To say I am still pissed off at so-called progressives, many, if not most of them inhabiting the laptop class, who supported school closures, is to far undersell it. In fact, I will cut this comment off now, before it devolves into a curse-word laden screed unworthy of even Substack.
Your words and courage will go down in history. Teachers unions destoryed a generation. Let’s continue to push for accountability and better education for our children, condemning those monsters so we never make the same mistakes again.
Yuri- I am going to use your words, “Teachers unions destoryed a generation.” It won’t get much traction in my ‘great state’ of Illinois, but I will use it a lot. I will be giving you credit!! Should I use ‘destoryed’ or ‘destroyed’?? Hey you are about to get a New Subscriber!!!
I appreciate you writing this. When I picked our child up from school on 13th, I knew something was up, couldn't put my finger on it, but smelled a scam and when one parent said to me, "see you in two weeks' I smiled and said "next year if we are lucky".
The first half of the lockdowns our child did great. He was real trooper during that period. He was excellent at self entertainment, had several work sites around the house, meandered in and from them to playing with us.
There was enough playdates and anti lockdowners to still be social, but not at all to the extent he had been, but it was something to look forward to.
But he missed two plus years of school and home schooling did not take in the house, its not for every child, and it was a struggle with him.
We were and are people who think masks are stupid and we didn't want him wearing one all day, but we gave him the choice. He loves school. He wants to be there. But he chose, thankfully (because his mother and I fretted he would rather be social and wear a mask than be out of school) that did not want to wear a mask all day.
So we were all in agreement on that and embarked on the consequences.
It was the second part of this period where he just lost hope. My heart breaks to this day. Wasn't interested in self entertainment anymore, had grown up a bit, kind of leaving the Calvin and Hobbes stage, and just moped.
This past year of returning to school, although with bumps in the road, was good. But the damage was done. 12, 15 months is a long time for a child.
I think one big damage is that, maybe it is just me, but when I was a kid, 7, 8, 9 years old, I thought adults had their shit together. He doesn't. And he is right, they don't, in general, he was accosted on the street by adults for not wearing a mask, you got a 9 year old child shouting back at a grown man that he is an idiot and to go away, and they don't.
Only happened when he was with his mother. Never happened with me. And he picks up on this.
And then into this mix you have this out of left field gender issue permeating down to pre adolescent children, what kind of perception of the world would a child have at this age?
This. "Spoken by those who’s kids were in private schools or had special tutors." Exactly! ...still bordering on the edge of curse-word laden screed, I am. :-)
I am an educator in RI and was so thankful when we went back in person in the fall of 2020. Although we were in person, there were so many nonsensical Covid policies that also had a negative effect on learning. Kids were in pods and remained in the same class all day, constant testing of healthy kids cause stress of testing positive which would then result in the entire class being sent home for 10 days to quarantine and virtual learning, teachers scrambling trying to teach to half a class in front of them and the other half virtually, at the same time, which is an impossible task that doesn’t work. There were so many policies that made absolutely no sense and even though we were in school, behind masks, there were others psychological stressors. I still see kids in school wearing masks which makes me so sad.
In the fall of 2020 my high school required a “covid waiver” for kids to participate in sports. Lots of comments on Facebook- most parents saying they absolutely would sign so their kids could participate. But I’ll never forget the holier than thou parents who said missing a season of sports to “protect others” was a small price to pay. I wonder how their kids fared. I know mine had a great football season which saved him from the despair that was remote school.
Public officials who broke the public trust by hoisting these terrible decisions upon the world to further their own gains must be held accountable. Those who didn't "retire" are still running the show. I get that people are burned out, but what on earth do they think these reckless leaders are moving onto next, and why on earth would we want to stand still and watch them do it again?
Call me nutty but as for how this came to be I see a connection to the neo-marxist desire to separate children from parents. Of course, many parents no doubt accepted as true the garbage science foisted on us by the government and teacher unions but then how to explain the almost complete rejection of the Great Barrington Declaration? Too many of us beg to be led and refuse to think critically about anything the government says.
