing physical distancing between students and staff) require substantial reconfiguring of space, purchase of additional equipment, adjustments to staffing patterns, and upgrades to school buildings.”
(When and how will this happen? In the next month? Does this seem realistic?)
“The research community should immediately conduct research that will provide the evidence needed to make informed decisions about school reopening and safe operation. The most urgent areas for inquiry are: • children and transmission of COVID-19, • the role of reopening schools in contributing to the spread of COVID-19 in communities, • the role of airborne transmission of COVID-19, and • the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies.”
(This is a so-called research study but it recommends we make more research to find “evidence” about school reopening that they are already recommending to reopen.”
“Second, the committee determined that, given the short timeline for producing this report, an exhaustive, systematic review of all available guidance documents for schools and districts was not feasible.”
“The committee met virtually five times over a 4-week period.”
(The time spent doing “research” is ridiculous. It is nothing but a cut and paste job that looks like it came from the White House.”
“If children do transmit the disease efficiently, as they do with influenza, for example, physically reopening schools could accelerate the transmission of COVID-19 in a community. Data needed to answer this and other important questions are unlikely to be available by the time the decision to reopen will have to be made.”
(The Data will not be likely to be available, but we recommend anyway?”)
“Twenty-eight percent of public school teachers are over 50, putting them in the higher risk age category for serious consequences of COVID-19 (Taie and Goldring, 2020). On a survey of teachers, principals, and district leaders administered by the EdWeek Research Center in June, 2020, 62% reported that they were somewhat or very concerned about returning. Any plans for reopening will need to address these concerns.”
(So how do we protect the teachers? Administrators and Parents?)
There are five major reasons this study offers for reopening the schools, but they give little evidence to support a true analysis of the costs/benefits for reopening. Nor do they offer any alternatives. They are as follows:
- Many families rely on schools for daycare.
- Schools provide meals
- Schools provide mental health counseling and health care
- Schools are a center of social life
- Minorities and disadvantaged youth will fall behind wealthy children who have better home access to the internet and distance learning.
My response to the above issues:
- We need national daycare as well as national health care for all. No question. But are schools the right place for day care services? Is reopening going to solve our daycare problem?
- Many schools have already made arrangements to help provide needed meals. We do not need to reopen the schools to do this.
- In Wisconsin there is 1 counselor for about every 470 students in the state. (See data from “https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/Publications/ratioreport.pdf) It does not seem very likely to me that much mental health counseling is actually going on. This ratio is even worse in many other states.
- Schools may be a center of social life, but kids will not die from a slightly diminished social life. I doubt many high school kids suffer much during summer months from a lack of social life.
- Suddenly, they are concerned with minorities and disadvantaged youth? This is a quite disingenuous argument. Educators have been asking for years for more funds to help address this issue and suddenly it is given as one of the primary reasons for reopening the schools. The report even notes the pervasive systemic racism in the education system. Now they want to reopen the schools to address the issue of racism?
After reading this 145 pages piece of garbage, I may never have any respect again for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
I can only suspect that the White House threatened to cut off their funding if they did not publish something to support Trump’s determination to open the schools. This is clearly part of Trump’s agenda to get the economy to reopen before the elections. The result of his pressure on states to reopen and his lack of support for efforts such as masks to mitigate the spread of this virus are nothing short of criminal. The administration is willing to sacrifice “old people” for the sake of the economy and now they are willing to sacrifice “young people” as well.
Teachers Say Rush to Reopen Schools Without Covid-19 Safety Plan Shows Trump and DeVos ‘Do Not Care About Students’
There are many who would consider Martin Luther the father of the Protestant Reformation. Growing up Catholic, we regarded Protestants as heretics. We all knew that the one true religion was Catholic, and Protestants did not know what they really wanted. What does the name Protestant even mean? Taking it at face value, it would seem to mean to protest against. The dictionary defines a Protestant as someone who has broken from the Roman Catholic church. If you are a Protestant you practice a form of Christianity in protest to the Catholic form. There are over 200 major Protestant denominations in the USA and over 35,000 independent or non-denominational Christian churches which are ostensibly Protestant. During the past few decade, we have seen numerous splits in Protestant churches over such issues as gay marriages, gay clergy, women ministers. Even though I am a non-Catholic myself, I can’t help but be amazed at the dissension and disunity among Protestants. I wonder what Martin Luther would have thought if he were alive today.
