Politicization of Masks

If political leaders on the left feel like they can't talk about the importance of N95s to prevent viruses, then points go to the far right, who started this anti-mask rhetoric.

I asked, "What's the NDP's position on bringing back masks in schools, healthcare facilities, and public transportation during this surge?? Save some kids, keep the economy running, win/win!!"

I included a link to numbers from Canadian Covid-19 Hazard Index that show, based on wastewater, hospitalization, and excess deaths, that we're in a worse place now than at any time with the exception of the December 2021 wave. I was hoping the stats would light a fire under them. It's the third leading cause of death, almost completely preventable, but we're just going to let it circulate widely.

It's a reasonable question, and it wasn't asked in anger or in an accusatory manner. I have no idea their stance on masks. The only response I got was that I should be going after the Cons instead. (Can't it be both?) And I understand why they're silent about it. 

Masks save lives but kill political careers.

Conservatives won't bring them back without pressure. Lots of us are phoning their offices directly along with social media tagging. They're going to do squat. The opposition is our only hope for movement on this, and they understandably don't want to touch it with a ten foot pole.

The New CPC

Image from this great Breach article

Remember back when Harper was PM, and he opened Canada's media to foreign ownership despite widespread protests? So now Poilievre all but owns Canadian MSM. Media is backing him and many pollsters are backing him, and Trudeau has little mainstream media on his side. Even CBC seems to be promoting Poilievre. When the polls show that everyone would vote in Poilievre if an election were tomorrow, don't believe it. Unfortunately enough people will believe the polls and then it might be enough to make it actually come true. 

Some people think it doesn't matter because MSM is so last year, but Twitter and FB are also owned by right-wing nutjobs. A friend was randomly barred from Twitter for absolutely nothing she can discern that comes close to breaking any rules, while many many hate-mongering abusive asshats are left to troll freely. 

If Peepee gets in, that online world is coming to a neighbourhood near you!

But we still have Tiktok (so far)!

From Lisa B. (abridged and highlighted below)

Measuring Risk in the Woods

I was up north, camping, and started chatting to neighbours. I had a mask in my pocket, but thought it would be fine to just have a brief conversation together, outside, unmasked. But then they both started coughing. "Summer colds." 

I was dubious. They had done some travelling lately, and Colin Furness said travel was fuelling the current cases: 

"Much of the current Covid burden seems travel-related. Yes, that's right. Everybody flying everywhere with masking rates around 2% will ensure that any new variant that emerges anywhere will almost immediately be everywhere. (Yup: given what we know, nearly everybody traveling is choosing to act dangerously.)"

But I still didn't put on my mask. 

It just felt so rude to suddenly whip it out mid sentence. I risked my health, potentially my life, rather than offend people, just like a third of the participants in that Asch study. 

OPSBA Conference in the Time of Covid

I'm missing my first trustee conference this weekend because there are no Covid mitigations in effect. I called to ask about it, and they're following the Ontario protocol, which is basically nothing. It's a full weekend at a hotel eating together, and I suspect that very few will be masked. Meeting people of a similar bent, being able to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of taking on this role, and being recharged by one another is something I normally relish. But it's not safe enough for me. They also decided not to livestream because it would be too costly, so I'll just hear about it second-hand. But Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth went and responded to a speaker with this concern about Covid. (I have no idea what the general topic was or what was said just prior to elicit this, and this is tidied up a bit from the recording at the link): 

Leading by Example or What's Good for the Goose...

This is about the Davos World Economic Forum, ending tomorrow. Social media is all atwitter with the incredible precautions they pulled off. Check out their rules here. It's three pages (!!!) of Covid rules and mitigations. Some highlights here:

"To create a safe environment at the Annual Meeting 2023, the Forum is working with the world's leading health experts and virologists. . . . The Forum strongly recommends that participants are vaccinated with the latest available vaccines and take a COVID-19 test before travelling to Davos. Participants are required to get tested in one of the Forum testing centres after arriving . . . with a PCR test. . . . If you fail to conduct a test, your badge will automatically be deactivated. . . . . Masks and disinfectants will be available throughout. . . . State-of-the-art ventilation systems have been installed"

And their masks are FFP2, similar to our N95s. They're not fooling around! On top of the PCR test, "Rapid antigen tests will be available free of charge . . . If you do not feel well, please take a self-tests."

