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'Teaching After Lockdown' (continued)
The frequent announcements of changes to the operation of schools have come with no consultation of teachers themselves, and have been published in the media for teachers to discover there at the same time as everyone else. The change to online teaching, planned to be the mode of delivery for the whole of Term Two, was so rapidly thrust on teachers, then discarded within weeks. Yes, teachers are a cranky bunch at the moment. Cranky and hysterical. (That's NOT 1.5 metres! There are TOO MANY people currently in the staffroom!)
The funniest thing about all this is the ridiculous belief that children and young people are immune, or are not able to spread it, hence schools are safe to stay open. Q.E.D. Never mind that most teachers are not young. Students must all suddenly return to school because… there IS definitely a reason... Never mind that some preschools and schools in the state have recently been shut down due to confirmed cases. The REST of the schools in the state are immune. Never mind that there are reports of an increasing number of related (sometimes fatal) syndromes in children overseas. The children HERE are safe. These propaganda paradoxes are just a constant source of hilarity, HARDY HAR HAR.
The most frightening thing about all this is that the inevitable spread of contagion in schools will mean further spread outside schools. There will be that one student or teacher, symptomless and unaware of their positive status, innocently brushing past dozens of people in narrow corridors in between classes, spreading the infection invisibly like a sleep-walking assassin. Their unintended victims will then travel home to their nearest and dearest harbouring an indiscriminate and unpredictable villain – a killer welcomed with open arms right into the hearth.
The frequent announcements of changes to the operation of schools have come with no consultation of teachers themselves, and have been published in the media for teachers to discover there at the same time as everyone else. The change to online teaching, planned to be the mode of delivery for the whole of Term Two, was so rapidly thrust on teachers, then discarded within weeks. Yes, teachers are a cranky bunch at the moment. Cranky and hysterical. (That's NOT 1.5 metres! There are TOO MANY people currently in the staffroom!)
The funniest thing about all this is the ridiculous belief that children and young people are immune, or are not able to spread it, hence schools are safe to stay open. Q.E.D. Never mind that most teachers are not young. Students must all suddenly return to school because… there IS definitely a reason... Never mind that some preschools and schools in the state have recently been shut down due to confirmed cases. The REST of the schools in the state are immune. Never mind that there are reports of an increasing number of related (sometimes fatal) syndromes in children overseas. The children HERE are safe. These propaganda paradoxes are just a constant source of hilarity, HARDY HAR HAR.
The most frightening thing about all this is that the inevitable spread of contagion in schools will mean further spread outside schools. There will be that one student or teacher, symptomless and unaware of their positive status, innocently brushing past dozens of people in narrow corridors in between classes, spreading the infection invisibly like a sleep-walking assassin. Their unintended victims will then travel home to their nearest and dearest harbouring an indiscriminate and unpredictable villain – a killer welcomed with open arms right into the hearth.