Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 10, 2020

VERY important questions, Jef. Sure wish more people were asking them…

Unfortunately, it appears that “safe” and “effective” don’t seem to be co-feasible, especially for younger or less motivated kids whose parents aren’t able to be home-school leaders.

Caulfield, has a good mind and will lead a good life. Sounds like I got this from a Fortune Cookie, but I see a future for him.

Not funny——just real!

As I see it: Safer, yes. Necessary, yes. – for now. Effective – to be determined based on results. Success will require constant adjustment on the part of parents who are now TA’s and who must either relearn or learn anew which methods to apply and how to teach them.

Gonna be hard on all parents, whether working from home or just trying to get by until they find employment, especially those whose homes are in jeopardy.

Gonna be hard on students, too, to be able to accept Mom and/or Dad in this new role. And on getting enough bandwidth to be able to participate in virtual classes

Some will adapt well. Others will struggle. Some will fail. T’is the way of it. Perseverance and inner strength will be needed.

He’s got an IPad Air like me!

Before they decide on policy, the politicians will ask. Will my base like this? Is it politically expedient? Will it keep me in office?

Safer? Of course. Effective? Not for many. Administrators are having to weigh one against the other.

Something that surprised and still puzzles me about managing school during the pandemic is that I haven’t seen a single reference to Australia’s decades of use of ‘virtual schooling.’ I remember reading things in ‘Weekly Reader’ and other things about the children living in remote areas of the outback and bush who attended school by radio. I don’t know when it was started or when it ended—if it has, and not just morphed into more advanced technology—but I’ll bet those teachers and parents, and kids, could have told us a lot about what to expect and how to be as effective as possible.

Maybe instead of attending formal classes this school year students should take a sabbatical and learn life skills this year. It might mean there wouldn’t be a graduating class for 2021, but every student would be a year more mature when they graduate.Teachers should receive their normal pay and use the time to hone their teaching skills, by online learning and research.This still leaves the problem of child care.

Very clever today, Jef!

Caulfield’s comment is something to think about: Is this way safe? Is it effective? Is it necessary? Our kids are going back to SCHOOL, not Zoom. Wearing a mask is optional. Masks are not effective, even the Centers for Disease Control sent out a statement saying as much. Wearing a mask may make you feel better, but you’re kidding yourself. Just my opinion, haters.

Columbus, Neil Armstrong, George Mallory all took calculated risks for a specified goal. That’s a little different from throwing 7 year olds into a tuberculous ward.

I’d also argue, given the infection rate at college campuses, that their older siblings are fearless and incapable of calculating risk.

Is it safe?

Well, who cares?

Getting kids back into classrooms is vital for The Economy. And the economy is vital to The Election.

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And you should always downplay the risk, so as not to panic the American People. 200,000 dead won’t panic my base if I just keep lying about it.

Came across this in a small school the other day: “In a world where you can choose to be anything…be kind.” It’s simple but powerful. I snapped a picture of the message on the board. Being kind eliminates a LOT.

The point of the lockdown is to limit the number of available hosts so the virus “dies out” (see New Zealand). If this had been done from the onset we would be pretty much back to normal now. But the president downplayed the severity and the science deniers didn’t believe the precautions or the warnings and the you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-doers wouldn’t do what their governor said to do and here we are in the mess we are in.

Jef Mallett’s Blog Posts

Frazz13 hrs · The swim organization I practice with requires each swimmer to, among many other pandemic precautions, fill out a questionnaire before they’re allowed out of the parking lot. The penultimate question, just before what’s your temperature, asks whether or not you’ve had diarrhea in the past 24 hours. And I’m thinking, you know, even if that weren’t a Covid symptom, I would definitely put it on the pre-swim questionnaire.

Likewise the Socrates trilogy. I know he had something specific in mind, but it’s a good set of questions to ask about pretty much anything.

And Common sense.