Biden the racist?

Is Biden right? Yes. He understands that black Americans vote for Democrats at a 90% rate or better. He is right to take their vote for granted. Very honest. He said that exact thing in a recent radio interview. “You ain’t Black” if you don’t vote for Biden. He has been this way his whole career. Stereotypes people by race.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/06/joe-biden-latino-african-american-remark-392354

Are students the enemy?

I’ve been thinking about the reopening schools debate from a parent perspective. As I’m reading news stories I’m reminded of the teacher and staff perspective. A staff member or  a teacher dorsn’t look at one year as being especially important. Rather, it is one of perhaps 30 to 40 years that they will be spending at that school or some other school. So, for them taking a year off  is not an especially big deal. Whereas for a student essentially taking fourth grade off or ninth grade off by “learning virtually” in an inferior manner is devastating. As the teachers look at the classroom, do they look at those kids as potential infectors who could kill them if they bring the coronavirus into the classroom, where the teacher may catch the disease and even die? Most people do recover but there is a risk and that is something that is no doubt uppermost in their minds.  But, as a parent, I can’t worry so much about the teachers. Sorry. I need to worry about my kid and I’m sorry if it’s a bit of a risk. Let’s do things to keep the risk down for them.

I came up with an idea: bring in the National Guard to act as emergency teachers in school districts where teachers will not show up for work because of their fears of coronavirus. We have an Army, Navy and Air Force,  Marines and Coast Guard - men and women who risk their lives every day to serve this country.

What better service than to educate our children?

Public Schools

Step one in the eventual all online semester has been completed. The county board has moved the start of the school year to the day after Labor Day. Ironic, in that the schools were so upset when the governor mandated a post Labor Day start a few years ago, that they enlisted their Democrat allies in the state legislature to overturn the Governor's action.

After the disaster that was school in March, April, May, and June, I was actually supportive of an early school start. Three months worth of learning was wiped out and it made sense to use the extra time to catch the kids up as much as possible. What possible reason is there to delay school by two weeks? Not to clean the schools, which ought to have been done four months ago. No, it is to train the teachers in better online teaching. Do I know this for a fact? No, I surmise it. Buying 6,500 Chromebooks is a BIG CLUE, don't you think?  And once they start online, why will they ever go in person? They won't, as long as the mandate for social distancing exists.

Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The Safety of Outdoor Air for Coronavirus Is Now Obvious

Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The Safety of Outdoor Air for Coronavirus Is Now O...: There is now powerful observational evidence that outdoor air is extraordinary safe regarding COVID-19, and the recent protests have helped ...

Return to Dance

After nearly four months away from the studio, my daughter's dance studio finally opened up for classes this week. New procedures meant a number of changes, including separate entrances and exits and a prohibition on non-students being allowed inside the studio's waiting area. Dancers were required to wear masks the entire time. The dancers were to leave immediately after class without changing clothes in a dressing room. After four months of "virtual" classes, we all were grateful to give our children real classes again, even with the new restrictions. The parents waited outside.

Five of us waiting parents have known one another through dance for at least three years and have had our daughters attend here for five years.  But there we all were, waiting outside, and all of the other four parents had masks on. All were standing more than six feet away from one another. There was hardly any conversations, even after four months away from one another. I was carrying my facemask, but did not see the need to don it, as I was more than six feet from anyone plus we were outside, where coronavirus transmission is rare. Then, I had a question for another parent, so I put on my mask and walked over to her. She quickly moved away, seemingly in fear,  as I approached. She's right, of course, that the mask isn't really that great of a safety measure. Unfortunately, it was physically impossible to carry on a conversation and be six feet apart, which is why I put on the mask and got nearer.

Anyway, it was weird seeing these friends acting with such fear. I'm pretty sure that one of the parents (me) is probably being exposed to different "propaganda" than the others are seeing and hearing. We each are convinced that what we see and hear is the truth. I'm not feeling the fear. They are. Not that it's not a deadly disease, but I'm also not one who flees from McDonald's in favor of vegan cuisine, either. Life has risks. I actually took a Metro train last Saturday!!!

Suffice it to say, the next day, I just stood far away and walked swiftly with my daughter to our car. It's a strange new world.

A masked face shares no smiles. . .

Re-Opening Maryland and School Decisions Still Looming

Beginning a return to normalcy, our 14 year-old's dance studio finally re-opened for classes this week. One measure that is being implemented is a mask mandate for the dancers, even during class. I know that the studio is operating under government restrictions and have no criticism for their efforts. But, in addition to the masks, the classes are, supposedly, being conducted with the students engaged in social distancing. Which seems to me, at least, to make dance a little less beautiful. What's next? Football with social distancing? And isn't it overkill to have both masks and require social distancing?

The next question is what will happen with the local public schools? It is July and the schools here fought the governor to get the right to open before Labor Day, so they have less than seven weeks to go.

President Trump is leading the charge to return our children back to school and was at today's "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's Schools."- https://youtu.be/CQG835FyulE. I fear that this will only intensify the Democratic media propaganda to keep schools closed. I'm sorry to say that I do believe that the teachers unions and school boards would gladly sacrifice another year of learning for these children if doing so will result in a Democrat’s victory in November.

Despite scientific evidence to the contrary that closed schools create long term damage to students:

“The Amer­i­can Acad­emy of Pe­diatrics has urged pol­icy mak­ers to pri­or­i­tize re­open­ing schools, cit­ing the de­vel­op­men­tal and health ben­e­fits to chil­dren of at­tend­ing class in-per­son and re­ceiv­ing reg­u­lar school meals. Pre­lim­i­nary re­search sug­gests that low-in­come and mi­nor­ity chil­dren with less ac­cess to tech­nol­ogy will have greater learn­ing loss than other chil­dren un­der re­mote learn­ing.” WSJ 7/7/20

Teachers Unions

CDC Today:  "For children (0-17 years), cumulative COVID-19 hospitalization rates are much lower than cumulative influenza hospitalization rates at comparable time points* during recent influenza seasons."

With the debate over the coronavirus risk to young people pretty much over, we are now faced with the obstacle of teachers and their unions fighting against allowing children back into schools. The unions are insisting that the risk to the older people, the teachers, is too great. That is what is happening with Fairfax, Virginia. The union will not even support hybrid class instruction.  Wow!

Teachers -- The purpose of the schools is not to give you an income. It is to educate the children of the taxpaying and non-taxpaying residents of society. If you aren't willing to teach, we will find others who will do that job for us!

The colleges across the nation, especially the private ones, have been forced by student and parent demand to have on site education. Almost all students agreed that the last two to three months of the academic year was a poor substitute for a college education. The fact that parents are paying a lot of money means that they will choose to have their children step away for a while rather than pay for a poor college experience. However, the nation's public schools have no such incentive. They will get funded whether the kids show up or not. Plus, the teachers seem to enjoy working from home.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/survey-of-teachers-in-fairfax-county-find-70-want-to-continue-distance-learning-in-the-fall