Noone Argues That Schools Must be Reopened. (Photo Credit: crisismagazine.com)
The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
Just over one year ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Following this announcement, almost all preschools, K-12 schools, and universities closed. While many programs continued via distance learning, not every virtual classroom experiment was successful. Though purported to be the best solution for the short term, potentially serious consequences of online schooling are becoming apparent one year later. Presently, it is impossible to know if there will be long-term developmental and educational deficits due to prolonged school closures. Still, previous research and available evidence from this past year paint a grim picture.
School shutdowns have affected different age groups in varying ways. For example, lack of stimulation for young children has been shown to stunt cognitive growth. For older children, playing games at the playground or during recess is important to build social, cognitive, and linguistic skills. This stimulation is also critical for children to create friendships and a sense of belonging. Later, the adolescent brain undergoes many structural and functional changes, and it is likely to be impacted by engagement with one’s social environment. Consider the many social challenges encountered and extensive development occurring during middle school. Now imagine the outcome if one lacked the necessary setting to sort through these complex issues.
In addition to limiting natural social interactions, there is evidence to suggest that online learning is not as effective as in-person learning. For instance, while toddlers are more capable of learning over video chat than video, this is still not as effective as learning in-person. While attentiveness and learning from a screen may be bolstered by having someone in-person to aid understanding, even this does not produce the same results as an entirely in-person interaction. Consider the implications of this research for online preschool when parents may not be able to support their children while they are learning online. Not only is online school less efficacious for toddlers due to their limited ability to learn from a screen, but they are also denied the essential hands-on experiences and social interactions that are critical for development.
However, toddlers are not the only ones for whom it is necessary to question the effectiveness of online school. There is already evidence that high school-age students are struggling as well. Compared to the previous period, U.S. math scores for grades 3-8 in Fall 2020 were considerably lower. While improvements in math during the pandemic did occur for most students, the overall growth rate was lower than in the previous year. The percentage of Ds and Fs in a San Diego County school system rose to 14.3%, more than doubling. In some Bay Area districts, the number of high school students with more than one failing grade rose from just over 19% in 2019 to nearly 30% in 2020, and other districts saw failing rates rise almost 50% from last year.
In many cases, attendance and engagement have been limited, and many parents struggling due to the pandemic have found it challenging to dedicate the time to ensure that their child participates in online classes. The burden on low-income parents is also particularly significant. Engagement is also likely attenuated due to “zoom fatigue,” a term used to describe the exhaustion resulting from a long day of online classes or work. This may be caused by cognitive compensation for the lack of non-verbal cues that usually help facilitate communication. Additionally, active social connections activate the brain’s reward systems, which can increase motivation, alertness, and energy. Without this, one is likely more prone to experience “zoom fatigue.” Furthermore, the social connections made online through video calls and social media cannot substitute for the relationships developed through in-person interactions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the magnitude of the emerging mental health crisis.
While it is clear that virtual classes cannot compare to in-person experiences from an educational perspective, the toll of shutdowns on school-aged children and young adults’ mental health has been overwhelming. A CDC survey report from June 2020 showed that 25.5% of people aged 18-24 have seriously considered suicide within the 30 days prior. 62.9% of people from the same age group were assessed as symptomatic for anxiety or depressive disorder. Depression can be associated with a lack of motivation, the direct opposite of what is needed for successful academic performance.
Moreover, a somewhat unexpected consequence of virtual schooling has been the underreporting of child abuse cases. In many states, school teachers are mandatory reporters. Further, a 2018 report named educational personnel as the most significant proportion (20.5%) of child abuse reporters, a figure which was consistent with previous years. A study from October 2020 examined data from Florida from the previous March and April, the first two months of COVID-19-related school closures. It found the reported case allegations to be 27% lower than expected. The researchers estimated that 212,500 unreported allegations and 40,000 substantiated child maltreatment cases would have been confirmed had schools not been closed. Teachers’ crucial role in detecting the signs of abuse presents another reason why children need to return to in-person school.
Though we are seeing educational deficits as a result of in-person school closures, it is impossible to know now if this will have any long-term effects. Nonetheless, brain development is often characterized by critical periods during which a child’s brain is primed to learn a particular cognitive skill. A child’s brain develops at a rate that decreases with age, and without proper stimulation from the environment, a child risks losing these precious windows of development. Though the human brain is resilient, the time has come to weigh the risks associated with school closures against the risk of mortality by COVID-19 in this age cohort. As of March 17, 2021, there have been a documented 226 COVID-19 deaths in children ages 0-17 in the entire United States. This is compared to the 3.2 million+ confirmed cases in children and the 500,000+ total deaths across all ages.
There is evidence that younger children are less likely to spread the virus than adults. In school settings, the primary source of exposure to adults are not students. Should we deny children their classroom experiences, weekly trips to the aquarium and museum, play dates with friends, and the opportunity to take advantage of the time in their lives when their brains are most sensitive to the environment and will never again be more susceptible to learning? Childhood shapes people for the rest of their lives. It is time to make in-person learning for children a priority.
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