Pupils who shared photos of packed corridor of maskless Georgia students suspended:
At least two high school students in Georgia have allegedly been suspended after sharing a video of school hallway crowded with largely maskless students, according to reports.
North Paulding High School in Dallas went viral after it reopened on Monday when two students shared photos of the school corridors with apparently no social distancing and barely any wearing masks.
Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Otott reportedly released a statement saying that the images were taken out of context, that masks were a personal choice for students and reopening was in line with Georgia Department of Education's health recommendations.
[...] "Students are in this hallway environment for just a brief period as they move to their next class. ... There is no question that the photo does not look good," Mr Otott said according to CNN.
"Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them."
Following the alleged suspension 15-year-old Hannah Watters who posted one of the photos and a video on Twitter told Buzzfeed News she received a five-day, out-of-school suspension for posting one photo and one video on Twitter.
Related Stories
HS that suspended teen who tweeted photo of hallway has 9 COVID-19 cases:
North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, sent a letter to parents Saturday, saying, "At this time, we know there were six students and three staff members who were in school for at least some time last week who have since reported to us that they have tested positive." The letter was published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Most or even all of the six students and three staff members who tested positive could have had the virus before the school reopened on Monday, August 3. As Harvard Medical School explains, "The time from exposure to symptom onset (known as the incubation period) is thought to be three to 14 days, though symptoms typically appear within four or five days after exposure," and "a person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 to 72 hours before starting to experience symptoms."
[...] As we reported Friday, the school issued a five-day suspension to student Hannah Watters after she posted a photo to Twitter, noting the "jammed" hallways and "10 percent mask rate." The school lifted her suspension after extensive media coverage. One other unnamed student who was suspended for a similar reason also had the suspension reversed, the Journal-Constitution said.
Students attended class in person only on Monday through Wednesday, as the district said it conducted a short first week "so that all of our schools can step back and assess how things are going so far."
Update at 6:50pm ET: North Paulding High School announced Sunday that it has canceled in-person instruction for Monday and Tuesday, August 10 and 11, because of the nine positive cases and "the possibility that number could increase if there are currently pending tests that prove positive." The school said that on Tuesday evening, parents and students will be notified about whether in-person instruction will resume on Wednesday. Remote learning will continue while the school is closed.
Previously:
(2020-08-08) Pupils Who Shared Photos of Packed Corridor of Maskless Georgia Students Suspended
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:18AM (26 children)
Hannah Watters obviously believes that Covid-19 is a serious problem, or else she wouldn't have posted this material. The vast majority of the other students, as well as the administration, disagree that Covid-19 is a serious problem. She's now being suspended (out-of-school), which means she can't be in school with all these other morons. That sounds like a good thing from her perspective; I wouldn't want to be present in that school either.
Hopefully, either her parents will enroll her in a private school that takes Covid seriously, or will homeschool her (and without that religious BS either that's infected most homeschool curricula), or will just pack up and move out of that shithole state to a better location.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:23AM
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
Her suspension was revoked, no word on the other student.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
There was quite a lively discussion going on, when the servers did a reboot and lost it all. Don't remember who it was who posted a link that Watters was back in school.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:24AM
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
Her suspension was revoked, no word on the other student.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
There was quite a lively discussion going on, when the servers did a reboot and lost it all. Don't remember who it was who posted a link that Watters was back in school.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:30AM
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
Her suspension was revoked, no word on the other student.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/07/georgia-student-hannah-watters-suspension-revoked-viral-photo/3319100001/ [usatoday.com]
There was quite a lively discussion going on, when the servers did a reboot and lost it all. Don't remember who it was who posted a link that Watters was back in school.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @12:00PM (17 children)
"(and without that religious BS either that's infected most homeschool curricula)"
Hopefully they won't teach that universal common descent nonsense that they teach in public schools.
In all seriousness I have no problems with them teaching the arguments for and against universal common descent along with teaching what intelligent design teaches and teaching a variety of other religions.
and to conflate universal common descent with meaningful science is disingenuous. Science is simply a description of what we observe. We throw a ball in the air and it comes down. We record the speed and acceleration and describe its trajectory with an equation.
Universal common descent is more akin to speculation. It takes faith to believe it, no one observed the origins of life, man, and much of the diversity of life on Earth. Sure atheists try to fit the evidence within their predetermined beliefs (and their beliefs are most definitely predetermined) but that's not science. It's not good science anyways. It's not how a useful or meaningful definition of science should be defined.
