Could I argue that this was a Golden Eagle catching fish over a mountain lined lake. I could but others might have a different view. If we don’t listen then we often get the wrong answer….

I was listening to a member of the Government being interviewed about schools on the BBC. The interviewer listened politely to the answers agreeing with everything that was said. Never asking for the evidence or questioning the view. All very friendly and very smily. Then a scientist was interviewed with a differing view. The interview was very different. The scientist was constantly interrupted, never allowed to answer fully. Often basically accused of being biased. Part of the problem. A very hostile interview.

That’s the problem we are not allowed to have a balanced open discussion anymore. It’s very much you are with us or against us. It’s not just Covid, it’s everything. I heard a leading Government MP say that any Firm that doesn’t support Brexit fully would be penalised.

So where are we with schools. They largely remain shut until the 8th March. Next week our so called Leader will tell us the plan. There seems to be a media blitz telling parents that schools are perfectly safe. Children have to be in schools as no other options exist. Nothing to worry about. The only change needed is to get pupils to wear a mask in a few more shared areas but definitely not in classrooms. Parents will be issued with Covid test kits so they can test their family regularly. The evidence from Europe and here shows that schools don’t spread the pandemic at all. Children are getting infected only in households. Infection rates are falling. More people have been vaccinated. Doubting parents will be subjected to a Advertisement campaign to reassure them. Those still doubting will be warned about fines and penalties to if they fail to send their children back.

That’s one view….

There are other views.

  • Respect individual children views. Some will be keen to return others will not feel safe. It’s a personal judgement about risk.
  • People are being vaccinated but most only with one of the two required shots. This runs the risk of reduced effectiveness and virus resistant mutations.
  • The vaccine varies on how much protection it provides to individuals, how long it is before the protection starts to tail off and how effective it is at stopping people spreading the virus.
  • There are NO plans to vaccinate children. The Government believes they are a key way to develop herd immunity. A strategy which has little expert support.
  • Comparing UK schools with many of the European ones misses a key point. UK classrooms are much more overcrowded with less opportunities for social distancing than European ones.
  • Infection rates are falling but still are higher than under the first wave. The death rate is still daily well over 500 a day. So falling YES but no where near under control.
  • The number of virus mutations being detected are rising rapidly.
  • The virus is now spreading fastest amongst the young and under 18 age groups.
  • Even with a lockdown and with schools only accepting a small number of pupils (essential worker children), Public Health England are still reporting that about 100 schools a week are still encountering pandemic outbreaks.
  • Our Leader only a few weeks ago called schools completely safe and told parents to send their children into school. 8 hours later he was saying schools were Vectors for Transmission and had to be closed. Make your mind up….
  • Children are getting serious long term Covid. They are being hospitalised.
  • Children are being admitted to hospital with associated serious diseases which are linked to an initial mild Covid infection.
  • The quick self administered tests which are going to be used are not particularly accurate or reliable. Only really effective as a guide not a determinate.
  • Many scientists and experts are arguing for caution on school reopenings. For the foreseeable future they are arguing for investment in homeschooling to allow for more classroom space. This would also allow time for schools to implement change to permanently move away from overcrowded learning environments.

Different views but we are only supposed to hear one. Just maybe the best way going forward is to be open with what we know and what we don’t know. Let individual schools work with the local health services, parents and pupils. Develop local solutions that work the local circumstances. Give them the support to make long term changes. Provide an enhanced national home schooling resource pool. Then trust parents and children to make the right call for them. Surely that’s a better route out of this mess.

58 thoughts on “Let’s be honest”

  1. Schools and children are very important and each situation is different. For my child, we turned to remote schooling during the pandemic, thank God that was made possible in a blink of an eye. This also opened my eyes to the possibility of homeschooling as we progress and even when everything is back to relative safety.

    Thank you for this, a very important topic to discuss.

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  2. There are so many different situations and so many different rules. I am learning that different doctors ‘ offices, schools, and businesses in my area are adopting different guidelines for their operation based on info from the governor, county, or the CDC. It has been so confusing – they all should be saying the same thing but instead, they conflict. Our school district is using info from our county now and students can now be three feet apart, instead of six, as our numbers continue to go down. We will see what happens with all of that. I feel this is an issue that will continue to evolve for some time. The confusion is frustrating.

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      1. They are politicians. To be a politician you need to have a need to tell other people how to live. It 8s part of the mindset. They know what 8s best for you, though theyhave no idea who you are. The height of narcissism, don’t you tjink?

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  3. The more confused or muddled people are in their decisions the less they seem to tolerate dissention. Their personal confidence seems to ride on having made acceptance of their view or decision.
    So gone is the willingness to allow for differing views or giving people the latitude to make personal decisions that meet their level of comfort and security. Why else does my different outlook and choice trouble you?

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  6. Do you guys have school board positions that are elected? If you do, you should run for office. Seriously!
    When my girls were in school, I was very active with our school and with the district. I never ran for a position on the board, but I was part of a Citizen Advisory Committee.
    You could help all the kids like Hawklad that don’t fit neatly into the government’s round holes.
    💌💌💌

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  7. Tbree community cases in Auckland (all in one family), and the Auckland region, including schools, was put into lockdown for three days while determining whether or not it was part of a wider outbreak. It was. Inclding those three, there was a total of five cases.

    The additional two cases were contacts at the high school that one of the original tbree attended. No further case were discovered so the lockdown was lifted at the end of the three days.

    Apart from the original 6 week lockdown last March, Auckland has had one 2 week lockdown and the recent 3 day one. The rest of Aotearoa New Zealand has had none. That’s how it should be done. We have leaders that listen to the advice of the scientists.

    If similar measures had been implemented worldwide right from the outset, the world would be a very different place from what it is now in my view.

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  8. “Children are getting infected only in households” Well, unless they’re planning on keeping children to live at schools now, that’s still a problem, lol
    Why we’re not listening to Scientists, and Health professionals, is beyond my mind. At the same time, I can guarantee 100% that all the “children can go back to school” people. Constantly whine about being “silenced”.

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  9. During Trump’s COVID denial period, I referred to him as Fearless Leader (from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons). I think that your Boris may be a good successor to the title. (You’re right – we’re finding that having the unfiltered science is preferable to the edited version.)

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  12. so called “Leaders” r destroying life and countries…
    well, at least most of you r wearing the masks in supermarkets, shopping etc (as far as we know, from the news). In Sweden, Brazilian and South African mutations are going wild already, but all cafe and restaurant are full of folks, life goes on like in 2018 – no difference. We dont have obligatory to wear masks, so no-one wearing them.

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      1. lol 😂 it’s ok, so far… but I wouldn’t say “well” 🙂 in any case – we r looking at the third* wave 🌊 now, because we’ve got all possible mutations in the land (from last month) 🧐🤨
        BUT it’s much warmer now, next week gonna be +10C, so… who knows! We hope numbers will go down

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  15. Totally agree with Derrick. You can’t be fined for protecting your child the best way you know how. It’s absurd. And people have to be allowed tto have different opinions otherwise we are all in trouble!

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  17. Here (in the USA) schools and the entire system have been a mess for YEARS (decades?), I have always been grateful that I didn’t have kids in the mess and now even more so. As an outside observer it really seems there is no “one-size fits all” answer. I actually can’t even keep up with it any more . . . in reference to your other post about “news” I don’t know what is going on and I don’t know what to believe.

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  18. It just disappoints me that the crux of the pandemic is about money and power, not people. Lives are expendable as long as profit margins don’t drop.

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