Bullying Schools into Reopening
Trump threats, demands, and tantrums will lead to sickness and death
A few weeks back, the culture at large seeming to realize that the coronavirus isn’t going to “just disappear,” there started to be some nuanced, thoughtful conversation around the subject of how to get kids back to school safely.
Then Trump got involved.
It was almost as if the bully-in-chief heard some rumor that middle class voters were afraid of what to do with their kids in the fall, and so he took up the cause in his typical way: by threatening, haranguing, and demanding that those responsible for the very delicate problem of whether or not — and how — kids can safely gather in classrooms with their teachers and other staff in a few weeks just make it happen. No matter the cost.
There is no question that the home-school experiment in the Spring of 2020 did not work. Minorities, yet again, bore the brunt of the failure — not only did fewer Black, Latino, and students from low-income families had access to the technology, like internet and home computers, necessary to complete the remote learning assignments, but they also had parents who were more likely to be “essential workers” not able to take time off to be at home and monitor their progress, make sure they completed tasks, and help overcome confusion in the absence of a teacher. This…
