Distance learning doesn’t work

I was extremely disappointed to see Spokane and Central Valley school districts deciding to not open for on-site instruction.

The idea that our young people can learn online anywhere near as well as learning on-site is the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard. What do you do with the kids that don’t have access to internet? If schools are going to be closed, that means teachers are out of a job just like millions of other Americans that lost their job because businesses were forced to close. Like other workers who lost their jobs and were forced to live on unemployment so should teachers, they’re not any more important to their families than anyone else.

There is a certain amount of risk in everything we do in life; that doesn’t mean we should just close ourselves up and hide away hoping it will go away. Countries in Europe have successfully reopened schools with no significant problems and there is no reason we can’t do the same.

The bottom line is, distance learning is almost useless and doesn’t work for too large a number of kids to be an option. The benefits of in person learning far outweighs the risks, we need to get back to school.

Garry Ovnicek

Spokane Valley