school closures harmed american education

I have brought my argument. But you continue to deflect and not address the topic. Sad. But when you have nothing…

 

You can’t make your case so you’re down to name-calling. A real man wouldn’t feel the need to do that. Be a man and prove your point, or continue to name call and prove you’re not.

 

I don’t let them. But then I know what facts are.

 

Maudlin.

 

Our venerated teachers stayed home and got paid so they wouldn’t have to be around dirty little disease vectors.

 

You believe that media and journalists are the ones producing the research they are reporting on?

 

I believe the liberals in academia are doing that work and the libbie journalists have the omnipotence of the mainstream media to sway public opinion.
And the libbies in Hollywood are the biased little cherry on top….to inculcate even children that white man bad and trans people/gays good.

 

We live in a time when anyone can get anything published. To what do you attribute the fact that no conservatives have published data disproving the idea that spanking is bad for children?

 

Do you not think there is one article discussing the benefits of spanking a child’s ass from time to time?

 

Sigh . . . exception fallacy. But please, let's see the article supporting spanking children so we can shred its validity.

 

Race-baiting?

 

That’s such an ambiguous statement. It’s still scapegoating under any interpretation. Comes off as a bit disingenuous.

 

At least no children were harmed from mass school shootings during the lockdowns.

 

Teachers are around "dirty little disease vectors," every day that school is in session. The pandemic just added the possibility of death.

 

It depends on what you are willing to count as evidence. It sounds like you are restricting evidence to an academic peer reviewed statistically controlled study or possibly a historical data analysis on the subject. I don't believe academic peer reviewed studies and historical data analysis are the only valid forms of evidence. Personal observation is also a valid form of evidence. Observing families that raise their kids a particular way that is a valid form of evidence.

Now, can you verify my experience? No, I don't think you can. My opinion, though, is based on what I can verify, not what you can verify.

 

Quantitative or qualitative data would at least provide some form of evidence for your argument. There are more qualitative data types beyond historical.

Agreed

Personal observation is subject to bias. How might one overcome such bias? (Hint: There are verifiable affirmative responses to this question.)

Interpreter please

That's not my task. Can you verify your claim? We're still waiting.

 

Yep, and I know one young person that it effected dramatically. Fortunately there was enough time for this high school student to bounce back from his horrible sophomore year... my ex-girlfriend's nephew. He nearly have to repeat his sophomore year (many course classes) barely salvaging his grades to move on. Now he's getting ready for graduation and he's going to college.

I'm am sure he's not alone and I have read news links to many other young people suffering from staying home... ensconced and secluded from their friends. Children need to be with other children, especially while learning as in school. And even though the majority of kids can handle being taught on the computer, it's far from a perfect system.

 

Very few people are going to consult academic peer reviewed studies when deciding how to run their own households. Every person has bias. That is true. Their own bias, though, is a reflection of what they are most confident is right. And there are a lot of factors that go into that.

Something I believe you are overlooking is the value of tradition or conservatism, which can be summarized by the old adage "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it." I acknowledge that there is a balance that must be met between tradition and progress. The abolishment of slavery is one such example of the overturning of tradition that was a good thing that any reasonable non-prejudicial person should be able to recognize. Tradition is not always right, but it often times is. Yet, I do lean in the conservative direction as I think we do best when we assume that we should preserve the former things unless if we have really powerful persuasive reasons for rejecting them.

Humanity is the prime most flourishing species on the planet. If humanity has thrived with a majority of human cultures practicing something, then why are we so quick to dismiss the former things that are tried and proven? If it ain't broke, then don't fix it. So, I look at the social institutions and the social practices that are deeply ingrained in human history, and I am very slow to overturn or reject them.

Case in point...corporal punishment is our current topic. If you go back and examine the history of corporal punishment, which I did, it has been slowly overturned since the mid to late 1800s until now. It is interesting that Lenin and Mussolini are on that timeline, and I bring that up not to dismiss the point at hand directly by some association with communism or fascism. However, Lenin and Mussolini are two examples in history of people who were confident they were achieving progress for humanity. And the point here is reinforced that we, like them, could be gravely mistaken and overconfident in our own achievement of progress.

Corporal punishment used to be used as a form of legal punishment, but incarceration replaced it as the preferred legal punishment in most instances. It used to be used as a form of punishment in schools, but suspension and expulsion replaced it as the preferred form of punishment. In New Jersey in 1867, one of the central concerns surrounding the banning of corporal punishment in the classroom was the erosion of teacher authority in the classroom. Now, classroom management is a top issue for teachers struggle with in education.

Sometimes, decisions made to overturn past institutions and practices have unforeseen residual consequences that are beyond the scope of our own confident assurance that we are achieving progress. So, on the one hand, yes, it is hard to verify that an old idea is better than a new idea. However, on the flip side, can you verify you have studied the overthrow of a past cultural institution or practice from every single angle to understand all of the possible negative residual effects involved with your decision? I don't think you can know for sure all of the long-term effects of what you are doing.

So, that is where decision making comes into play. Do you take risks with your own child's life and well-being? Or do you go the risk averse route and lean on the tried-and-true well-established principles that you are certain will work?

You can do your peer reviewed statistically controlled study. I am not saying those don't have value, but I am far more confident in things that are tried and true throughout history. I am much more confident in things that have been implemented over centuries and millennia.

 

Traditions are great, but things change over time. People change over time, and so does society. What was a great tradition a century ago may be completely outdated now.

And while we can do our own peer reviewed studies, and/or read all that is out there, most of us aren't qualified to run our own studies. Nor do we have the time to read all the literature that is out there. That's where experts are supposed to step in. I'm not an expert in child psychology, nor do I have the time to read all the peer reviewed research papers. But if a group like the American Academy of Pediatrics comes out against corporal punishment, I trust that these well educated experts have done all the leg work and research, and I trust their expertise.

To get back to the OT, there were plenty of peer reviewed studies that showed closing schools reduced the transmission of COVID. And some that showed the opposite. I don't expect State Superintendents, School Boards, etc., all to be experts on COVID. I would hope they would rely on the peer reviewed study to make the best, data-driven decisions they could make at the time. I don't envy their impossible position they were put in, placing the education of children against the health and well-being of teachers and staff. And if they chose to act out of caution for the safety of teachers/staff, I find that completely understandable. At least to the point where the vaccine was widely available. Keeping schools closed post-vaccine availability was a mistake in my opinion. But not too many stayed closed that long.

And yes, children suffered. We all did. That's the nature of a global pandemic. There is no winning, only mitigating the potential losses. And that includes loss of life, which is not recoverable. A year of lost education is.

If there are failures in attempting to recover the lost educational opportunities, we need to do better to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots so all have equal opportunity. We also need to improve our mental health facilities, as many of the lost kids could benefit from speaking to trained professional and how to get their life back on track after the pandemic. Adults too, for that matter. Those are the biggest failure points. Not the closing of schools, which again, was done to benefit the health and well-being of teachers by mitigating the spread of COVID.