A Polite Request is NOT a Mandate.

 

A few parents are upset that I'm trying to "bring back masks" in schools. Some have threatened to take their kids out of our board if we force masks on them again. The motion I presented last Monday very carefully tried to assure people that I don't want to force kids to do anything they don't want to do, but I do want to help more kids, who want to wear a mask, feel like they're allowed to wear one. From what I've been hearing from tons of parents, their children won't mask in class because people bug them about it, or remind them they don't have to mask, sometimes even their teachers. 

The motion itself starts by acknowledging that a mandate won't work, and then my preamble went further to explain that this is a way to find a middle ground so there really will be a free choice to wear a mask or not. We need to do more to make staff and students really aware that we are following public health guidance, which STRONGLY recommends masking indoors. We're already officially encouraging masking, so I'm not asking for anything to change as much as I'm asking for us to do more. The encouragement isn't being heard in the classroom. 

We could start with better messaging. 

On Being a Bad Person

I forgot to post this from last month - my monthly posting at 3 Quarks Daily: 

A student asked, "How many bad actions does a good person have to do before becoming a bad person?"

The notion of good and bad people raises the image of final judgment at the pearly gates. We have a scale somewhere with our actions added incrementally to one side or the other until there's a tipping point, or sometimes there's just that one unspeakable act that slams one pan to the ground requiring an inconceivable effort to budge it.

It's possible that an infinite number of bad actions doesn't make a person bad. I like to think that we're all greater than the sum of our worst actions. We're all just works in progress doing our best in this world, and it's never too late to change our path. It sounds nice. But then I started to consider some real people who appear to have unlimited selfishness as well as a cold indifference to the suffering they cause to others. Can we call them bad people until we see some movement towards redemption? 

What To Do If Our Classrooms Aren't Safe

I'm getting these types of questions over and over: What should I do if other students and the teachers won't wear masks? What do I do if my child gets Covid? It's the hardest question to answer because there isn't a clear solution when people in charge are ignoring or oblivious to a harmful virus being allowed full reign in classrooms. Public health strongly encourages wearing a mask in indoor public places, but stops short of mandates, possibly to avoid a backlash from the loudest protesters, some with a menacing presence. We have to be louder.

Here are a few suggestions that might work for some parents and in some schools. I understand the privilege some of these measures require, so if you've got it, use it to help the rest of the class! It's frustrating and discouraging that I don't have a better answer, and I'm sorry for that.

On Peanut Butter and Covid in Schools

A woman on twitter posted an unfortunate tweet, I assumed satirically, that a good solution to keep immunocompromised kids safe from Covid while they eat lunch indoors is to send them with a peanut butter sandwich. Then they'll be made to eat lunch in an isolated room to keep others safe from them. 

The poster was summarily lambasted, and has since deleted the offending suggestion.

I responded early on, before the shit hit the fan (a bit expanded here):

I don't at all support doing this, but it does show how differently we react to different risks. One is a risk to about 5% of people, causing 82 Ontario deaths in the last 25 years, but it has immediate effects. The other is a risk to everyone and caused 68 Ontario deaths this week, but more slowly.

To clarify a bit, those 82 Ontario deaths aren't just from peanut butter in schools, but from all cases of anaphylaxis. Deaths from nuts specifically total 18, but it's not clear where those fatalities happened or the age range. Almost all, 17, were from 1986-2000, and only 1 after that largely because of education campaigns around allergies and Epipens, and the banning of nuts in elementary schools. Changes came from Sabrina's Law, which was passed in 2005 following the 2003 death of Sabrina Shannon from exposure to dairy protein through tongs used both for poutine and french fries. I'm not discounting concerns about anaphylaxis at all. We absolutely must remain vigilant about protecting kids with allergies. But we should also notice how much we can reduce cases from contamination when we put our minds to it! 

