Here in Virginia, the governor will announce today what is going to happen with public K-12 education. Right now, schools must be closed for the rest of this week. After that has been up to each school division. The county schools here, for example, say they will be closed through April 10. Their spring break is April 6 through 10, and they likely think that sending kids back for one week sandwiched between weeks off is not a good idea. Older son thinks the governor will close public schools for the rest of the academic year. Much as I hate to say it, I agree.
I commented to older son that the county superintendent has noted that they will not be holding students back despite their having missed most of the second semester. Older son countered by asking how many students were held back in a normal year. Yeah, not many. Leaving AP or IB classes out of the equation, the real problem area is math. A student with close to only two-thirds of a year of Algebra I will not transition well to Algebra II, especially in a system that places Geometry between the two years of algebra. Foreign languages also depend on the foundation laid in a previous year, but only in that the starting point of the next year's subject matter shifts back to where instruction ended the previous year.And let's not forget to ask what the summer slump will be like after six months of "summer vacation" rather than two or three. It sets some kids up to playing catch-up for the rest of their K-12 career.
The New York Times has a fascinating article today, "The Virus Can Be Stopped but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say." I read the online version, but can't imagine it is not also in the print edition. The thesis was that the measures China, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have used to rein in the coronavirus would be anathema to Americans. An example would be to use the GPS capability of cell phones to tell when someone has gone outside their isolation or quarantine quarters. In South Korea, they use a GPS app and violators pay an $8,000 fine. Such apps along with credit card and bank records can help in tracing contacts by enabling officials to see where someone was while they were contagious but before becoming symptomatic. Doing this well is vital to stopping the virus from infecting others. Can you imagine the furor that would result were those measures even suggested here?
Given the education theme I unintentionally started above, is the decision of if and when to close schools. According to the Times's article, this is not uniformly considered to be a good idea. Right now, schools are closed in 45 of the 50 states. That children can be carriers of the coronavirus has not been established, though since they are basically asymptomatic, they could channel Typhoid Mary. Some experts argue that closing schools puts children at home meaning some essential personnel may not be able to go to work. At the same time, closing schools helps maintain social distance between the adults who must work at those schools. We are apparently damned if we do and damned if we don't. I am glad I am not the one who has to make the decision.
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Our schools are closed now except they aren't, they are open to provide child care for key workers. Cue arguments over who is and who isn't a key worker. Particularly vulnerable people are being asked to isolate themselves for 12 weeks. Cue arguments over who is and isn't vulnerable. We've just had new stringent rules that don't affect me at all because that's what I've been doing for the last week. I am fed up of people at the moment - people who think rules don't apply to them, that don't see why they should alter their life in any way at all. It's not as if Italy is some imaginary place in a galaxy far, far away.
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