I hope I am wrong

I've analyzed the back-to-school during a pandemic situation in a large number of ways. I've read a fair number of articles, and no matter how I look at it, things don't look good.

From my experience as an educator of 34 years, I can't imagine how children will return to school safely and how education will be valuable and child-friendly. Given the size and conditions of the spaces that exist, weather factors, and what true learning looks like, I can't imagine how this will work. Most experts who want to send children back into classrooms clearly have little to no experience in a classroom.

I do believe that most teachers and students won't die, and I do believe that some will die as evidenced by the deaths of some teachers to date in early pandemic education trials in the United States and abroad. I do believe that the virus will spread and some, perhaps many, will get sick. There will be some learning as no matter where you place children, they learn--children are natural learners, and there will be some teaching, and perhaps even some good teaching particularly in places where schools afford the distance and conditions needed for good learning. I saw an example of this yesterday as a young teacher explained how she teaches seven children in her large classroom. The children were socially distanced, and she even felt comfortable pulling down her mask to speak to the children. 

I hope I am wrong, but I am not confident.

That's why no matter what is chosen for me, I'll make a safe choice for myself. It's difficult to do this as this will mean that I'll have to sacrifice financial security for physical safety. In the long run, I'd rather stay alive even if I have to live with less financial security. I will look for ways to remedy that situation.

No one wants to face the difficult challenges that the pandemic presents. While most of us continually look for the silver linings, we also consistently experience disappointment as we miss out on traditional events and plans we look forward to and have enjoyed for years. 

We'll see how the pandemic back-to-school situation rolls out in the months to come, and we'll see how this pandemic experience continues to affect lives. None of us really know what's around the corner, and the best we can do is to do the research, consult our souls, and make the best decisions for our lives and the lives we impact at this time.