If anything the fact that the universe posses consistency (I throw the ball in the air and it comes down each time. It doesn't fly into space in one instance, it doesn't disappear and reappear the next) to me is evidence that the universe is not random. There are far more possible universes one could imagine that contain no structure, no consistency, etc.. but our universe does not look random.
To explain this atheists use magic. They put their faith in the multiverse. Where are these alternative universes you speak of? How can I see them?
Even if we are in a multiverse the 'universe of multiverses' still must have an underlying non-random coherence just for one non-random universe to exist. For example if you had a virtual machine containing multiple random chaotic operating systems and it had just one coherent operating system under it the underlying virtual machine must have coherent rules it must follow in order to be able to contain just one coherent operating system.
Futhermore it could be possible for a random character generator to generate a coherent string. But future characters would still appear random and are not based on past characters. Yet in this universe I can predict the future based on past experience. I can throw a ball in the air and predict it would come down. If this universe is truly a product of random chance it would be absolutely impossible to do this because any instances of non-randomness would be followed by instances of total randomness.
Let's not forget that the evidence for UCD has been a total disaster for atheists. Atheists are so insecure of their beliefs that they are very very afraid of allowing anyone to be taught criticisms to their holy religion in schools. They want to censor any criticisms of their faith based beliefs as shown by their completely off topic comments that I keep on seeing over and over on Soylentnews (such as yours) because you can't drop the subject of how badly you want your critics to be silenced.
Yes I would debate atheists every once in a while when it's on topic and whatnot. but atheists, no matter what the topic, never shut up about how they want their critics silenced and they can never stop bashing their critics no matter the topic. It's like they are so insecure about their beliefs they have to constantly repeat the same lie over and over so that people will hopefully believe it's true.
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. This thread should be about masks and COVID. Don't bring religion into it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:00PM (16 children)
"To explain this theists use magic. They put their faith in the magic sky daddy. Where is this magic sky daddy you speak of? How can I see it?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:24PM (15 children)
I can see the characteristics of design. I look at a monitor and it has characteristics of design. I look at the universe and life and it looks designed based on things that I see that I know are designed.
If I saw an alien spaceship on the moon I don't have to know the manufacturer that designed it to know it was designed. If I see something that looks designed, whether man made or not, I don't necessarily have to know the designer specifically to know that it looks designed.
Atheists use faith in their multiverse to explain why the universe so obviously looks designed. I say it looks designed because it is designed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:29PM (13 children)
and designs don't have to be perfect.
A: claiming a design is imperfect assumes you know the intent of the design.
B: Many human designs are imperfect. Doesn't make them any less designed. Doesn't make them look any less designed.
You can go back and forth on this, the point is that I have no problems with both sides being presented. I'm not insecure in my thoughts and beliefs and I don't claim to have all the answers. I don't. There are arguments you can make on both sides using logic and reasoning.
Atheists pretend that they have the answers when they don't and they are too insecure to admit it. They are too insecure to allow for an open discussion on these topics, they want their critics silenced altogether.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:33PM (11 children)
and, of course, just to make my point further, my post was marked off topic to show how intolerant atheists are of my comment. Nevermind the fact that my comment was intended to point out that another comment was off topic because I get tired of the same lie being repeated over in off topic threads because atheists insist that the only way to convince people that their lie is really true is to keep on repeating it so many times.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:47PM (4 children)
That's because to anybody with a brain, species evolution or "universal common descent" or how ever you call it is as obvious as throwing a ball in the air and expecting it to come down. Well, I mean, there is some controversy over general relativity and dark matter. Maybe we should adopt the intelligent falling theory to explain the ball's trajectory, and that will also make Gaaark happy by eliminating unobserved mass/dark matter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:46PM (3 children)
If that were really true you wouldn't be so eager to silence your critics. You silence your critics because you are insecure about your beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @11:37PM (2 children)
No, you silence critics because they aren't contributing anything but confusion while trying to force their ideas to be afforded equal weight. If they were actually doing valid work, that would be different, but it's just antiscience bs, the same sort that antivaxers use and it causes problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @01:56AM
Criticism only causes problems because you know your viewpoint is absolute garbage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:01AM
"trying to force their ideas to be afforded equal weight."