A Plague of Willful Incompetence

This The Tyee article, "Get Ready for the Forever Plague," by Andrew Nikiforuk, hits all the important notes about our ongoing pandemic. He says that we're dealing with a "plague of willful incompetence" as Covid continues to evolve. All reasonable responses have been abandoned, including masking, testing, data collection, and robust ventilation. Covid is not inevitable and in no way beneficial as reinfections increase the damage from Covid and each infection damages the immune system regardless how mild the symptoms. Two years ago Anthony Leonardi predicted that Covid would destabilize "the immune system by subverting T-cell function" creating a cumulative damage. 

We're headed for a BA.5 wave, which is more transmissible than any previous variant. Vaccinations help reduce death rates, but we need to focus on preventing infection or reinfection in the first place. 

So, Where are We Headed?

I knew what he was going to say as soon as we made eye contact. A bearded shit-eating grin in a pickup-truck stopped at a light while I cycled across the intersection to join a trail packed with university students. I just wanted to clear my head after events of the past couple of days with a nice long ride, but here we go: 

"Take off your mask, sweetheart!" 

It's the new, "Show us your tits!" but it's strikingly more effective if the goal is to provoke fear. I used to write off the horn-dogs on my trips around the city, and welcomed their depletion as I aged out of harassment, but this new group isn't easily deterred or reasoned with, and their actions are overt and condoned. Threatening to film or let their boss or family know about sexual comments was embarrassment enough to stop drive-by creeps. They knew it was wrong, so there was often something we could do. I even called the cops and they listened to me, taking down a license plate number when a gentleman stalker wasn't so easily rebuffed. But if their mum found out they harassed random people about masks, they'd might actually be proud of them. There's absolutely nothing in our social system or legal system that suggests they're doing something wrong when they yell at strangers or stop them in their path, even when they circle the block to do it again. 

I really do think we're in the worst timeline, and that we won't make it out alive. 

CW: policy-driven lunacy and the resultant rambling, rage-fueled, depressing rant

Post-Covid Educational Reform

 I try to restrain any excitement that bubbles up over the prospect that education will be different when all this ends, assuming it will end. Teachers have suddenly had to learn how to teach in radically different ways, and some of that is gold! But I'm pretty sure we'll end up falling into line again when the time comes. We want everything to be normal again, to get some comfort through familiarity and routine, but now would be the perfect time to bust open some faulty systems that we've accepted as "just the way it's done". 

Many are focusing on the problems Covid-19 has created in schools, but Jonathan Kurtz, in ASCD Express, assembled student responses to a survey he conducted asking for about what changes they actually liked. 

TIME

In my casual conversations with students, many love that they have more time for hobbies and to go for long hikes or read more during the afternoons, and then finish homework in the evenings. In some ways, everything feels more rushed, but since teachers have been forced to condense the work and make every minute count, students benefit from some breathing time. Kurtz says,

"Even with the lost instructional time, I was able to get further with one of my classes than in the past through maximizing formative assessment. I collected more data from each student, and if students were ready to move on, they did. If they struggled, I worked with them during student support time to fill in the gaps. If the whole class struggled, I retaught using a different format. The mix of group time two to three days a week coupled with unstructured support time has made all of us to be more intentional about how we use our time."

Kurtz discusses the later waking times that come with rolling out of bed seconds before class begins, and hopes there's some way to get later start times at his school. It's always very complicated with bussing and sports and other synchronous programs, but it's possible if we make it a priority. 

