Are Teachers Essential Workers?

What would happen if during the Covid 19 pandemic that truckers, grocery store employees, and health care providers said they were not going to work because it was too dangerous? The country would be in big trouble because they are essential workers to keep Americans fed and to provide the critical health care coverage to fight the pandemic and save lives. So, the question that begs to be asked is aren’t teachers also essential? My wife is a teacher and I have always stated that teachers are underpaid and underappreciated in our society. I say this because they are not only essential but because they are backbone of our society. Without good teachers society would collapse. In fact, they are more important than healthcare providers because there would be no healthcare providers without teachers and they are more important than grocery workers because good teachers are harder to find. My wife always told me that what caused her the most anxiety as a teacher was seeing any child falling behind. My wife taught first and second grade and she knew the more a child falls behind at that stage of their life the probability of them overcoming those deficiencies will be extremely difficult.

Teacher unions look out for teachers but they do so at the expense of children. The unions want schools closed until there are no more cases of Covid. That could take years because even if there are vaccines there could still be Covid cases. This is unreasonable. Will children and teachers get Covid if schools open? Yes, but the likelihood that any teachers or students die from the virus are very low. It certainly makes sense to protect students and teachers with preexisting conditions such as diabetes, old age, or heart disease.

There has been recent activity and protests concerned about injustices to black citizens. Well, the biggest injustice that can be made to black children is to close schools. Education is the biggest equalizing factor in society. However, urban schools are more likely to be shut down and that means black children will suffer and fall behind.

There were other hypocritical suggestions such as closing schools but opening child care facilities. This makes no sense, if day care facilities can open then so too can schools. Furthermore, teachers will not teach kids but they have no problem protesting outside of government buildings in close proximity with other protestors.

Teacher unions are not open to any negotiating such as having half of students show up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the other half on Tuesday and Thursday. This scheduled can be alternated every other week so each student has 5 days of in school learning every two weeks. This suggestion would allow students to social distance. My point is that there can be some negotiating to help move our educational system forward instead of leaving it stagnate and having children fall behind. Distance learning may help some, but it is no substitute for the real thing.