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Original poster

If we'd do online education, we wouldn't need another lockdown

70 replies

CoffeeAndWhisky · 30/10/2020 18:30

Just that, really. Same as with SARS, as soon as schools closed, the infection rate dropped dramatically. I work in education and yes, some things need to take place on campus but for schools and most uni/college courses, remote teaching is perfectly feasible.

I have seen two people die of the mental health consequences of lockdown, with three more at risk currently and services underfunded, now only remote, and generally not sufficient. Am I the only one who things that as long as schools and most further and higher education isn't shut, there is no point in sticking to rules of another lockdown?

OP posts:
TheGreatWave · 30/10/2020 18:35

You work in education yet think that remote teaching is perfectly reasonable? This has been done time and time again, lack of tech, poor internet connection (or insufficient data etc), parents unable to assist with the work for a multitude of reasons.

It really isn't the answer in the current set up.

pontypridd · 30/10/2020 18:36

I want schools to stay open.

But why trash the economy to keep schools open? It’s mad. Online learning is better IMO. Our schools are shit round here and even shitter with all this sending bubbles home and staff off.

Of course we should go onto to an Ofsted monitored online provision.

I really don’t want this but think it’s a must.

TheGreatWave · 30/10/2020 18:36

Reasonable should be feasible.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 30/10/2020 18:39

Hell no- you close everything before you close schools.

KitKatastrophe · 30/10/2020 18:41

What about parents who work and have school aged children? A 7 year old cannot stay home by themselves and do remote learning. And it is not acceptable to expect parents to work from home while homeschooling again (that was an utter shambles).

I do think it could work for college and university, however.

trilbydoll · 30/10/2020 18:42

Online education massively widens the gap between rich and poor / supportive parents and not supportive parents etc. It's simply not fair on the kids that are losing out.

BuffaloCauliflower · 30/10/2020 18:43

How do you propose infant and primary age children do online learning that doesn’t necessitate a parent being with them most of the time? What if they’re parents need to work, at home or elsewhere? What if there’s only 1 or even 0 computers available at home for children to use to work on?

CodenameVillanelle · 30/10/2020 18:43

Don't be ridiculous. Who is going to oversee this education when parents are working?

KitKatastrophe · 30/10/2020 18:45

@pontypridd

I want schools to stay open.

But why trash the economy to keep schools open? It’s mad. Online learning is better IMO. Our schools are shit round here and even shitter with all this sending bubbles home and staff off.

Of course we should go onto to an Ofsted monitored online provision.

I really don’t want this but think it’s a must.

Online learning is better. For whom?

It's worse for the children who cant access or understand the material. It's worse for the parents who have to help them with it while working. Its worse for the children who have no contact with friends except seeing them on a screen. It's worse for the parents who can't afford a laptop and broadband for their children to use.

museumum · 30/10/2020 18:46

You clearly have no idea what it’s like to chain a 7yr old to a laptop while both parents are on important video calls on their own laptops. Education it is not. My child utterly fell out with learning entirely and if it had gone on much longer may not have found it again.
Not to mention that for primary age kids with working parents schools being closed IS essentially lock down. At this time of year without school all their outdoor exercise would be in the pitch black.

KitKatastrophe · 30/10/2020 18:47

@trilbydoll

Online education massively widens the gap between rich and poor / supportive parents and not supportive parents etc. It's simply not fair on the kids that are losing out.
Absolutely. I tutor a child who has a stay at home parent, who is very supportive and intelligent herself, and they have the money to access lots of online resources plus buy extra revision guides and pay for tutors.

Unsurprisingly he came top of his class when compared to those who cant afford a proper laptop, let alone everything else.

Rabbitholebonkers · 30/10/2020 18:47

It is actually laughable how there are people out there who are so small minded they think it’s perfectly feasible to educate children online. Honestly I’ve heard it all. I work in education too and I presume you work in HE, as your first term was campus?

Worlds apart from schools. It would only cause more systemic social inequalities with the poor being much, much worse off.

