debbiebradleyWhy is it so vital for children go back into schools right now?
Why was it so important for the youngest children to go back first?
Take away all the reasoning like “It’s the right thing for children, they can be educated in a safe COVID-secure way. We should be getting them back to school.” COVID-secure?? Really?? That’s the wording you’re choosing??
And things like we need children to go back to school so parents can go back to work… and we can get this economy moving again.
Here’s a kick in the pants for you… the money hasn’t actually gone anywhere. Well actually, it has… more of it has rolled up to the billionaires stockpiling it from the people who aren’t earning any cos they’re out of work and still need to pay their bills… did you think about that? Nah, didn’t think so… cos they’re all busy shouting at you to get back to work and save the economy cos the economy’s crashing! Why aren’t they dumping a chunk “back into the economy”, hmm? It’s not like they’ll miss it, nothing costs that much that’s why they have so much leftover! There’s more money on the planet than ever before… where the fuck is it all? Oh, that’s right… it’s with the guy at the top who no one’s looking at cos you’re all too busy fighting with the new guy down the street who “took your job”
Anyway… back on topic.
Why is it so vital that children go back to school?
I get that there are welfare issues in some cases, and yes, for those children where their wellbeing, safety and security is a concern, then it’s vital that they’re seen and get support… but that’s not what I’m talking about here…
I know since my own children have been out of school they’ve come on leaps and bounds. Yeah, they’ve spent a whole bunch of hours “just chillin’ out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool” they’ve watched TV (yes, Fresh Prince, duh!) they’ve played board games, explored art, they’ve cooked, they’ve cleaned, they’ve eaten, they’ve done some gardening, they’ve ridden bikes, and read books and had (OMG!) CONVERSATIONS with each other – who knew kids could do that?! They’ve had disagreements, and come to compromises. They’ve come screaming at me to fix something or other, then left to do something else, or figure out how to handle it themselves. They’ve asked a million and twelve questions about random things, some of them a bit daft, some of them really interesting.
They’ve developed as human beings.
And they’ve done it all without the confines of school.
Yes, they’ve had work set by school, well, my youngest has, my eldest has been homeschooled before all this “distance schooling” came into play, and all the feedback she had was praise about how well she explored the ideas given to her – not because I made her, not because she was asked to, but because she followed her own curiosity! She handed in some Yr 3 work and included references from A-level teaching resources. Stuff that she found interesting, but wouldn’t have been taught to her yet “because it’s not the right level”. Oh please, give me a break.
Here’s what I know… we take wild and free children, doing wild and free things that explore their curiosity, and we put them into a pen. It’s OK though… it’s a big open space with lots of fun things to play with. They can roam free and interact with other children, and it’s all fun…
Then after a year or so we introduce a smaller, more structured way… we add tables and chairs, but they can still roam free, to an extent. And they’re still in groups.
Then every year or so we take away some of the playing, and the freedoms and we introduce more structure, but they’re still sat in groups, and they still have playtimes to run free and do what they want (within reason), and every year we make the groups a little smaller, and then have them all facing forward, and doing a little more “productive stuff” (“learning”) and a little less of the “playing around” stuff (exploring) and at the end of it all, we spit them out and tell them to go find some other systems to fit into. But this time, if they’re lucky and because they’ve done really well in the first system, they’ll find a system that pays them as a reward for being a useful and productive member of society. (AKA Get a job)
And it’s OK… because we’ve told them for years that this is good for them, this is going to help them. They’ll be good little students, work hard, get a good job, get paid and they’ll be all secure! They’ll be able to live a happy free life.
But let’s think about how secure these fun little jobs are that we work so hard for…
These jobs that are the main selling point for these children to go to school for in the first place.
During this pandemic, how many people have been furloughed?
How many have reduced hours?
Lost pay?
Lost jobs altogether??
How many people have been working tirelessly for years on end in their jobs getting the pay, the praise, the congratulations, only to have a “thanks, but you’re no longer needed” when times have got hard?
It happened in the last recession a few years ago… I remember meetings at work (I had a job during the last recession) and they had a “last in, first out” rule.
Then they had another little sideline where the “rabble-rousers” – the ones who dared question their boss, or the methods once in a while – and they found a way to get rid of them that didn’t involve an “Only Yes-Men allowed to work here” sign (that’s frowned upon. They need better reasons or they get into trouble. Y’know “bad reputation” and all that) because someone who can rock the boat can capsize the damn thing (just think about that…)
Do you still want to tell me that having a job equals security??
But it’s important for these children to go back to school. It’s imperative that they get the education they deserve… the one that strips them of autonomy, and curiosity, and literally kills the free-thinking genius brain… Don’t believe me? NASA proved it, it’s all here: We are born creative geniuses and the education system dumbs us down, according to NASA scientists
And this isn’t even touching on the global pandemic that is threatening the health of millions and causing the death of hundreds of thousands. Hell, if they were so concerned, why open all the bars and restaurants first? Why allow people “free reign” (kinda) and then realise that they might need to strip that back in order to get these kids back to school.
Why did it take so long to put things to a halt in the first place?
Take a look around, it’s not that difficult to eradicate a pandemic (there are plenty of countries that have managed it… take a look at New Zealand for one. Jacinda Arden, can we borrow you please?)
It reminds me of the people who protest and kick-off about protecting wildlife and captive animals… these animals that should be allowed to roam free, and live as nature intended, not herded and kept in cages, or tanks.
These people who then slowly, slowly fall into smaller and smaller cages themselves, who sit in a tiny box/office/cubicle/whatever willingly day after day to be a good productive human in society, and they’re proud of it, shout about it like a badge of honour, who will get to the end and wonder what the hell to do with themselves because they’ve spent 60+ years being told what to do and how to do it and “get rewarded” for a chunk of it with a menial paycheck that is enough to keep them coming back for more… and then they get to retirement and feel completely lost because they don’t know what to do with themselves, and some sadly don’t even see themselves as “useful members of society” anymore. No longer useful, or worthwhile, they’re just hanging around waiting to die. And the paycheck is gone and you’re left with less than is deserved after a lifetime of servitude.
But we’re different from those poor caged animals… we get to leave at the end of the day, we get to socialise and roam free. We get to leave the office and go to the pub, or home, or the other places that we wanna go to because it’s fun to do, before we call it a night and wake up to do it all again…
We’re different to the poor caged animals.
They don’t get to leave, or go anywhere…
Aren’t we?
