Last January, New Mexico sent the National Guard, a force of reservists, to replace teachers sick with Covid in schools. Texas and Colorado hired parents of students. Kansas recruited unqualified people to teach… So many extreme measures intended to keep schools open at all costs during the Omicron wave. For the United States, this is a complete reversal. Unlike Europeans, who very quickly opted for the resumption of face-to-face lessons during the health crisis, the Americans kept most of their public schools closed for almost a year and a half. That is until the start of the school year in September 2021. A record!
A difference in strategy which is explained by a much less centralized mode of governance than in Europe. In the United States, the decision whether or not to keep schools open rests with some 14,000 school districts. This has generated a patchwork of very diverse measures and situations. In February 2021, the federal authorities published health recommendations and encouraged establishments to return to face-to-face. But they came up against the hesitation of some of the parents. Black and Hispanic families, particularly affected by the virus, were particularly reluctant to trust city officials. “When we reopened in February 2021, only a quarter of the children in the small kindergarten section returned,” explains Stephen Velez, a teacher in a mixed neighborhood of Washington.
In some places, teachers but also employees – such as cleaners and guards, often from minorities – strongly denounced the lack of vaccination, the lack of essential equipment to comply with health measures, the danger of overloaded classes…. “Teachers are asked to sacrifice their health and that of their students!”, protested Cecily Myart-Cruz, the boss of a very powerful union in Los Angeles.
The situation begins to change in the winter of 2021, when studies show that keeping establishments open does not significantly increase the risk of contagion. Voices of parents, in favor of the return to face-to-face, are then heard. Like that of Benjamin Linas, father and epidemiologist at Boston University. In a forum, the latter claims to understand “the fear” of teachers, while admitting “to lose patience” in the face of these unions which refuse “established science” and dispute the veracity of the data on the transmission of the virus. These angry parents are being savaged on social media where they are called Trumpists, racists, selfish people who don’t care about the health of children and staff. The debate took a political turn in Massachusetts where a group of teachers denounced a plan to reopen classes “rooted in the norms and values of white supremacy”.
This debate is now a little outdated because it is now impossible to ignore the heavy toll of distance education. “One of the most striking elements of the United States’ response to the pandemic has been the particular emphasis on protecting adults…and insufficient attention to the needs of children,” analyzes a recent report from the United States. AEI and Brookings Institution think tanks. “My fifth or fourth grade kids have lost a year. They can’t take notes anymore, or even write,” says an English teacher from a private college in Virginia who prefers to remain anonymous. Same thing in college. “2020-2021 will remain an almost blank year. Students have not learned much online. Returning to campus is all the more difficult as the grades are stricter when during the pandemic we were asked to ‘be forgiving,” says Elizabeth Lang, a French professor at American University.
“My children no longer want to take off the mask”
A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, conducted among students aged 8 to 13 in 12 states, points to the “significant decline” in exam results last June compared to previous years. In mathematics, marks fell by 14.2% (compared to -6.3 points in English). On the other hand, the decline is less (- 4.1 points in mathematics) for children who have taken face-to-face lessons. According to another report, compiled by the consulting firm McKinsey, most American students were four to five months behind in mathematics and reading, in June 2021. In the fall, children enrolled in schools majority white schools were catching up as their black schoolmates stagnated. The pandemic has indeed widened inequalities. Blacks and Latinos are those who have suffered the most.
The health crisis has also had an impact on discipline and the school climate. “My sixth graders, especially, can’t keep still. They have trouble concentrating, constantly arrive late and are unprecedentedly insolent. By dint of staying with their parents, they no longer know what life is. ‘authority’, remarks the professor from Virginia. “They even tend to spread their stuff around their desk as if they were still in their bedroom,” she continues. Headteachers everywhere talk about the battles in the hallways, the acts of vandalism, not to mention the silly challenges launched on TikTok…like the one that involves slapping a teacher. Wearing a mask also has unintended consequences. “My 7 and 9 year old children don’t want to take it off anymore, even outside. I’m afraid it will become an excuse to hide,” worries Randy, a father from Maryland.
The most serious is undoubtedly the explosion of mental disorders. The American Academy of Pediatrics, faced with numerous cases of anxiety or depression, is sounding the alarm: Between March and October 2020, emergency room visits for psychiatric problems increased by 24% for 5-11 year olds and 31% for 12-17 year olds. And between 2019 and 2021, suicide attempts have increased by 51% among girls aged 12 to 17. Not to mention the nutritional deficiencies. Because school closures have also had the effect of limiting the distribution of free meals for some 30 million children.
However, the health crisis has not only had negative effects, according to Maggie Ronkin, a coach who prepares for college entrance exams. “The students are more mature, more independent. Not least because they had to learn to organize themselves,” she says. Hiram Valladarez, a senior boy living in Washington, says he appreciates high school more. “I really enjoy my classes, I feel closer to the teachers for whom I am grateful”. Hence the optimism from Stephen Velez, the kindergarten teacher: “It was not easy, the kids suffered emotionally, but I am amazed by their resilience and their adaptability”.