Oh my goodness I mistakenly said for instead of from and you jump down my throat!
do you genuinely believe in wearing masks every time you step outside your house? I genuinely cannot understand this? And you’re quite prepared to do this forever? Well I’m not I have to say - I wear one within the law but if anyone tells me I have to wear one everytime I step outside my house they can go swivel! Every time I wear one more than 30 mins odd I get bacterial throat infections and I’ve tried every single mask there is!
So you are saying that boris shouldn’t release any restrictions until we have definite proof? No matter that that could be months? I’m sorry that’s just plain wrong - our country is dying on its feet, the economy is through the floor! You do that and there will be absolutely no returning from it. I’ve seen your posts consistently and you seem to advocate a position so far to the extreme of not opening up anything at all until there’s no risk - for me that’s as bad as the other side of throw everything open at once which is as much wrong
as for your remarks about teaching and teachers - our children need school; not online zoom classes where there is no engagement from students, where students disappear in lessons, where children have had to mute themselves and some have to leave because there parents are arguing downstairs abs they’re embarrassed, that have poor internet connection or laptops that are struggling, of little children who really struggle to cope with online learning. Did you know that for primary schools many are asking parents to be in the lesson with them - that’s primary teachers not only doing their lessons to 30 children but also all their parents as well! It is not sustainable in the long term - children in year 1 have regressed the most out of all the year groups, our year 13s will get qualifications that they’ve had no formal assessment on, even those taking btecs with modular exams - there is talk of no exams next year already! That will mean year 11s last year will have lost their GCSEs and their a level assessments - and will be expected to go on to university without skills! This is a crisis! Exam system has collapsed! Integrity of qualifications has gone!
don’t talk to me about teachers and how stressed they are! Guess what I am one! I know the stress every single day and I am still absolutely disgusted by the unions as are many of not all of my colleagues
I don’t often get angry on any forum but your replies to me make me angry - I’m not covid denier, my most wonderful friend died of it back last April, my sister works in an ICU ward in derby but the harm that your proposing by suggesting no opening up potentially for many more months is huge
(apologies to everyone else for this rant)
Your rant, as you put it, has made me feel the need to respond.
I will address the points that you have made 1 by 1.
1. It is easy to put the wrong proposition when typing or talking, so I wasn’t meaning to jump down your throat, though it may have appeared that I was but simply pointing out that the difference between ‘for’ and ‘from in the context of your posting is essential. As I said in the post you are not speaking for me or for the entirety of the U.K., you are however speaking from the U.K..
2. As for wearing masks every time I leave the house, which I admit is infrequently, I genuinely do. This is advised by every medical expert I have heard to help everyone- including you. I don’t anticipate wearing them for ever but at the moment they are recommended strongly and insisted on in some places. I will continue to wear them as long as the recommendations remain in place. Why do you think Disney has mandated them?
3. I am genuinely sorry if wearing a mask, of any kind, causes you to suffer bacterial infections, that would most certainly impact on my enthusiasm for wearing masks. It is possible to get an exemption from wearing a mask for medical reasons and to my non medical mind it would seem that you may qualify for one. I have absolutely no problem with people who can’t wear masks for legitimate medical reasons. My argument is with individuals who would have no problem with wearing masks but choose not to.
4. I do believe that restrictions should remain in place until we can be certain that the virus will not regain its grip on our society. If that is months away then unfortunately, so be it. Not what I want, but if that is what prevents thousands of deaths per day, which is what we were seeing last month, then I’ll accept it. The government has repeatedly said that this must be the final lockdown so it is imperative that we are as certain as we can be that it is wise and safe to lift restrictions. I do not believe that we will be able to eradicate the virus, nor that we will achieve zero deaths from COVID-19 but we should aim to make it as small a number as possible.
5. You say that our country is dying on its feet. Maybe we are seeing the country from different perspectives, because that is not my viewpoint. My elder son lost his job when furlough finished in August but got a new job within ten days. I feel desperately sorry for businesses who can’t open, for the travel industry and those working in hospitality, amongst many others but the furlough scheme, business rate assistance and the agreed, rather pathetic increase in Universal Credit amongst other support have helped. The predictions from the financial experts for our economy rebounding remain positive and I know they have greater knowledge and experience than I do and with respect probably more than you do either.
6. We agree!! You say that you have read my posts and that I continuously state that things should remain closed until there is no risk. I don’t think that will be possible but I believe that the risk should be as low as possible. Yes 15,000,000 million people have received vaccinations but that means that approximately 50,000,000, including me, are still waiting. Just hold on a little longer till the majority, rather than the minority are vaccinated and then reassess. We both believe opening everything at once would be wrong,
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7. As for schools, I acknowledge and agree (again!) with all the negative consequences you mentioned for children who are not benefiting from in school learning and socialising. I taught in one of the poorest socio-economic areas in the U.K. so am acutely aware of the “computer “ inequalities.
I am somewhat reassured that children are resilient and once all pupils return to school permanently, rapid progress will be made. I base this on pupils I’ve taught, who were off school for a year or more due to cancer and other long term illnesses. Within about six months they were working at their expected levels. What I think we need to avoid at all costs is the possibility of schools having to close again. The uncertainty is a large part of the stress. This is why I advocate waiting a little longer to open them.
8. You are a teacher, which KS? I am interested that you say Y1 have regressed more than any other year group and would be very interested in seeing any reports or studies on that. This is honestly out of interest and not because I doubt you.
9. I had no intention of angering you by my response but felt I had to reply as many of my opinions are diametrically opposite to yours! That doesn’t make me right or you wrong any more than it makes you right or me wrong.
It just means we both care. At the heart of things we seem to both want the same thing:- a safe return to normal as soon as possible. We just disagree a bit on the timeline.
10. Finally, which I’m sure will be a relief to anyone who’s ploughed through this epic post, my sincere sympathy for the loss of your dear friend.
Also thanks to your sister for her work in the ICU department at Derby hospital, that must be unbelievably stressful and difficult.
Take care, stay safe.
Edit: My apologies for mentioning mask exemption, I hadn’t seen how much grief you’d been given whilst I was typing.
- believe me I’ve behaved within the law throughout but mask wearing forever is my biggest fear (as well as never getting to teach again properly)
