I've read dozens, maybe hundreds of pieces about how some particular group or organization or ethnic minority has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and truthfully I've gotten pretty tired of them. Roughly speaking, it turns out that the pandemic affected everyone and it affected them in pretty similar ways.
But even with that in mind, Perry Stein's look at Ketcham Elementary, a school in one of Washington DC's poorest neighborhoods, is genuinely heart wrenching. I won't try to summarize it. By now it's a cliche to call people dealing with COVID-19 "heroes," but this story is truly filled with them.
Thank you for the article. I know who to send it to, a lady born to rich parents who thinks everyone can just take a day off and go vote, taking their kids. She implies single parents with kids can hold off voting until the kids grow up.
hit the paywall.
Mayor Bowser has said that all students will be required to be back in the classroom five days a week in the fall, unless they have a medical excuse. But vaccination rates are lowest in Ward 8, where Ketcham is located. If parents and employees do not get vaccinated by the fall, school will be unable to return close to normal as it has in the wealthier neighborhoods.
Priester and her daughter decided not to let their children return to the classroom this academic year. They are unsure what they will do in the fall. “It’s crazy to risk their health,” Priester said.
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Same old story. Non-parents. And a twist: The Californian politician who slept her way up the ladder threw shade on vaxxes last year, and now blacks are the least vaxxed. Which suits white "progressive" racists just fine.
I disagree with Kevin's statement that the pandemic affected ethnic groups roughly the same way. From my perspective where I am, covid hit the Hispanic community harder than african american ( although that is reserved in current cases), way harder than whites and way way harder than east asians. Experiences not even roughly the same. The numbers per.capita of deaths per day at the peak among Hispanics were hard to imagine.
I know other places had a different experience and many places blacks were hit more than Hispanics.
But kevin seems to suggest that the school experience is an example of a greater disparity in experiences. And I tend to think the opposite. Largely hearing from my sister who is a school teacher ( and a really good one) in a mostly higher income asain and white school. And a lot of what is described here sounds a lot like what she described, with maybe somewhat lesser extent as high income can help avoid some issues. But high income or not, school and socialization is just needed by kids and remote learning not a good substitute.
My sister was teaching remotely most of the year but they went to a sort of in person with adjustments in last month or so. She was very reluctant and scared to start in person even after vaccinated. I actually argued with her about that as I thought it hurt kids too much. But once she went back and saw how much happier the kids were and how their learning bloomed, she is all on board for in person.
Thanks for that, I missed reading it in the WP. When one reads the WP comments re the article it isn’t hard to comprehend why such disparities exist. Apparently, according to several comments, much of the problem lies with teacher unions, the parents or lack thereof. The anti union mentality in the US is mind boggling. I knew a parent of 2 children who was a teacher and, rather than teach, she home schooled her kids as the teaching salary was so absurdly low. Yet, somehow unions are the problem? I live in Canada and bloody everybody is in a union, myself included, it simply is just the norm and, needless to say, wages and benefits are higher than the US. It is the lack of a sense of collective responsibility that, in my opinion, is the problem such as, local taxes supporting schools rather than equalizing funding among all schools. Society and people are imperfect, but to expect an innocent child to suffer as a consequence is inhumane. People working as hard as those in this school need support and understanding, they at least understand that this is about children and giving them the tools of success, whatever their circumstances at home may be.