2020 was a tough year for everyone. Many people lost family and loved ones to the pandemic or suffered from declining mental health. In case anyone was living under a rock that year, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic led to nationwide lockdowns and restrictions. While policies largely varied between different states, the lockdowns led to some combination of restricted social gatherings, remote work, mask enforcement, and online schooling. In this post, I’ll address pandemic-related restrictions (particularly in schools) and argue that they reflect a prioritization of physical safety over the well-being of children.
Lots of policies are a tradeoff between safety and some other value. Consider driving. Driving a car is an incredibly dangerous activity. According to the NHTSA, there were 42,915 traffic deaths in 2021 alone. Despite this, nobody would ever propose illegalizing driving. Practically speaking, it would be difficult for society to function with a large-scale ban on driving. Unless public transit development hugely accelerates, illegalizing driving would be similar to pandemic restrictions. Social interaction would be difficult and many would be forced to stay home without a means for transportation. However, it’s generally agreed upon that the risk of life is a worthwhile trade for the benefits driving brings to our country. We know that allowing driving will lead to thousands of deaths every year, but we prioritize other values (like happiness, societal functionality, etc.) over safety and continue to allow it.
COVID-19 restrictions were very similar to this hypothetical ban on driving. Social interaction was genuinely becoming increasingly dangerous, and the U.S. negatively impacted societal functionality and happiness to keep its citizens safer. When it came to schools, these restrictions were an even more difficult trade. California has had a total of 79 minors (17 years old or younger) die from coronavirus as of September 2022. For context, that’s 79 deaths out of 1.8 million cases. While the coronavirus becomes increasingly dangerous for older populations, it’s not significantly dangerous for the students themselves. A lot of children have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 regulations. In a post published by commonsensenews.com, a public school teacher named Stacey Lance argued that public health restrictions were hurting her students mentally and emotionally:
“They are anxious and depressed. Previously outgoing students are now terrified at the prospect of being singled out to stand in front of the class and speak. And many of my students seem to have found comfort behind their masks. They feel exposed when their peers can see their whole face.”
A lot of teachers are concerned about the possibility of catching coronavirus from one of the millions of children who’ve tested positive for it. They could fear for their own safety, or for the safety of their loved ones they could spread it to. However, these regulations do not exist to protect children. Their mental and emotional health is being traded for the safety of other people. I’m not trying to definitively state that regulations can never be worthwhile. Safety is important. However, it’s also important that we acknowledge that our pandemic-related policies in schools lead to us abandoning children’s emotional, mental, and developmental well-being for the physical safety of others around them. Is that trade really worth it?
I believe the pandemic took a mental toll on everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not. The isolation and lack of social interaction for such a long period of time is harmful to everyone, and at least for me I noticed it took me a minute to come back to my old social skills and interactions. Using strictly technology or social distancing to communicate during the pandemic affected and changed how I socialized with people for a while. After the pandemic calmed down and things went back to normal, I was able to find my normal social self again but your post makes me think about the "COVID generation." Those students or younger generations are still developing socially and even…
The COVID-19 pandemic created so many negative impacts like this one discussed. I think we can all agree on how the transition to online school for a year did not give students the same learning experience they could have in person. This not only impacted students for the year but for the long term. Not learning certain classes the right way or 100% may have caused them some struggle moving forward in other classes or the same subject that could have been easily been avoided if in-person classes would have happened. This growth barrier was obviously not something we could have prevented or controlled but it can serve as a lesson and alarm for how to handle this situation in…
The pandemic created a set back in every single person's life, differentiating on the impact level of course. For students, even if education was able to become online, it did not educate in the same manner at all. Childhood development and well-being is completely dependent on interactions while growing up. Learning to communicate, to be kind, to form empathy and more. In regards to public safety, children were deprived of everything stated above as they were kept away from all their peers. This will undoubtedly leave a long lasting impact on their character development and overall confidence within crowds.
I think that this is a very relevant and important point of discussion. I remember hearing from my hometown elementary school teachers that their students have been evidently set back with all aspects of their health due to the pandemic. This creates a huge barrier for their growth in the coming years. In a way, it could be seen that all students, no matter their age, have been impacted to most during the pandemic, therefore the youth populations as a whole are currently struggling to "get back on track" before it is too late...