Wednesday 11 November 2020

Kids Futures Are Being Destroyed By Lockdowns

The introduction of lockdowns is destroying kids futures.  The original closing of schools was madness.  Kids are not affected by COVID19, unless thy have some underlying medical condition.  There have been just 6 deaths of children under 14, from COVID in the last year, compared to around 50,000 total COVID deaths.  Closing schools meant that all kids lost education, and that was most apparent for those taking exams this year.  But, it also affects those taking exams next year.

As I wrote earlier in the year, to compensate, it should have been that schools stayed open during the Summer holidays, and that the half-term, and other holidays were scrapped, or curtailed.  Schools should have opened at weekends, to try to enable kids to recoup the education they had lost.  This is most important for working-class kids, and for those of the most disadvantaged in particular, because middle class kids can always get access to online education, or tutors and so on.

As with the unemployment caused by lockdowns, it is the working-class, and particularly working-class youth that is being specifically penalised, even though COVID19 is a disease that does not affect the young, but specifically targets the elderly.  Yet, three has seemed an irresistible zeal to have schools closed, particularly from teaching unions.  Classes and even schools have been closed just on the basis that some student has shown signs of having the virus, even though in kids this amounts to nothing more serious than the usual Winter colds that always arise at this time of year.  Indeed, coronavirus is one of those viruses that causes the common cold.

Its understandable, and right that teachers and other school workers should want a safe working environment for themselves.  But, this is a good example of where the unions should raise demands for workers' inspection and workers' control.  Health and Safety reps should demand those safe working conditions and practices, but to implement them requires that schools be open, not shut down.  Any teachers that are within the at risk category, should, of course, be entitled to self-isolate and receive full sick pay for the duration.  But, schools needed to stay open, and be open longer, if necessary, to ensure that kids did not lose out on their education.

This year's exams were a complete fiasco.  Now, the government in Wales has said that it is also scrapping next year's exams.  Various proposals are being put forward for continual assessment, or modification of exam performance to take account of the fact that students have lost a large chunk of their education.  But, that misses the point.  It implies the main consideration, here, is the obtaining of a certificate, not the acquiring of the education itself.

Its like going into a car showroom, and seeing cars with no wheels.  The dealer might say, look we have a certificate here saying these cars are the same as those with wheels, if you just adjust for the fact that due to lockdowns we did not have time to put the wheels on!  It will not change the fact that the car is missing vital components for it to function as a car, components that will still have to be acquired.

An employer, looking at kids coming out of school during this period is still going to say that they do not have the same tools and education as kids who came out of school in previous years, who did get all of the education they required.  The value of this labour-power, will be lower than that of other labour-power of the same type, for that reason, which will affect the employability, and wages of those kids for years to come.  That is particularly the case, as it is the education of the last few years in school, that employers are most concerned with.  For those that go to University, many will have to spend time simply trying to catch up on the education they missed, so as to be able to progress their further studies.  That means they will not be able to put all their attention into developing their knowledge further.  Add in the effects of lockdowns on universities and college, and the problem becomes compounded further.

Closing schools was perhaps the most glaring example of the lunacy of lockdowns, because it demonstrates the way those that suffer as a result of them are as far as possible away from the people actually at risk from the virus.

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