So you acknowledge that you want to dishonestly force your ideas to have more weight instead of allowing both ideas to be fairly presented and allow the students to decide for themselves which idea makes the most sense and carry the most weight. Again, it's because you are insecure about your views.
The problem is you want to force your indoctrination with MY taxpayer dollars.
Like I said I rightly interpret this as you being insecure about your garbage beliefs.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:54PM (5 children)
No, it was marked off topic because neither religion nor the lack thereof are at all relevant to wearing masks in schools, and such discussion tends to blows up in to a further off topic mess that nobody wants to read. Regardless of their beliefs on such matters.
As for repeating lies, I've never seen atheists gather together in large groups and repeatedly sing songs about atheism. I've never seen atheists spend day after day mulling through some poetic book of atheism and then shoving it in the face of anyone who does not believe likewise. I've never seen atheists repeatedly pound podiums while emphatically demanding people not worship sky beings. No, those are mostly things that magic sky fairy worshipers do to reinforce their incorrect beliefs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:04PM (3 children)
Religious gatherings are privately funded by those that volunteer to fund them. You are not forced to attend religious gatherings and to fund them with your private money.
Public schools are partly funded by MY taxpayer money. As such I should have some say in what gets taught and I want a more balanced curriculum. Just because you are too insecure for a more balanced curriculum should not be MY problem.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:25PM (2 children)
I dare you to go to your church and say that exact phrase to anyone under 18 years old or not yet financially able to get away from their parents. While rubbing their asses from the sunday raping, they will likely tell you you are full of crap.
You keep repeating that. Perhaps you are insecure about your beliefs? :P
More balanced curriculum? I guess you mean teaching religion in schools?
Just make sure each book starts with a disclaimer like some Alabama science books:
Disclaimer: This book contains material on religion. Religion is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, critically considered, and laughed at really hard.
BTW, nobody is specifically trying to shut you up. We are just telling you you are wrong. And stupid. And need mental help. And most people don't waste time responding to idiots and trolls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:17PM (1 child)
"I dare you to go to your church and say that exact phrase to anyone under 18 years old or not yet financially able to get away from their parents. While rubbing their asses from the sunday raping, they will likely tell you you are full of crap."
I don't think most parents force their children to believe one thing or another and wouldn't say that they aren't allowed to do other research. Not that there aren't situations where this isn't true but contrary to what you say I don't think it's the norm. but if parents want to use their private money to introduce their children to a specific way of thinking it's their money. Those students will still learn about your viewpoints from school and have the opportunity to explore other viewpoints.
OTOH trying to use MY public money to teach students only your viewpoints in an unbalanced manner is a sign of insecurity and weakness. Fund your own beliefs only using your own private money if you believe in them so strongly. Don't force me to fund them for you. I expect schools that use my money to be more balanced.
"BTW, nobody is specifically trying to shut you up. We are just telling you you are wrong. And stupid. And need mental help. And most people don't waste time responding to idiots and trolls. "
Because anyone that disagrees with you is automatically wrong and stupid by virtue of the fact that they disagree with you and hence they must be shut up.
"You keep repeating that. Perhaps you are insecure about your beliefs? :P"
I repeated it in response to someone who bashed religion out of context because I keep seeing it over and over here on Soylent news and I always let it go. and I continued the discussion within the context of the off topic discussion that this other individual started. Start a specific thread on the subject but don't bring the bashing into every unrelated subject.
Either you are too stupid to see that or you are purposely being disingenuous. I believe it's the latter. I shouldn't really have to point this out but for the sake of your intentional retardedness I will do it anyways.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:38PM
Now I'm *really* wondering what makes you qualified to comment on this topic--I daresay the vast majority of religious parents are going to raise their children in it. Some minor concept of "wanting to make sure their children's souls are safe" or somesuch. I'm sure it's inconsequential.
Sure, as long as you come to the "right" conclusion.
Source: was raised religious myself, and my parents still won't leave it alone. I'm 31 now.
--
...sort of minorly enshrined in the concept of "separation of church and state," when we're talking about public schools here.
You sound like the sort of person who only sees Pascal's Wager [wikipedia.org] as a binary choice ("are you a Christian or not"), instead of the hundred-way split it really is. So you'd be okay with students being taught a variety of religions, right? We're just making sure even more people's viewpoints aren't being left out.
For public schools, either teach no religions, or all (for sufficiently abused definitions of "all") of them. Somehow I bet you're not okay with either of those ideas.
