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Andrea Richardson

Prof. Hugetz

ENGL-1301-04

28 October 2020

Reopening Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Good Idea or Not

Although wearing a face mask helps prevent the spread of coronavirus, it is not enough to

allow in-person classes to resume. The decline in COVID-19 cases has been caused by the

decrease in human-to-human contact due to the closure of the economy. Yes, face masks have

been proven to help the spread of coronavirus, and yes, schools have and will take precautions to

protect the students and teachers, but kids will be kids and it is impossible to keep eyes on them

24/7. During recess, in the bathroom, and at lunch are all places that could allow children to take

off or even switch masks with one another without teachers seeing. “A study from the Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa Health Department said on Monday that the provincial schools have registered 225

coronavirus cases since reopening.” (Pakistan Today). This goes on to show that even with the

protection of face masks, students are still at risk for coronavirus. Although students mental

health and grades are worse with online school than with in-person classes, it would be even

worse if they had to self-quarantine for two weeks because they got coronavirus while attending

in-person classes.

Social distancing was put into place to help prevent the further spread of coronavirus, but it

is not enough to keep students and teachers safe during the reopening of schools. Social

distancing was meant for people that had to be in a public place for a short period of time, not for

hundreds of people to be around each other for eight plus hours a day, five days a week. “Mrs
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Long Bailey pointed out that as social distancing would be virtually impossible for younger

groups...” (Commons on COVID-19 and School Reopening). Elementary aged children are hard

enough to control as it is, they already do not listen when a teacher asks them to be quiet so why

would they listen when a teacher tells them they must stay six feet apart or that they cannot play

tag at recess. As for middle and high school aged children, they are bigger and therefore take up

more space in a classroom than younger children do which means less people in a classroom, but

not all schools have the extra room for more classes or the budget for more teachers. Overall, the

benefits of keeping students in online school trumps the benefits of resuming in-person classes.

In total, some believe that wearing face masks and social distancing provides enough

protection to allow schools to reopen, whereas others believe that schools should stay closed and

only allow online classes because face masks and social distancing do not provide enough

protection to students and teachers. The argument between both sides is due to the fact that they

both want what is best for the children. On one hand, allowing students to return to school with

the proper precautions will help their mental health and learning ability. But on the other, even

with face masks and social distancing, allowing students to return to school puts them at a higher

risk of getting coronavirus than they would have if they stayed home. Regardless of any one

person's beliefs, what is best for students and teachers is up to the government and the CDC

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to decide.