The NFL, NBA, MLB, and other professional sports leagues have done everything possible to resume their schedules in the midst of this pandemic. The results may look different, but they’re getting it done, somehow. There is simply too much at stake (mainly, money) for them to walk away. They’re willing to take reasonable risks for the privilege of playing games. All this for endeavors that (except for the jobs that depend on pro sports) are essentially non-essential.
Compare this with the profession of teaching, which, its advocates never tire of telling us, is absolutely essential to society. I agree. But the teachers’ unions, in contrast to the sports leagues, have decided not to come back to work and teach our children.
True, these unions thought briefly of allowing a hybrid form of education to go on (so big of them!), but they now say remote learning is good enough, even though most experts insist that our kids learn best in school. These educators say that the risk of infection is too great. Really? Studies have shown that children have little to fear from the virus and that child-to-adult transmission is rare. The CDC says children need to go back to school this fall, but suddenly this scientific perspective is irrelevant.
While the teachers’ unions sit back and wait for a vaccine, they expect parents to do all the flexing–and a lot of the teaching. They also expect, no doubt, to get their full salaries and budget-busting pensions.
Then there are our elected leaders, who never tire of giving us minutely detailed regulations about how we can go to church, where we can shop, what parks we can use, what states we can visit, and on and on. Many of these regulations are no doubt necessary if we are to have a functioning society.
So where are their regulations and guidelines about getting our children back in school? There are ways to do this with reasonable risks, if they are willing to try. So why do they sit back when educators refuse to educate and teachers refuse to teach? Suddenly they have nothing to say to us.
Apparently we’re non-essential.