Rolling my eyes so hard right now. Nobody is deleting your posts, or banning you from the site. Take your persecution complex and grow up.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:07PM
"No, it was marked off topic because neither religion nor the lack thereof are at all relevant to wearing masks in schools"
Exactly what my point was. I wasn't the one that brought up religion, I was responding to someone else that brought up the subject unnecessarily. But my post was the one marked off topic because atheists are too insecure to have any tolerance for dissent. To be clear I absolutely see this as a sign of weakness on their part.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:27PM
oh the hypocrisy
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 10 2020, @05:31PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:45PM (4 children)
Well said, mask or no mask says a lot about your overall belief structure, who you trust, and the kids do not trust cnn. Neither do I.
https://files.catbox.moe/r3amzg.png [catbox.moe]
https://archive.is/6scro [archive.is] (same take your pick where you look, just a good rundown)
But in information warfare, that can be a weapon. Put the truth out over some platform that usually lies, then your lemmings are saved and your disbelievers die off.
I remember when Ryan White got aids in the 80s, he tried school from home over early teleconferencing and he hated it.
Now people are begging for it.
Fun fact, last I heard if you have ever been diagnosed with cv, you are disbarred from joining the military. With 50% false positives and any coronavirus counting as The coronavirus, the confusion is so great, I think that is what the kids are revolting at.
The know some of this is bullshit, so they are calling our bluff.
And like the climate protestor sign said, "why should we go to school if you wont trust the educated."
And it is quite difficult to concnetrate on learning algebra that may help you in ten years, if you are overwhelmed with personal safety decisions in the present tense. The kids are making a herd decision like they do, and no one is listening.
And the person just pointing out that fact is the witch burned at the stake, and all this person did was witness the truth.
That is what alarms me about this. The person who tried to speak out and say something about this whole scene is broken, was the only one that was disciplined.
That is not free speech, that is not science, that is just blind authoritarianism to shut down the troublemaker and if that is the future of America, the entire experiment has failed.
Speaking of which,
thesesystemsarefailing.net/ (a domain I will soon lose as no one has contributed to my work, you think ideas and knowledge just should appear for free around here all of the time, and have no interested a movement to change anything, you just enjoy commenting from the upper decks as the titanic fills with icy water, or in this case, bullshit)
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:42PM
Did prices for .net domains go up?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:47PM
SN has no difficulty obtaining donations. Whenever they ask, people are more than willing to be generous. It's because they see SN as providing something of value to them. If you aren't getting contributions, perhaps you should reconsider whether your ideas have merit or if you're presenting them in a way that's useful.
The actual reason students aren't wearing masks likely has to do with social pressure. If nobody else is wearing a mask, being the one person who is will make you an outlier. Particularly at that age, students are likely to make decisions based on instant social gratification instead of the logical decision to mitigate risk. This is the same reason college students attend frat parties even though there's a high risk of the virus spreading in that setting. It's not a distrust of CNN but the natural biological tendency to make illogical decisions at that age.
I agree that the administration shouldn't have punished the student for sharing the photos. It seems more likely it's an attempt to intimidate others who might speak out. They're in cover your ass mode and are under heavy political pressure from state government officials who want to prioritize reopening at any cost and are unwilling to insist on safety measures that will reduce the spread of the virus. A competent administration would reach out to responsible students who are in leadership positions or have the ability to disproportionately influence other students. Ask these popular students to wear masks and to politely encourage others to do so. You'll probably get far more compliance that way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @06:55AM
With all due respect to you and your efforts, which seem genuine, it is also shouting into the void. Without serious efforts to create community, without deeper insights than homeless people living next to nice beds, your site is just a platform for shouting. That is fine, but you can't expect anyone here to be excited by that shouting when there is a metric ton of it out there and this community isn't the meme generating sort of community.
I try to follow a large variety of views in my area of interest, economics, listening to heterodoxy economists like Marxists and Austrians as well as main stream economists, investors, etc. I have a much richer understanding of how the federal reserve works, I knew about MMT years before it became common, I understand the theory behind the relationship between interest rates and housing prices. The key is that I want to gain insights deeper than level 1. (aside: Pick your system, Kegan, Dreyfus, whatever and then try to rate your content and the skill of putting it together vs the content of those you respect most highly and compare the difference). Over time I have expanded my knowledge into related subjects and created a more systematized world view, but that is probably nearer level 4+.
