We’re expecting a lot from our children, especially the younger ones, during this back to school phase in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many parents chose not to send their children back on June 1 and you can’t blame them. There was only four weeks left in the school year as of that time and you have to wonder how much can be accomplished during the fewer days each week they’re going to school to keep the numbers in the classroom down.
On the other hand, there’s no replacement for time in the classroom that’s so valuable to every students’ development. It’s only this version is so different you have to question how beneficial it can be.
Kids being kids at the elementary level, they’re missing out on a lot. It can’t be helped, of course, due to the precautionary measures but it’s time they will never get back.
How that affects some of these children going forward remains to be seen.
Many of today’s students are very diligent and, having grown up in a different age than previous generations, are well equipped to making adjustments.
But it’s just not the same for them without being out on the playground, playing with their friends, interacting and enjoying the experience. Maintaining physical distancing almost seems like a punishment when harmless contact from having fun would have been a normal perk.
Full credit to teaching staff for getting the message across as best as they can, but it must be generally hard for some young kids to understand why this has to happen. The saving grace if we all buckle down is the time this lasts will be minimal and kids can go back to doing what they do best in the growing-up process.
As for hitting the books – or more like the computer, to coin a new phrase – at home, it makes learning a very lonely enterprise and it’s not meant to be like that.
Hopefully, a combination of virtual and classroom learning can be developed to satisfy kids’ needs in the future and foster that social aspect of their lives they so desperately need and desire.