“Primary-source accounts of the trial and execution of Socrates are the Apology of Socrates by Plato and the Apology of Socrates to the Jury by Xenophon of Athens, who had been his student; contemporary interpretations include The Trial of Socrates (1988) by the journalist I. F. Stone, and Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths (2009) by the Classics scholar Robin Waterfield.” —- 
France is in chaos. Heads are rolling faster than you can say “jack rabbit.” No one knows whose head will be on the guillotine next. In the middle of this pandemonium, the Monarchs surrounding France decide to put a stop to the changes going on in France. They plan to reestablish the French royalty and bring things back to where they were. European royalty marshal their armies to attack France. In steps Napoleon. A young French solider with extraordinary military skills. Napoleon galvanizes the French People and singing the Marseillaise they fight back and defeat all of the opposing enemies. The Following is an excerpt from a speech given by Napoleon to his army in Italy delivered on May 15, 1796:
Did you know that if I am in Wisconsin this summer, I will migrate down to southern Mexico and northern Panama each winter? I go by myself because hummingbirds tend to be loners. No flocks or “birds of a feather” for us. I enjoy the trip down each year by myself. It takes me about a week to reach my final destination area. The most remarkable part of my voyage is crossing the Gulf of Mexico. I will fly non-stop up to 500 miles to reach Central America. It takes approximately 18-22 hours to complete my solitary flight. I do this each year of my life. I think even Charles Lindbergh would be impressed with my journey.
Now I know you are all wondering about my sex life. I have observed that this is an especially important part of a human being’s life. So, you are probably asking how often does a hummingbird have sex and how many kids do we have in our short lives. I probably find a female about three or four times a year to mate with. I spend a great deal of time trying to impress a suitable mate. I make the Blue Angels look like novices with the aerobatics I perform to attract a female of my species. Compared to the time spent attracting a female, our mating goes pretty rapidly. In about 4 seconds we are both done. I have heard that some human males are even faster.
Now as far as friends and enemies go, I do not have much of either one. There is good and bad in this. Humans have many friends and they tend to come and go like the weather. I don’t have to deal with “fair weather” friends because I never make any friends. If I miss out on the companionship, it never bothers me.
Now we come to the biggest and most important part of my day. Since I expend so much energy just moving and staying alive, I have an enormous appetite. I love to eat. My life is one constant search for food. My favorite meals are nectar and insects. Because of my high metabolism, I must eat all day long just to survive. I consume about half my body weight in bugs and nectar each day. To do this I must feed about every 10-15 minutes and visit 1,000-2,000 flowers throughout the day. I will eat a few dozen to several hundred or even a thousand or more insects in one day, depending on the availability of insects, the type of insects, and my dietary needs. Imagine a 200-pound human eating about every 15 minutes a day and consuming 100 lbs. a day of meat. Judging by some of the humans I see, I think some have this as a goal. It might work for them if they were as energetic as I am, but this seldom seems to be the case with humans.
I was born on October 14, 1973 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I grew up in Houston Texas. I was always big for my age and I loved sports where I excelled. I also loved music and was part of a hip-hop group called “Screwed Up Click”. My stage name was “Big Floyd.” I was or thought I was headed for greatness. Somehow though greatness never came. I did not make any major league teams and I never got any big breaks on the music scene. Like many young Black men with no foreseeable future, I stumbled into drugs.
I teach part-time as a substitute teacher in two high schools in Casa Grande, Arizona. Both public schools have a large minority population of Latino’s, African Americans, and Native Americans. I talk to many of these students when they are seniors about what their plans are after they graduate. Many of them remind me of myself when I graduated high school. I had no clue about what I could do or be. My father wanted me to become a postman like he was, and my mother did not really have any idea or inclinations about careers. I looked around and in 1964, thought “Well I will join the military and see what happens.” I had no dreams or goals for my future. I had no role models when I was growing up.
The father decided he would join his son on the donkey. As they passed through the next village, people shouted “Look at that. Two people on one donkey. How cruel and mean.’’ The father deliberated and made the following decision. He and his son came down off the donkey and picked the donkey up. They carried the donkey all the way to their final destination and as they entered the village, they heard uproarious laughter and saw everyone in the market place pointing at them and saying “Have you ever seen two more stupid people in your life. They are carrying a donkey that could be carrying them.”
Perhaps the most famous example is in the spiritual arena. Twelve men chosen somewhat randomly hitched their wagons to a shooting star and achieved fame and glory far beyond anything they could have dreamed of. Today we remember the shooting star and his 12 apostles. Each of the apostles later went on to their own fame and glory spreading the word of their lord and master. Sometimes, it is the shooting star that gets forgotten but, in this case, through the efforts of his 12 followers, the name of Jesus Christ rings throughout the centuries in every corner of the globe.
Aging Capriciously 