All your meme pictures are meant for level 1 or just barely 2 and while that might have made sense a decade ago when these insights were fresh, but they are just dog whistles now. So either find/build a community from it or move up the chain of value to level 2 or 3. It will limit your audience, but those will be the people who are excited enough to contribute anyway. What would that look like? That might be interviewing Christopher Hedges (an examplar of a leftist climate change, socialist, spiritual revivalist, anti-war deep commentator) or Noam Chomsky, it might be long form essays on inverted totalitarianism or it might be photos of you at various rallies or tied to a tree trying to prevent oil pipelines from coming in. Or if you were more rightist, it could be about you starting businesses, protesting the BLM folks, showing how the left has taken over academics, citing or interviewing folks like Jordan Peterson (one of the intellectual dark web), Jonah Goldberg (Author of Suicide of the West) or Ron Paul (pro gold standard) perhaps. Etc. You will note the folks I cite are much deeper than just a graph showing how the social system causes people to feel isolated and atomized, with no obvious reasons for why or what to do about it besides scroll and look at another thematically related picture on some other anti-system subject.
As for community engagement, to cite an example, I started a discussion on this site about how to design a more perfect forum system that handled particular attributes. I don't know if it actually impacted this community the way I had hoped, but the discussion is still available to read and just as relevant today, including around community building: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/07/18/0821234 [soylentnews.org] In my head this was a level 3+ discussion, about how to seriously architect desired behaviors while maintaining a free and open system. Even in that discussion I got called a troll, so don't expect community management to be easy, even if you can create a community.
I wrote all this not to be critical but to give you meaningful ways to level yourself and your work up if you want to. Best of luck, JCD
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @11:28AM
Where did you hear that BS? This sounds like some weirdo fake news than reality. On both counts. Actually all 3 counts. 50% false positive is a useless test. 50% false negative is a different thing completely, so don't confuse this in your head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:42AM
ICFI/SEP:
Georgia highschoolers use social media to expose disastrous conditions as schools reopen [wsws.org]
Texas attorney general orders in-person education as state cases top 500,000 [wsws.org]
New York Governor Cuomo sanctions statewide reopening of schools [wsws.org]
German schools reopen despite increase in coronavirus infections [wsws.org]
Columbia University pressures faculty into teaching in-person classes, triggering backlash [wsws.org]
Autoworkers denounce bipartisan drive to reopen schools [wsws.org]
Reject whitewash report into London bus driver coronavirus deaths! For rank-and-file health and safety committees! [wsws.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by sonamchauhan on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:23AM (2 children)
That's a dodgy system... from the article:
"70% of students returning for in-person instruction five days a week. The county had let students decide between in-person or online classes, but the system's online learning slots filled up."
Filled up how? Zoom concurrent user limit? ONLINE_STUDENT_ID database field only 2-digits? School ran out of electrons?
She should probably have insisted on staying suspended. "Sorry, but I've made up my mind to accept my punishment, and made plans for those 5 days"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:37AM
Good one, I like it.
(Score: 1) by surjeon on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:17AM
But there is only one [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by agr on Sunday August 09 2020, @11:03AM (1 child)
They can enforce mask wearing during class change. Send non-mask wearers home for first offense, suspend for second, expel for third. Exposing your fellow students to your asymptomatic germs should not be a “personal choice.”
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @12:04PM
Make each state's attorney general and director of education and their staff spend each day in the hallway of the largest school in the state that's holding in-person classes.
After they start dying, maybe the survivors will make better policy decisions. The way it is now, these people making the decisions aren't the ones hurt when kids spread the disease and teachers, staff, and parents start dying.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday August 09 2020, @12:34PM (2 children)
Streisland Effect at work. BTW, I didn't know Dallas was in Georgia, has it been moved?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:32PM
Travel some more. There are Dallases all over.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @12:13AM
Be honest, if you could get out of Texas, wouldn't you go to ... oh...
Never mind.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday August 09 2020, @12:55PM (3 children)
One thing that seems sadly consistent is the poor administration at many schools. A too obvious agenda that is inappropriate and unacceptable, and heavy handed punitive measures to try to force things to be they way they think and wish things to be, regardless of reality and good sense. Stupid administrators are always picking fights with kids, by trying to impose and enforce unnecessary rules, such as dress codes that go way beyond the law, the occasional book ban, curbs on freedom of speech, and so forth.