I’m a reading tutor and I can definitely tell how covid shut downs impacted the kids I work with, especially those who would have gotten zero at home school support during that timeframe.
I am so sorry for what happened to you as a young gymnast, and I am grateful to you for speaking up about the devastating harm that school closures and other pandemic restrictions have inflicted on our kids. People are beginning to acknowledge the evidence of learning loss, but, as you note, the psychological damage is possibly still worse.
Our family has lived in Switzerland since 2018. After closing schools for six weeks in April and May of 2020, Switzerland reopened them, and they remained fully open with no restrictions for the duration of the pandemic. No outbreaks have ever been traced to a school, and Switzerland’s per capita death rate from Covid is less than half what it is in the US, in spite of having an older population. I am so grateful that my daughter, then a high school student, was able to go to school as normal.
The situation was totally different for my son. He was in college in the UK, which closed universities completely for two terms. Even when he returned to campus, most of the other students had chosen to remain at home and take classes remotely. Plus all clubs were cancelled and pubs and other meeting places were closed, so he was completely denied the social experience of college--a crucial part of a college education.
It gets worse: Because we are Americans, our son chose to spend his remote terms in the US, in my parents’ basement. (The Swiss authorities didn’t allow him to come to us.) When he returned to the UK, their quarantine laws required him to spend two weeks, on two separate occasions, in solitary confinement in his dorm room. Campus officials left food outside his door for him. This was for a healthy young man who had had Covid already, was fully vaccinated, and had tested negative each time. I try not to think about it, because when I do I get so angry.
It is a sad truth that very often the most evil acts are driven by fear, and the sacrifice of our kids during the pandemic is no exception.
To say I am still pissed off at so-called progressives, many, if not most of them inhabiting the laptop class, who supported school closures, is to far undersell it. In fact, I will cut this comment off now, before it devolves into a curse-word laden screed unworthy of even Substack.
Ditto…
Your words and courage will go down in history. Teachers unions destoryed a generation. Let’s continue to push for accountability and better education for our children, condemning those monsters so we never make the same mistakes again.
Yuri- I am going to use your words, “Teachers unions destoryed a generation.” It won’t get much traction in my ‘great state’ of Illinois, but I will use it a lot. I will be giving you credit!! Should I use ‘destoryed’ or ‘destroyed’?? Hey you are about to get a New Subscriber!!!
Thanks Dan. Excuse the typo, this topic gets me very animated.
I appreciate you writing this. When I picked our child up from school on 13th, I knew something was up, couldn't put my finger on it, but smelled a scam and when one parent said to me, "see you in two weeks' I smiled and said "next year if we are lucky".
The first half of the lockdowns our child did great. He was real trooper during that period. He was excellent at self entertainment, had several work sites around the house, meandered in and from them to playing with us.
There was enough playdates and anti lockdowners to still be social, but not at all to the extent he had been, but it was something to look forward to.
But he missed two plus years of school and home schooling did not take in the house, its not for every child, and it was a struggle with him.
We were and are people who think masks are stupid and we didn't want him wearing one all day, but we gave him the choice. He loves school. He wants to be there. But he chose, thankfully (because his mother and I fretted he would rather be social and wear a mask than be out of school) that did not want to wear a mask all day.
So we were all in agreement on that and embarked on the consequences.
It was the second part of this period where he just lost hope. My heart breaks to this day. Wasn't interested in self entertainment anymore, had grown up a bit, kind of leaving the Calvin and Hobbes stage, and just moped.
This past year of returning to school, although with bumps in the road, was good. But the damage was done. 12, 15 months is a long time for a child.
I think one big damage is that, maybe it is just me, but when I was a kid, 7, 8, 9 years old, I thought adults had their shit together. He doesn't. And he is right, they don't, in general, he was accosted on the street by adults for not wearing a mask, you got a 9 year old child shouting back at a grown man that he is an idiot and to go away, and they don't.
Only happened when he was with his mother. Never happened with me. And he picks up on this.
