Will you send your kids back to school?
Poll: Will you send your kids back to school?
Total Members Polled: 182
Discussion
Trophy Husband said:
DoubleD said:
Trophy Husband said:
Totally this. Everybody with kids are thinking about themselves.
Teachers are the custodians of our children's futures and thus incredibly significant to us.
Until lockdown (I hate the word!), I had lost my respect for the teaching profession. Now, I see them as heroes.
For me you have this completely wrong! Teachers are the custodians of our children's futures and thus incredibly significant to us.
Until lockdown (I hate the word!), I had lost my respect for the teaching profession. Now, I see them as heroes.
The kids should go back because of the benefit that it brings them. A lot of parents also feel very let down by teachers.
As you said, graciously, for you I have this wrong.
For me, you have this wrong.
My kids teachers have emailed them ftequently to a) ask them how they are. b) give them small amounts of learning to do and c) tell them they missed them and were thinking about seeing them soon.
Maybe things are different in a small village in Wales?
Maybe the fact my boys are only 8 and 9 makes a difference?
Maybe we're not all the same?
For the parents that feel they've been let down by teachers? Smell the coffee and see what the fluck is going on in the world. Stop being so precious. Be glad that your kids are healthy and your family is healthy if indeed they are and I hope they remain so.
Teachers didn't sign up to the potential to die from being educators. If the virus is strong in September I would have zero problem with teachers deciding not to go back to school for the sake of your little Jimmy.
DoubleD said:
I have no idea what is happening in a small village in Wales. A couple of emails and a small amount of work from teachers isn't enough, and a lot of parents are not happy about this. Nobody signs up for a job to die, so let's move on from comments like that as it doesn't help. Also calling peoples children "little Jimmy" is such a PH thing to say.
Apologies for the little Jimmy. Agreed unnecessary and inflammatory. However, the question was "will you send your kids back to school". I assumed purely related to the chance of catching the virus.
A better question would be "Do you have to send your kids back to school?"
I get the feeling the poll is showing strongly towards yes because people are answering not from a health of their child perspective but from an economic need perspective. A very different scenario.
If the virus remains strong in September then many parents will be stuck between a rock and a hard place and I get that.
The question in that sense is flawed.
If it is still strong in September I will keep my kids from school and deal with it as best I can work wise. I'm lucky in that I am my own boss. Many aren't and I feel for their situation with the looming dilemma.
Trophy Husband said:
DoubleD said:
I have no idea what is happening in a small village in Wales. A couple of emails and a small amount of work from teachers isn't enough, and a lot of parents are not happy about this. Nobody signs up for a job to die, so let's move on from comments like that as it doesn't help. Also calling peoples children "little Jimmy" is such a PH thing to say.
Apologies for the little Jimmy. Agreed unnecessary and inflammatory. However, the question was "will you send your kids back to school". I assumed purely related to the chance of catching the virus.
A better question would be "Do you have to send your kids back to school?"
I get the feeling the poll is showing strongly towards yes because people are answering not from a health of their child perspective but from an economic need perspective. A very different scenario.
If the virus remains strong in September then many parents will be stuck between a rock and a hard place and I get that.
The question in that sense is flawed.
If it is still strong in September I will keep my kids from school and deal with it as best I can work wise. I'm lucky in that I am my own boss. Many aren't and I feel for their situation with the looming dilemma.
PeteinSQ said:
Unless things go back to the bad days of March and April my son will definitely be going back to school in September. His education is really suffering and the risk to his health is negligible.
If on the other hand things have got really bad again I will think again.
The risk for their health is greater at home than it would be at school. If on the other hand things have got really bad again I will think again.
sim72 said:
It's obviously an factor, but that isn't its core function. However, the Government thinks it is, otherwise it wouldn't have opened EYFS and Year 1 before Year 9 and Year 10.
Babysitting is a consequence of the education process. Both elements are necessary. Everyone needs to go back to work, including teachers.
As you know from the thread where I was flamed for thinking otherwise (by lazy teachers) I am teacher (part time)
sim72 said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
"A couple of emails", yeah right mate. We've been in school every week since lockdown, including the Easter and half-term holidays. We'll be there in September. The PH culture of bashing teachers is tiresome, especially from the hard of thinking that seem to believe that schools are some sort of childcare system that exists to allow people to go to work.
Of course your performance shouldn't be in any way measured on parents' ability to go to work, and yes, your own personal goal as a teacher should be to give the kids the best possible education, but that doesn't mean that school doesn't have an equally indispensable role in allowing work to happen.
