Truth Hurts

To school or not to school, that is the question. Parents, children, educators, politicians and health authorities are all weighing in on the debate about whether schools should be opened for students in the fall or if children should learn virtually. After sifting through personal opinions and political interests, the truth has finally seeped from between the cracks of our country’s broken foundation. It is an ugly truth, a truth that I am sure that this nation wished had remained hidden and under wraps. This truth puts yet another blemish on the fabric of the country touted to be one of the greatest Super Powers in the world. Like a loose thread being pulled on a sweater, the truth has unraveled into a pile and lays at the feet of Lady Liberty. Her blindfold has been removed so that she too sees the truth of the reality of America. After the science and statistical data no longer supported the argument that this virus was contained, that Covid 19 would disappear in the warm weather, etc., the narrative of the story had to quickly change to save face and salvage over-inflated egos that would be threatened in the face of truth. The story was re-written to state that if children do not return to school in the fall, there is a high likelihood that children’s psychological and physical safety would be jeopardized. The argument highlights that children would be without basic necessities such as food and overall safety if schools do not reopen. What is so blatantly wrong with this argument is that public schools have to provide children with the most basic of human needs. Even more alarming than the likelihood of children contracting Covid 19 is that the risk of exposing them to this virus is based upon being able for them to have food and a brief respite from a potentially harmful home. Using one negative event to justify another negative event is deplorable and desperate. Holding the problem of food security, poverty, lack of social intervention for children over the heads of parents is the idea of a sick, warped mind. Those that argue this point seem to present it as if these problems just arose during the time of this pandemic. Children have been coming to school hungry, going home to violence and chaos for decades upon decades. The sudden “show of concern” regarding these issues seems like very convenient timing. Instead of a lightbulb moment acknowledging the systemic economic disparity in our country, the powers that be have chosen to attempt to use this as a symbolic right hook to their political opponents. The last I checked, children in this country do not attend school for the twelve months of the year, so it seems odd that these concerns are only being raised for the four months that the country was shutdown due to the pandemic. Where is the sense of urgency for the weekend, seasonal breaks and summer breaks that occur every school year. During these times children still go home to homes lacking food and for some, safety. I have never heard the Secretary of Education mutter one word in regard to these same issues until two weeks ago. How is it that children in one of the wealthiest countries in the world have to rely on the public school systems for the most basic of needs? How can it be expected that educators, that already spend money from their own pockets, must also be expected to play social worker and safety officer for these children? As a frequent volunteer of our local food bank, I have personally packed food bags that are distributed to schools to provide to students so that they will have food over weekends. There is so much wrong with this picture, yet lipstick continues to be applied to the pig in an effort to disguise its true identity. This pandemic is a national health crisis; however this pandemic overlaps with a pandemic that has been plaguing this country for centuries, the haves versus the have nots. All of the demands to reopen are being made from those members of the upper echelon of our society that could never relate to going to bed hungry, seeing violence on a daily basis, or feeling unsafe in their own home. The truth is, the average American family has working parents. Every job is not flexible to allow for working from home to allow for virtual learning. So they will have to choose to take a risk to send their children back to school because childcare is unobtainable or unaffordable. Teachers are having wills drafted because they are not sure how they will fair in the midst of this pandemic. The very organizations that should be dedicated to the public health and safety of our nation, have sold their souls and traded in science for funding from political gods. Hungry children are not new, children that are unsafe are not new, so why is this being touted as a new issue? We have had children labeled as learning disabled, when the truth is they cannot perform because they don’t sleep because they are afraid of the shootings going on outside of their window. Another child is labeled as being behaviorally challenged, yet the truth is that their mother’s boyfriend sneaks into their room every night and touches them inappropriately. These very issues that are being used as arguments to justify schools reopening are the same issues that these children will return to after the dismissal bell rings. It is a cheap shot and a low blow to play upon people’s emotions, pretending to care all to save face. The perception of failure is worse than the reality of the failure that America is. With the right verbal spin, the reality can be repainted even though the foundation is rusted and rotted. I see you America and all of your truth; however, I am not the only one.