And, yeah, they want more punitive options in their toolbox. Want to be allowed to administer beatings and whippings, and lock kids in rooms or put them in irons. That those are very much unlawful as well as unwise, they don't care nor agree. Law and order shall be imposed on those naughty kids, even if they have to break the law to do so! Very much like the character Professor Umbridge from the Harry Potter stories.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:10PM (1 child)
Lots of states still have corporal punishment as being perfectly fine in public schools... It's the PTA that will have your ass. I don't think many teachers favor it either
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 10 2020, @03:54PM
Depends on the teacher. When I was in 5th grade, they were experimenting with a revival of corporate punishment. Each teacher was issued a paddle, like a 2x scaled up ping pong paddle, to use on students' behinds. Some teachers displayed it prominently, while others tucked it away, out of sight. Was a great "suck meter", so to speak. The good teachers already knew it was a bad idea, or if good but inexperienced, they very quickly learned so. The more prominently the paddle was displayed, the worse the teacher was.
It figures that, as usual, the law is way behind scientific understanding. But the law is madly progressive compared to the backwardness of social conservative thought, much of which is still stuck in the Iron Age. They particularly go for the quote "Spare the rod, spoil the child" as all the sanction they need to beat their kids. Their hypocrisy is on full display when they screw up and wrongly beat an innocent kid, and afterwards refuse to admit error because that's weak, and anyway, the kid probably did something else deserving of a beating, so it's all good, so they like to think.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:40PM
Your whole first paragraph is exactly why the United States is the world leader in coronavirus infections. Your whole second paragraph is why people die from it. Not just talking about schools, but society at large.
In schools, however, enforcement of a mask-wearing mandate is very, very easy to achieve. Faculty/staff hall monitors. See someone not wearing a mask appropriately? Send them to a location where they will be segregated with appropriate social distancing and wait until a parent can pick them up or parent gives permission to leave campus on their own. Suspend any students who repeat offend and make clear that anyone suspended will not be allowed to advance. All that takes is for administrators and school boards to be strong and do what's right.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by shortscreen on Sunday August 09 2020, @01:13PM
The idea that kids are going to wear masks and maintain 6' between one another throughout an entire school day is pure wishful thinking. It ain't gonna happen. So if that was your plan then I'm sorry but you don't have a plan.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:50PM (9 children)
You literally have protesters on one side demanding that schools stay closed because "you can't be too safe", protesters on the other side demanding schools re-open because learning via cell phone is garbage, and administrators in the middle pulling what is left of their hair out because they know they are going to get clobbered no matter what they do.
There are a pile of reasons they can't just mandate masks. Just off the top of my head (some might not apply as much to this situation):
Some people may have genuine difficulty breathing through a mask, epically when it is 98 degrees and 100% humidity.
Some people may have psychological issues regarding covering their face (Think of someone who was tied up, gaged, and beaten)
Some people don't like sounding like Kenny from South Park when they talk.
Masks do cost money.
Since someone else brought it up, perhaps there are some religious issues about face coverings. (Yea, fuck them. And get that reference to an imaginary sky being out of the pledge too)
Masks are only one small part in reducing the spread. Mandate masks, and people will be calling to mandate everything else.
When talking to people, increasingly, the question is "have you had the virus yet?". The reality is that almost everyone is going to get this virus eventually.
When I look at that photo, all I see are a bunch of people doing the best they can under the circumstances.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:35PM (5 children)
You're right that a lot of people are going to get this virus. However, a lot of people who are getting the virus including young and healthy people end up with long term effects. These can include lung damage, chronic fatigue, and even heart issues. This virus isn't going away but we can take steps to avoid people having severe health issues. At some point we'll have a vaccine for this virus. The vaccine won't be completely effective, but it will reduce the spread and likely result in less severe illness.
We also know that lower viral doses reduce the chance of developing an infection and also reduce the severity of the illness if it develops. We can take logical steps to do this. They include physical distancing and wearing masks, both of which are effective. Windows can be opened in classrooms and ventilation can be improved to circulate in more outdoor air. Taking the students outside for class also reduces the spread of the virus because any breeze will readily dilute the virus in the outdoor air. We could also require that students be properly vaccinated and be vaccinated again with common vaccines like MMR if it's been several years since they've been vaccinated, because MMR may provide some protection against this virus. Also, evidence suggests that children under the age of 10 aren't very likely to spread the virus but older children can spread it as effectively as adults. These measures are likely more important for older children and college students. These won't totally stop the virus from spreading but should mitigate the most serious effects.
