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> Should teachers be sacrificing themselves? I want to directly address this one - I think the answer is yes. I still get in the engine and answer 911 calls. M

> Should teachers be sacrificing themselves? I want to directly address this one - I think the answer is yes. I still get in the engine and answer 911 calls. My wife still goes to the hospital and attends patients. Why shouldn't teachers go to work? Sure, some teachers are old and/or have health issues, and even with vaccination might be at unreasonable risk. Those people need to do something else (sure, with a lot of social support) and let people who are willing and able to do the job take over. The purpose of the educational system is not to coddle teachers. The virus is endemic. Whatever happened to "keep calm and carry on"? My grandparents experienced far worse than a virus with a sub-1% fatality rate (and a tiny fraction of that with a couple jabs), and they still sent their kids to school. Let's just accept the danger and move on.

chrissnell 5y ago
This. Millions of workers, "essential" or not, went to work day in and day out in 2020. The only reason that so many teachers did not is that they have strong unions, who turn out in droves to donate and vote for politicians that do their bidding in return. The teachers unions openly advocated for policies that were terrible for our kids. I will never forget how the union in my district fought us at every step as we tried to restore normalcy in our children's lives.
dagmx 5y ago
I think I just fundamentally disagree that we pay our teachers, workers and other frontline workers like yourself enough (though I'm not sure how much firefighters make) to warrant them risking themselves if they don't have to. Teachers can teach with remote learning. Maybe it's not as good, but it's doable. You can't stop a fire remotely. We really need to reevaluate society by making work safer and making sure people are paid better.
- stickfigure 5y ago
  The firefighters in my district don't get paid (except for a few support staff). We do it for free. If teachers think the pay isn't worth the risk, retire and let others take over. We don't need to re-evaluate society, we need people to man up and do their jobs. What are you waiting for? We have very effective vaccines. The virus may wax and wane but it is never going away. Thankfully my kiddo is too young to be impacted by this, but all my friends with grade schoolers tell me that remote learning is a farce. So I don't think that's the answer.
- nradov 5y ago
  How much should people be paid to risk themselves? The US Army pays privates about $21K per year. Remote learning doesn't work for most children, especially the youngest ones and those with bad home environments. The laptop class seems to intentionally ignore that reality.
  - maxerickson 5y ago
    Is doing logistics work for the army particularly dangerous?
conductr 5y ago
I agree with this, have since the beginning and it's very unpopular view discussing this on places like HN. I'll never forget a passing encounter I had in March 2020 as things were starting to shut down in my area. I was at Lowe's (big box hardware store) and hadn't bought or even worn my first mask yet but knew the CDC was recommending social distance when I literally bumped into an elderly woman in a narrow aisle of the store. I apologized and commented how I didn't hear her come up behind me. Then I apologized again and said I'd step away as I hadn't got a mask yet (she hadn't either but I was being polite as she was obviously elderly/high risk). We chatted for a moment about everything that was going on in the community regarding closures/lockdowns. That's when she said, "this is all non-sense, when I grew up Polio was going around and we still went to school, the world has to keep moving on and life is not meant to be risk free". I have thought about that conversation a lot as time has passed and while unpopular, I believe we over-reacted even given what we knew at the time. It was always going to take a toll but we made it quite a bit more expensive in many ways. Instead of ripping the bandaid off, we'll be pulling it away for quite some time and our kids will be impacted for their entire lives to varying degrees. I have a now 3 year old and in talking with PreK/PK3/PK4 teachers they are already seeing a drastic social/emotional shift of incoming children from the norm. I've heard accounts that slightly older kids have PTSD symptoms from the fear they experienced.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

chrissnell 5y ago

This. Millions of workers, "essential" or not, went to work day in and day out in 2020. The only reason that so many teachers did not is that they have strong unions, who turn out in droves to donate and vote for politicians that do their bidding in return. The teachers unions openly advocated for policies that were terrible for our kids. I will never forget how the union in my district fought us at every step as we tried to restore normalcy in our children's lives.

dagmx 5y ago

I think I just fundamentally disagree that we pay our teachers, workers and other frontline workers like yourself enough (though I'm not sure how much firefighters make) to warrant them risking themselves if they don't have to. Teachers can teach with remote learning. Maybe it's not as good, but it's doable. You can't stop a fire remotely. We really need to reevaluate society by making work safer and making sure people are paid better.

stickfigure 5y ago
The firefighters in my district don't get paid (except for a few support staff). We do it for free. If teachers think the pay isn't worth the risk, retire and let others take over. We don't need to re-evaluate society, we need people to man up and do their jobs. What are you waiting for? We have very effective vaccines. The virus may wax and wane but it is never going away. Thankfully my kiddo is too young to be impacted by this, but all my friends with grade schoolers tell me that remote learning is a farce. So I don't think that's the answer.
nradov 5y ago
How much should people be paid to risk themselves? The US Army pays privates about $21K per year. Remote learning doesn't work for most children, especially the youngest ones and those with bad home environments. The laptop class seems to intentionally ignore that reality.
- maxerickson 5y ago
  Is doing logistics work for the army particularly dangerous?

conductr 5y ago

I agree with this, have since the beginning and it's very unpopular view discussing this on places like HN. I'll never forget a passing encounter I had in March 2020 as things were starting to shut down in my area. I was at Lowe's (big box hardware store) and hadn't bought or even worn my first mask yet but knew the CDC was recommending social distance when I literally bumped into an elderly woman in a narrow aisle of the store. I apologized and commented how I didn't hear her come up behind me. Then I apologized again and said I'd step away as I hadn't got a mask yet (she hadn't either but I was being polite as she was obviously elderly/high risk). We chatted for a moment about everything that was going on in the community regarding closures/lockdowns. That's when she said, "this is all non-sense, when I grew up Polio was going around and we still went to school, the world has to keep moving on and life is not meant to be risk free". I have thought about that conversation a lot as time has passed and while unpopular, I believe we over-reacted even given what we knew at the time. It was always going to take a toll but we made it quite a bit more expensive in many ways. Instead of ripping the bandaid off, we'll be pulling it away for quite some time and our kids will be impacted for their entire lives to varying degrees. I have a now 3 year old and in talking with PreK/PK3/PK4 teachers they are already seeing a drastic social/emotional shift of incoming children from the norm. I've heard accounts that slightly older kids have PTSD symptoms from the fear they experienced.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]