Last Updated on: 15th March 2021, 05:57 pm
Why did the Ford government postpone March break? I can’t think of one practical reason why it’s a good idea. Ok, maybe one, but that’s all.
All but one of our nephews is right around kindergarten age. They’re at a point in their development where they need to start getting used to structure, plus there’s a lot of learning how to socialize to be done along with the beginnings of the reading and the writing and whatever else. All of that stuff can’t happen at the scale it needs to when the kids are stuck at home. There’s an argument to be made that they should perhaps be in school for that reason instead of taking yet another week off and screwing up mom and dad’s ability to work.
But beyond that? I’ve got nothin’.
It’s not as though the teachers have just been sitting around doing jack shit this whole time. In fact, this year has probably been harder on them than most with all of the changing rules and schedules and the stress of going in to work each day knowing that today could be the day that little Joey comes in and gives you a nice shiny coronavirus instead of the usual apple. Do kids still give teachers apples? And the online teachers don’t have it easy, either. Along with everything they’re usually doing, they also get to learn a whole new system and then teach it to a bunch of kids. Even if everything goes perfectly, that job has to suck. Surely they could all use a break.
Then there’s the main reason I keep hearing. That somehow, turning March break into April break is going to make things easier on the health system and safer for schools because people won’t be gathering and traveling as much. What? That doesn’t make any sense. You’re not stopping anybody from doing anything. You’re just kicking the can down the road a little ways and hoping that things will have magically improved by the time we catch up to it. Be it March or be it April and regardless of whether or not it’s even a good idea, if people are determined to travel, they’re going to travel. Surely somebody in the Premier’s office still has Rod Phillips’ phone number. Ask him, if you can peel him away from the ocean, of course. As for gathering, you’re doing little more than taking a gamble that April will be nicer than March and that if people do get together, they’ll do it outside. If this April is like the last two or three April’s we’ve had in Ontario, good luck with that. Most folks aren’t super keen on spending a nice afternoon out in the fucking rain, which is going to drive them indoors, which is exactly where nobody but our boy COVID wants them to be.
The only things the government has succeeded at here are moving some dates around and creating the illusion of having done an actual thing in order to distract from all of the actual things they aren’t actually doing. And I’m not sure anyone actually fell for it. Well done, guys.
I wonder if the thought process is that by April there will be a lot more of the elderly folks that are vaccinated. That’s the only thing I can think of.
Maybe, but when they made this decision they hadn’t even rolled out the plan, I don’t think. And all the talk was about keeping schools safe. Schools aren’t generally filled with elderly people aside from the occasional teacher that’s been there forever, so if that fits in, I’m not sure how. It was all schools and travel, schools and travel. Travelling will still be a bad idea come April. I can at least see a connection between everyone gallivanting around and outbreaks in schools, but you’re not fixing that just by moving a week of holidays back a few weeks. The only way you’re putting a dent in travel-related school COVID is to ban travel outright, and there’s no way that’s happening.