I love the flexibility of our time. If my lesson is over, I don't have to find a video or further examples from Plan B to take us to the bell. We just stop. And if we're not done talking, we keep going. Our time together is entirely about learning and not about fitting a specific number of minutes.  Kurtz advises rethinking "seat time" away from the "Carnegie unit of 120 hours of class time." Absolutely! I'm not sure what that would actually look like in a school, but I'm willing to find out. There are all sorts of legal reasons, I believe, for tracking attendance, but what if we just tracked understanding in a variety of ways, and ignored how often students were actually in the room with us? And Kurtz asks a most important question: "Do we care about learning, or the appearance of learning?" 

EMPOWERMENT

Students love to be able to plan their time better, in a way that works for them. Kurtz says,

About 13 percent of my students reported a decrease in anxiety levels and said they are thriving on the independence virtual learning afforded. One student said, "I feel like I can complete my work way more efficiently due to the fact I don't have to spend hours on end listening to lectures … or just sitting in class unable to be productive. Also, my test anxiety has gotten much better … I feel like I'm actually learning as opposed to drilling terms into my head out of stress that I will forget in a month.

Instead of my typical routine of planning and posting lessons day by day, I posted my entire class worth of work at the beginning of each quadmester, organized by date. A couple found it overwhelming at first, but at the end, everyone said they liked to be able to see what would be coming next. And there are always a few in every class that want to work ahead. I can't understand why we don't encourage that except for the overblown concern that they might have nothing to do later. Good for them! Let them read a book or do their math work instead of focusing 100% on my subject in my subject time. Some kids know that a course is their 'extra' class or they find it really easy, or they love it and get it done first, leaving their other classes for later. That's how I work too whenever I have many things on my plate. They've developed strategies for getting everything done, and it makes no sense to put up barriers to prevent these choices. 

ACCESSIBILITY

Many people with disabilities have commented that finally teachers and workplaces are allowing people to work in ways that work for them, that enable more productivity in some cases. It's something they've requested for decades, to be told that it's just not possible. How frustrating is it to see just how possible it all is, but only when it's no longer a 'minority issue'! Kurtz explains,

In my program, 63 percent of students said they were interested in more asynchronous virtual courses. One of my students shared that her grades are better, she is more confident, and she is happier this year than she ever has been in the past. She suffers from a social anxiety disorder and was never able to fully concentrate on studies because of the anxiety sparked by a crowded building. 

Social anxiety, physical disabilities, cognitive difficulties that require repeated instruction or a quieter space, vision and hearing difficulties, allergies, bullying, childcare, work... There are so many reasons that some people find it significantly easier to learn from home. At this point it feels unconscionable that we haven't found a way to address this before now.  I know we're hoping to never teach a hybrid method again, but there are clearly some people who are better served by this model, and we can't just ignore that. Kuntz adds, "If we retain fully virtual education for those who want it, in-person class sizes would shrink, which creates a more efficient use of space." It might seem onerous, particularly for one or two kids in each class, but it's very possible to keep streaming meets so the kids at home can learn at the same time. It makes me think of the classroom setup for The Boy in the Plastic Bubble from the 70s. We knew we could do this all along, we just didn't want to.

SCHOOLS, NOT PRISONS

Kuntz suggests we need to abandon the "industrial-complex model" of education that polices more than it educates. While we're in the processes of dreaming about change, like the students, I love having working time at home. Forcing teachers to prep from school is just a means of policing teachers, which undermines any claims that we're professionals. In Finnish schools, teachers are only in the building during their classes, and then they can prepare and mark from wherever works best for them. Having prepped for the quad already, and the fact that I mark everything within 24 hours, means that this current lockdown has saved me from spending two full weeks going to work to find a corner of the hot, stuffy building that's less occupied, wearing a mask the entire time, just to read books all day and pace, waiting for the final bell to ring. Schools shouldn't feel like cages for anybody. We can do better.

ETA: This post was discussed on VoicEd Radio from 27:45 to 34 minutes.