People who have physical or psychological reasons why they can't wear a mask are able to obtain medical exemptions. Many schools provide students with masks to wear. The real issue is getting compliance from students. If a large number of the students voluntarily chose to wear masks, perhaps the remainder would comply out of peer pressure. The opposite may be taking place here, where students don't wear masks because nobody else is wearing them.
As for administrators, they deserve no sympathy in this. My experience with one university's administration is that these decisions are made behind closed doors by a task force, but the membership on this committee is kept secret. The deliberations and reasoning for the decisions are also kept secret. There isn't really a way for students or faculty to contact this committee with their concerns. I have a negative view of this task force and their decisions because the severe lack of transparency makes me distrust them. If they were more transparent and engaged with the students and faculty, I believe people would be far more receptive. This is not atypical. You might point to boards of education, but public universities are usually governed by similar bodies, which are their board of regents. It hasn't made a difference. Administrators could try engaging with the public instead of hiding from them, but they haven't.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:57PM (4 children)
Anyone trying to force other people to wear masks or get shots should be banished from the country. You are not Americans. You are cowardly authoritarians.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:41PM
You would not mind, then, if I took a dump, (I have every right to take a dump) on your living room floor?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:44AM (1 child)
How to enforce mask or vaccine mandates is something that ought to be open for discussion. However, requiring masks or vaccines to protect against dangerous diseases is not authoritarian. I'll just quote an article from reason.com [reason.com], which is a libertarian site:
Your liberties do not extend to recklessly endangering others against their will. There is reasonable room for discussion about how to enforce mask and vaccine mandates. But you do not have the right to recklessly risk spreading dangerous diseases to other people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @04:31AM
Simpple line is: Your rights stop at the tip of my nose.
Translate to you yell at any one over anything, but you can not assault them (punch in nose).
In the case COVID, your rights stop when you to assault me. (give me COVID)
That is what not wearing boils down to simply assault. Startign hauling them away.
And Bike in South Dakota... Lock them all there - it is called quarantine for 14 days. Make it 21. To insure late spreading is caught too. Also will boost local the economy for a 3 week period from the current 1 week dash-and-go. If locals have to suffer, then at least get them all paid for their suffering.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 12 2020, @06:19PM
Oh hey, somebody other than me made the connection between how people think about Covid and Anti-Vaxxing!
In both cases the people bitching about their freedoms and "government oppression" are fucking morons.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @12:17AM (1 child)
Get a better mask. Seriously, I have limited lung functionality and I have zero problem with that thing.
Get a shrink.
Get a life.
Get a job.
Get a better god. The sentiments of your imaginary buddy don't matter when it comes to real problems.
Masks are a quite non-invasive way to considerably decrease the likelhood of spreading the disease. Care to point to anything that is remotely as effective with remotely as little of an impact on the quality of life? If so, mandate it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @05:51AM
It is hilarious what the anti-maskers will pull out to defend their idiotic point of view.
Trump strikes again, makes idiots double down on being stupid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @03:00PM
Amazing. Every word of what you said was wrong after your first paragraph.
Yeah, none of them apply. They are all hypothetical reasons seeking a problem. One can always afford accommodations to be made to the tiny percentage of people who have a legitimate need interfering with mask wearing. (In the case of schools, permit online instruction for people with documented and legitimate needs.) That there may be exceptions does not make a mandate illegitimate or wrong.
Masks are not, "one small part in reducing the spread." They are a major component of how to reduce the spread of a primarily droplet-spread disease.
Almost certainly false. You do realize that as of today-ish there have been 20M cases worldwide against a population of 7.8B? That's about 0.26%. (Not 26%. A quarter of one percent.) Even assuming half of all cases are asymptomatic unconfirmed, and double that number again because of testing limitations, and you come out with less than 1% of population.
By contrast, the 1918 Influenza pandemic is estimated to have infected "only" a third of the world's population.
My point isn't that the virus should be of no concern, quite the opposite. Rather, that even a very severe pandemic will only affect a minority of a population. It just sucks when it's your relative that is that 1 (or 2, or 5) in 100 who ends up dying from it.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @12:11AM
You're a fuckin' principal, you buffoon! You can't enforce a simple rule in your school? Can someone please replace that joker with a competent person?