Trophy Husband said:
I get the feeling the poll is showing strongly towards yes because people are answering not from a health of their child perspective but from an economic need perspective. A very different scenario.
My daughter is seventeen. She's highly intelligent, but has been withdrawing from life since lockdown started. She can't get herself out of bed, can't engage with school work. She has been quite simply shutting down.Fortunately, for us, there is a silver lining to the cloud.
Firstly, she is highly intelligent, to the point of being able to diagnose herself with ADHD (tends to be rather different in girls to the stereotypical boy version!) to the point where she was able to convince me to book a GP consultation, and then to convince a sceptical GP that she absolutely knew what she was talking about.
Secondly, I could fortunately afford to take her for a private psychiatric assessment. As a result of this, she has indeed been diagnosed with ADHD and with General Anxiety Disorder, and we're now able to start treatment for her.
We're very lucky, and hopefully we'll be able to turn this around before her A levels next year, so in that respect, you could say that the lockdown has been a blessing for us, as it brought matters to a head, and we were able to do something about it.
For thousands of other kids, though, it's an absolute curse! They and their parents may well not be able to figure out what's going on, or have the money to seek private treatment - as NHS CAMHS certainly aren't able to step in at the moment - so all they've got is the blackness.
More teenagers have committed suicide because they're unable to cope in lockdown than have been killed directly by Covid itself. Yes, I think it's important for the economy that kids go back to school in September, but even if I thought it would damage it, I would still think it was absolutely critical that they go back for their own mental wellbeing.
Kermit power said:
sim72 said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
"A couple of emails", yeah right mate. We've been in school every week since lockdown, including the Easter and half-term holidays. We'll be there in September. The PH culture of bashing teachers is tiresome, especially from the hard of thinking that seem to believe that schools are some sort of childcare system that exists to allow people to go to work.
Of course your performance shouldn't be in any way measured on parents' ability to go to work, and yes, your own personal goal as a teacher should be to give the kids the best possible education, but that doesn't mean that school doesn't have an equally indispensable role in allowing work to happen.
One of the things I've really noticed over lockdown with schools not being open for most, is that the parents that have had issues coping with their kids' learning have not been, as you'd expect, the deprived or otherwise socially disadvantaged, but the ones with "good" jobs who have suddenly found that having kids is actually something you need to work on, rather than having them for the sake of it.
I'm not anti-teacher at all myself. A great many do an amazing job for little reward and often a real lack of gratitude from parents. I don't think I would have the patience to do it, so I take my hat off to them.
That said I know for a fact that some have treated it as a paid holiday and some are being deliberately obstructive. From the experience with my own kids: two different primary schools and very little useful contact from either really. Most contact has been from school admin staff rather than actual class teachers.
I've not found the lockdown period particularly difficult in terms of childcare, but I haven't been focused on educating my kids. I think the most difficult period was when my eldest spent a month or so in hospital and the rules made it extremely difficult for longer duration stays.
I suspect many of those who are probably finding it difficult are maybe wanting to educate their kids but also have their own jobs to do as well. It's not easy to teach multiple kids in different year groups whilst also holding down your actual day job, unable to take holiday because you've got the actual holidays approaching.
As I said in my earlier post, my two school ages kids have been back for a few weeks now. My eldest is still the only child in his class at this point, and is only on a 3 day week with reduced hours.
That said I know for a fact that some have treated it as a paid holiday and some are being deliberately obstructive. From the experience with my own kids: two different primary schools and very little useful contact from either really. Most contact has been from school admin staff rather than actual class teachers.
I've not found the lockdown period particularly difficult in terms of childcare, but I haven't been focused on educating my kids. I think the most difficult period was when my eldest spent a month or so in hospital and the rules made it extremely difficult for longer duration stays.
I suspect many of those who are probably finding it difficult are maybe wanting to educate their kids but also have their own jobs to do as well. It's not easy to teach multiple kids in different year groups whilst also holding down your actual day job, unable to take holiday because you've got the actual holidays approaching.
As I said in my earlier post, my two school ages kids have been back for a few weeks now. My eldest is still the only child in his class at this point, and is only on a 3 day week with reduced hours.
DoubleD said:
A lot of parents also feel very let down by teachers.
A lot of teachers have felt let down by parents, for a lot of years.I’m going back in August to a normal school day (Scotland) and one of my primary roles is to teach “life skills”. Skills such as how to use a knife and fork, how to tie your shoelaces, how to do/undo buttons etc etc. What has happened when children need to be taught these basics at school??