And then into this mix you have this out of left field gender issue permeating down to pre adolescent children, what kind of perception of the world would a child have at this age?
Is Uruguay a nice place?
BRAVO!!
Too bad NYTimes and other MSM didn’t publish this.
Cowering fools. So bitterly disappointing. Abuse it truly was.
Cloaked under the guise of “protecting Grandma”
Reminds me again of the old adage “Children should be seen and not heard”
The Covid mantra was “Children are resilient”. Spoken by those who’s kids were in private schools or had special tutors.
This. "Spoken by those who’s kids were in private schools or had special tutors." Exactly! ...still bordering on the edge of curse-word laden screed, I am. :-)
I am hearing story after story from my Gen X friends about the mental health problems of their teens and young adult children. It's nauseating.
I am an educator in RI and was so thankful when we went back in person in the fall of 2020. Although we were in person, there were so many nonsensical Covid policies that also had a negative effect on learning. Kids were in pods and remained in the same class all day, constant testing of healthy kids cause stress of testing positive which would then result in the entire class being sent home for 10 days to quarantine and virtual learning, teachers scrambling trying to teach to half a class in front of them and the other half virtually, at the same time, which is an impossible task that doesn’t work. There were so many policies that made absolutely no sense and even though we were in school, behind masks, there were others psychological stressors. I still see kids in school wearing masks which makes me so sad.
In the fall of 2020 my high school required a “covid waiver” for kids to participate in sports. Lots of comments on Facebook- most parents saying they absolutely would sign so their kids could participate. But I’ll never forget the holier than thou parents who said missing a season of sports to “protect others” was a small price to pay. I wonder how their kids fared. I know mine had a great football season which saved him from the despair that was remote school.
Public officials who broke the public trust by hoisting these terrible decisions upon the world to further their own gains must be held accountable. Those who didn't "retire" are still running the show. I get that people are burned out, but what on earth do they think these reckless leaders are moving onto next, and why on earth would we want to stand still and watch them do it again?
Call me nutty but as for how this came to be I see a connection to the neo-marxist desire to separate children from parents. Of course, many parents no doubt accepted as true the garbage science foisted on us by the government and teacher unions but then how to explain the almost complete rejection of the Great Barrington Declaration? Too many of us beg to be led and refuse to think critically about anything the government says.
Always question authority.
💯! If there is anything I can do personally to help just let me know...
I’m still harping on it myself while others are over it. I’ll never be over it.
I’m a reading tutor and I can definitely tell how covid shut downs impacted the kids I work with, especially those who would have gotten zero at home school support during that timeframe.
I am so sorry for what happened to you as a young gymnast, and I am grateful to you for speaking up about the devastating harm that school closures and other pandemic restrictions have inflicted on our kids. People are beginning to acknowledge the evidence of learning loss, but, as you note, the psychological damage is possibly still worse.
Our family has lived in Switzerland since 2018. After closing schools for six weeks in April and May of 2020, Switzerland reopened them, and they remained fully open with no restrictions for the duration of the pandemic. No outbreaks have ever been traced to a school, and Switzerland’s per capita death rate from Covid is less than half what it is in the US, in spite of having an older population. I am so grateful that my daughter, then a high school student, was able to go to school as normal.
The situation was totally different for my son. He was in college in the UK, which closed universities completely for two terms. Even when he returned to campus, most of the other students had chosen to remain at home and take classes remotely. Plus all clubs were cancelled and pubs and other meeting places were closed, so he was completely denied the social experience of college--a crucial part of a college education.
It gets worse: Because we are Americans, our son chose to spend his remote terms in the US, in my parents’ basement. (The Swiss authorities didn’t allow him to come to us.) When he returned to the UK, their quarantine laws required him to spend two weeks, on two separate occasions, in solitary confinement in his dorm room. Campus officials left food outside his door for him. This was for a healthy young man who had had Covid already, was fully vaccinated, and had tested negative each time. I try not to think about it, because when I do I get so angry.
It is a sad truth that very often the most evil acts are driven by fear, and the sacrifice of our kids during the pandemic is no exception.