Three weeks to the holidays.

[oloriel]

Just got new information: Starting on June 15, the primary schools will return to (almost) normal teaching.
Why? Because it has been decided that the lack of social contact and schooling is more harmful to children under the age of 10 than the danger of infection.

To which I have several questions, the first being, do these politicians realise that children up to the age of 10 may nonetheless have family members for whom the danger of infection is possibly a bit higher, and the more kids you put in a classroom (and the more often you do this), the higher the risk of infection?
And the second being, do they realise that the summer holidays start on June 26? They are literally re-opening schools for two weeks. They're putting the kids back with (all) their classmates for two weeks, claiming that this will save their little spirits, before they all split up for the holidays anyway. How much of a difference do they think these two weeks will make?

I'm honestly baffled.

Secondary schools like mine are told to continue with their current practice but also to provide more classes, whatever that means. So this mostly concerns Felix. (Nonetheless, I am now in school on Thursdays as well. Although we now have more teachers (b/c no more blanket high-risk group exists) and fewer classes (b/c the Grade 10s are done with their exams and have had their classes reduced as a result), for some reason I ended up with two lessons more. This is fine, although it's not my favourite class - although split into two smaller groups, they're certainly more manageable. If there's one thing I wish we could keep from this crisis, it's classes of 12-15 students max! Although today's grade sevens certainly demonstrated that even a class of 12 students can be impossible to work with.)

Don't mind me. I've done something stupid with my back again and have a splitting headache as a result, and also got my period yesterday. Maybe I'm just unreasonably grumpy.

Comments

[ysilme]

Good grief. I think you're very reasonably grumpy, and beyond your body having fun at that! *hugs*

[satismagic]

*sends hugs* Middle age is hard on the body. :( I hope your back recovers swiftly!

There's a lot I don't understand about politics in times of a pandemic. I guess we can hope that the virus is on summer holiday already. I mean, I get that it's a long time now, and there's no end in sight, really, and that makes people stupid. But... I still really don't want to get Covid. Not even if I end up sick "only" for three or four weeks.

[oloriel]

Thank you. It seems to be a bit better today.

If it has gone on summer holiday already, then I wonder where all these new cases in Bremerhaven and Rostock and Göttingen come from. Oh, that's right, from many people from many different households getting together...

(My inner cynic is wondering if they actually want to enforce the second wave now, so it conveniently happens during the school holidays.)

[bunn]

You may be grumpy but definitely not unreasonably so.

[oloriel]

Thank you, that's kind of you.

[hhimring]

I hope your back is better!

And that you stay safe, despite all that.

[oloriel]

Thank you. It was a bit better in the morning, but now it's acting up again. Hope it'll get better overnight again.

It's not even that I'm worried for myself (or even Jörg and his mother); it's just the idiocy of the whole thing that angers me. Whenever people have been allowed to meet in larger numbers, there has afterwards been a resurgence of Covid cases. So the risk is still very real. And all this talk about the psychological damage might have been credible a month ago, but with two weeks to go? The damage is done and won't be undone by two weeks of "normal" lessons. (And most kids have a good chance of recovering from it.) But I'm fairly certain that it will be worse - both the psychological and the death toll! - if we rush into a second wave...

[hhimring]

I did totally get that.
I should have added something like "what the others said".
Here they have only just partially opened schools again for some classes, with restrictions, and I am not at all certain it is not too early to be safe, despite the fact that some of my friends who have been attempting to homeschool their kids and work their normal hours at the same time have been feeling the strain quite badly.

[oloriel]

*hugs* I got that, too. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound snippy or anything.

With restrictions (and with the kids and their families following those restrictions, of course), a partial reopening seems to be doable. At any rate, that's what was done here a month ago, and unlike, oh, crowds meeting up for parties or religious services, it didn't lead to any major spike in cases. Not sure one single day of school (or even two) will be of much help to parents who have to work full time, but I suppose every hour can be a relief...

[grundyscribbling]

Ba-zuh? Schools re-opening for two weeks doesn't logic at all whatsoever. Unless they realize a second wave is inevitable, and prefer it fall during the school holidays? Two weeks gives it just enough time...

I hope your back and head are feeling better!

[oloriel]

At this point, that's the reasoning I'm suspecting. That way, at least they won't have to worry about providing lessons and supervision for school kids, because during the school holidays, that's their parents' problem either way. Not sure whether I'm the cynic or whether they are. >_>

Head, yes. Back, not sure. It hasn't started acting up badly yet, but today is a day full of screen work, so it'll probably get worse again. Ugh. Thank you, though!

[grundyscribbling]

Apparently there are other lines of thought. Der Spiegel's daily email this morning had a mini-essay about the illogic of schools not being open when everything else now is, and how bad this is pedagogically, from the point of view of staatliche Schulpflicht, and how it does not help working parents at all... (Titel: "Was Schulen von Bordellen unterscheidet".)

Fingers crossed!

[oloriel]

Yes, and I might be able to consider them, if we weren't literally talking about two weeks. Two weeks, incidentally, in which the report cards will already have been written, so students' extrinsic motivation to learn and work along will be very low (and instrinsic motivation is always a lottery). The pedagogical effect of trying to get some knowledge into these kids in two weeks is not going to outweigh several weeks of more or less consistent homeschooling.

Also, of course, if schools are open, students (with few exceptions) are obliged to attend them. 25-30 kids in one room (because if all classes take place, it won't be possible to split classes in half so they can maintain proper distancing, due to a lack of space and a lack of "human resources"). Visiting brothels, on the other hand, is entirely voluntary (for the visitors, I mean). That's the difference.

[grundyscribbling]

If it wasn't clear, I was solidly eye-rolling at the Spiegel screed! :)
And yeah, if the report cards are already done, insisting on that two weeks is all the stupider. It's just basically wanting two weeks of babysitting from the teachers.