Mining Subsidence Man said:
Babysitting is a consequence of the education process. Both elements are necessary.
Everyone needs to go back to work, including teachers.
As you know from the thread where I was flamed for thinking otherwise (by lazy teachers) I am teacher (part time)
Oh and you are just a troll. Go back under your bridge you fEveryone needs to go back to work, including teachers.
As you know from the thread where I was flamed for thinking otherwise (by lazy teachers) I am teacher (part time)
kwit. 
My wife’s a teacher, well she will be for another 3 weeks then after 22 years at the same school she’s packing it in. Most teachers have been carrying on, doing their job with the worry that one of the kids will pass the virus on to them.
What has pissed my wife off the most is the emails from parents, some in the middle of the night, that expect a response immediately, with their demands for their little darling. The self centred, selfish attitude of most of them is unbelievable. Absolutely no consideration for anyone else apart from their child, be it teachers or other pupils.
I pity the teachers left come September when they are told to accommodate all children all day.
What has pissed my wife off the most is the emails from parents, some in the middle of the night, that expect a response immediately, with their demands for their little darling. The self centred, selfish attitude of most of them is unbelievable. Absolutely no consideration for anyone else apart from their child, be it teachers or other pupils.
I pity the teachers left come September when they are told to accommodate all children all day.
RammyMP said:
My wife’s a teacher, well she will be for another 3 weeks then after 22 years at the same school she’s packing it in. Most teachers have been carrying on, doing their job with the worry that one of the kids will pass the virus on to them.
What has pissed my wife off the most is the emails from parents, some in the middle of the night, that expect a response immediately, with their demands for their little darling. The self centred, selfish attitude of most of them is unbelievable. Absolutely no consideration for anyone else apart from their child, be it teachers or other pupils.
I pity the teachers left come September when they are told to accommodate all children all day.
The problem isn't going to be accommodating all the children, it's going to be trying to re-organise completely to meet the Governments social distancing regulations that each year group should be in a bubble whilst still delivering all the lessons to the students. This is especially a problem in Key Stage 4 where they're in completely different class groups for many of their subjects. What has pissed my wife off the most is the emails from parents, some in the middle of the night, that expect a response immediately, with their demands for their little darling. The self centred, selfish attitude of most of them is unbelievable. Absolutely no consideration for anyone else apart from their child, be it teachers or other pupils.
I pity the teachers left come September when they are told to accommodate all children all day.
I don't understand what the point if it is, to be honest. The year groups are going to be mixing outside school (buses!) and even at home where there are siblings. If the idea is to cut down the number of interactions between kids we could have done that without a daft rule that will cause the kids actual learning to be impacted.
RammyMP said:
My wife’s a teacher, well she will be for another 3 weeks then after 22 years at the same school she’s packing it in. Most teachers have been carrying on, doing their job with the worry that one of the kids will pass the virus on to them.
Do you mind me asking if your wife is moving to a different type of work? Or is she just retiring early? I’ve been teaching 25 years now and I’m also thinking about packing it in.
DoubleD said:
a lot of people go to work with the worry that someone will pass on the virus to them, and a lot of them come into contact with with huge amounts of people each day. But business carries on, the schools should be the same.
There's a huge difference between the behaviours of adults and children. Hopefully.Schools are known to be hubs of infection for other illnesses. Always have been always will be.
Seems to me that many people are just considering the health of their kids and shrugging their shoulders because as we know only a handful of under 11 year olds have died and apparently with underlying health issues.
Your kids get it, no big deal. They're asymptomatic so you don't know. Great. You get it, maybe no big deal. You don't know you've got it but have been all over the place, maybe to see your elderly parents or neighbours. Many of them may get it and don't know because they're asymptomatic. Big deal.
That is the problem.
Trophy Husband said:
DoubleD said:
a lot of people go to work with the worry that someone will pass on the virus to them, and a lot of them come into contact with with huge amounts of people each day. But business carries on, the schools should be the same.
There's a huge difference between the behaviours of adults and children. Hopefully.Schools are known to be hubs of infection for other illnesses. Always have been always will be.
Seems to me that many people are just considering the health of their kids and shrugging their shoulders because as we know only a handful of under 11 year olds have died and apparently with underlying health issues.
Your kids get it, no big deal. They're asymptomatic so you don't know. Great. You get it, maybe no big deal. You don't know you've got it but have been all over the place, maybe to see your elderly parents or neighbours. Many of them may get it and don't know because they're asymptomatic. Big deal.
That is the problem.
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