What about the children in overcrowded, chaotic housing? And let’s not forget the middle
Class kids who also get forgotten in arguments like these. They suffer too, perhaps just in different ways. it’s really really not feasible at all.

davekim · 30/10/2020 18:48

I am a primary teacher and have 4dc.

It was incredibly difficult for me, my students and my children.

The last thing that they will close down are the schools... and rightly so.

Badabingbadabum · 30/10/2020 18:49

What do parents do when the schools and nurseries are closed? My 5 and 3 year old can't get on with a bit of home learning while their father and I go out to work. One of us could give up work but then one of us might also have to give up eating to be able to afford the drop in income.

ReneeRol · 30/10/2020 18:50

No way. Children need school, they need a break from their family, they need to be around their peers, they need the structure and discipline. They need to live in the world outside their home.

Homeschooling is very harmful to children who live in challenging circumstances and/or don't have access to education in the home.

Many children live in homes with issues such as lack of broadband, uneducated parents, overcrowding, domestic abuse, poverty etc... School is the escape and somewhere they can build a future.

You don't take that from the most vulnerable children in society to prevent them from a virus that is harmless to them.

CrazyFoxLady · 30/10/2020 18:52

Poppycock!

Me and DH work for the NHS and have to go into work rather than having the option to WFH. Who is going to be teaching our children? Youngest DDs are 9 & 11 and were supervised by DD17 in lockdown. Absolutely no school work was completed as I can't really ask a 17 year old to teach! Waaaay too much screen time went on unfortunately, but they seem to have caught up already, and don't appear to have been affected too much.

I totally understand why you are concerned, but there is far too much at stake. The potential to harm our children's futures far outweighs the very small risk of catching Covid.

Thedogshow · 30/10/2020 18:53

I can’t believe anyone who actually has young children or has had young children (unless they have forgotten what it is like) think this is a good idea.
For so, so many reasons.

sirfredfredgeorge · 30/10/2020 18:53

There is no evidence that COVID is the same as SARS with respect to transmission, indeed there's loads of evidence that it's quite different.

There's certainly no evidence that schools are more important for transmission than adult indoor group activities, which mean even if schools were closed all those things would also need to be - which is a lockdown.

Whilst you might be able to construct evidence for why schools in addition to other things should be closed, there is no evidence that simply closing schools will enable the other things to continue.

Numberblock7 · 30/10/2020 18:53

How does my preschool child learn independence, to share, participate in class, separate from me etc from online learning? How do they learn to get on with peers, make friends etc via zoom?

MarshaBradyo · 30/10/2020 18:54

@Thedogshow

I can’t believe anyone who actually has young children or has had young children (unless they have forgotten what it is like) think this is a good idea. For so, so many reasons.
Agree
Jericoo · 30/10/2020 18:58

Is it practically possible to do only online learning for that age group though?

SleepingStandingUp · 30/10/2020 19:00

Op how much work do you think my son can do on my phone as it's the only way I can access internet?

Or how much do you think we can do on the single tablet between 4 kids?

How much support do you think I can give working from home full time?

What about with no internet?

Or no ADT at home because my job can't be work from home.

Or my special needs child who needs specialist interventions and doesn't do well with the change in routine?

Or when I can barely afford to heat the house out of school hours let alone all day?

Or with their abusive parent screaming at them and locking them out for hours?

Or with help from their illiterate parent?

Kazzyhoward · 30/10/2020 19:01

How will the parent earn a living if they have to stay at home all day supervising their child(ren)??

InTheLongGrass · 30/10/2020 19:02

Been there, tried that.
Covid didnt disappear. Kids didnt get the education they deserve.
We need to find ways to live with covid, and zero education for some sectors of the population is not an acceptable way to operate a country.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 30/10/2020 19:14

Great. So as a single parent who cannot work from home am I supposed to quit my job and not be able to afford to feed my 7 year old, or leave him at home alone all day to fend for himself while I go to work?

Mumsnet is a place full of privileged people telling the rest of us that "school isn't childcare" but meanwhile in real life this is a problem that can't be ignored.