Dave Grohl is not in favour of going forward with the reopening of U.S. schools while coronavirus infection rates continue to climb across the country. In the inaugural audio version of his Instagram-based
Dave’s True Stories project, the son of a public school teacher argues in favour of continuing the practice of online learning and distance education.“To this day, I’m haunted by a reoccurring dream that I’m back in those crowded hallways, now struggling to graduate as a 51-year-old man, and anxiously wake in a pool of my own sweat,”
Grohl said in the recording. “So, with me being a high school dropout, you’d imagine the current debate surrounding the reopening of schools wouldn’t register so much a blip on my rock & roll radar, right? Wrong. My mother was a public school teacher.”[video_embed id='1991285']RELATED: Tom Hanks has a blunt message for people who don't wear a mask[/video_embed]“I can only imagine if my mother would now be forced to return to a stuffy, windowless classroom,” said the Foo Fighters frontman of his now-retired 82-year-old mum, expressing his concern about teachers having to go back to schools before the pandemic is under control, either by reducing infection numbers (
wear those masks please) or due to the availability of a successful vaccine.Grohl cites the continued underfunding of the U.S. education system, saying that conversations with his mother have brought to light a long list of concerns she has based on her 35 years of teaching. Those include “masks and distancing, temperature checks, crowded bussing, crowded hallways, sports, air-conditioning systems, lunchrooms, public restrooms, [and] janitorial staff.”“Most schools already struggle from a lack of resources,” Grohl pointed out. “How can they possibly afford the mountain of safety measures that will need to be in place?” It’s a good question. If schools go ahead with IRL education this September, a whole lot more money will need to be injected in the system to guarantee the safety of the students and staff—cash that some have suggested could be reallocated from skyrocketing
policing budgets.[video_embed id='1997284']RELATED: Alessia Cara reveals why she is donating her album proceeds to charity[/video_embed]There are more than a few difficulties tied to the idea of keeping kids at home and limiting schooling to online learning and Grohl (and his mother) are aware of those, too. The burden of kids being home all day weighs heaviest on parents who can’t afford nannies or enough computers to go around. “Remote learning is an inconvenient and hopefully temporary solution,” said Grohl, “but as much as Donald Trump’s conductor-less orchestra would love to see the country reopen schools in the name of rosy optics, ask a science teacher what they think about White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s comment that ‘
Science should not stand in the way.’ It would be foolish to do so at the expense of our students, teachers and school.”But schools remaining shut is far more than an inconvenience. Working parents rely on schools to not only educate children but act as a safe space for them during the hours they're at work.
Not everyone can work from home and even those who can are struggling. What about the children of hospital staff or grocery store clerks or transit workers? Without government-funded childcare, how do those people make sure their children are looked after? There’s also the idea of children’s
mental health to take into consideration along with issues like domestic violence, food insecurity and a marked reduction in physical activity.On the upside, if schools are to open (as they have in many other
places across the globe where the virus numbers have steadily declined) the system is already set up for thorough contact-tracing. Teachers take attendance records every day as well as tracking who picks up and drops off children at school. This can’t be done at your local grocery store.Still, it's not surprising that any are nervous about a return to the classroom—especially older faculty who occupy a higher -risk category for contracting COVID-19. Grohl points out that American teachers, like his mother remain, seriously underpaid for the work they do and questions the risks they’re being asked (or in some cases ordered) to take. But he also knows what a difference they can make in their students’ lives.His mother, says the rock star, “was one of those teachers who became a mentor to many and her students remembered her long after they graduated.”And those are the kinds of educators that kids are seriously missing out on right now in a situation where here is no easy solution.[video_embed id='1999870']RELATED: Anna Camp details her experience with COVID-19 diagnosis[/video_embed]
