Robert Calaf
April 28th, 2021
BUS311 – 1801
Prof. Brielle Buckler
Having been assigned to the team arguing for “students returning to in-person learning”, I had an opportunity to go more in-depth on this position besides the on the surface points of the issue I was hearing from friends and family. After the conclusion of the live debate, I found myself even more convinced that this is the right decision. Prior to the debate, I honestly did not find myself strongly supporting enough of either side to the point that I could not be easily swayed. What the debate brought to the surface for me that there is no black and white answer to this, there is no way to completely mitigate risk or potential impact to either side of the argument. Instead, this has become a conversation on whether the impact should be on the students or the teachers/staff and if a side should be impacted; how severe is the impact versus what mitigation tools are available. Based on the points my team has made and the research put together, I confidently believe that there are more ways to control risk to the teachers/staff then the educational impact to the kids and the secondary effects. This is because of the current availability of vaccines to society; an example is anyone 16 & up currently in NY able to get a vaccine without an appointment. Also with our continued increase in knowledge of the virus and how it transmits we can translate those lessons learned into protective measures in schools. What we can’t do, is allow our next generation of students and leaders to suffer because of a reduced quality of education. While there is a benefit in introducing them to technology and perhaps learning styles that may very well become the norm of future education; it is my opinion that our current educational platforms are not up to the task yet. There simply is just no substitute for human-to-human education. Especially when it comes to children that are most in need such as special needs children who require specialized services. The longer those children go without that additional help, the longer they are behind their peers in the educational curve. There are many children that also look to our schools as a beacon of stability in their lives, as a safe place, where people always look out for them. Those kids may come from a home in which abuse takes place or has a high degree of instability. Without access to their school via in-person learning, those at home issues will all but surely have an increased impact on their educational future. The last part for me that solidified my opinion were remarks from Professor Buckler and Mrs. Buckler. They expressed a desire not only as educators but also mentors to their students; that they wanted to return to the classroom. I believe that is where the magic of teaching takes place. Not only in simply learning the material being taught, but forming social bonds, growing more comfortable being out in front of others and leaving the class having grown a little bit more into who you will be in the workforce. There is something lost when a conversation is had over a laptop camera, humans are social creatures by nature; it is my profound hope that the next generation is not adversely affected over the long term. Only time will tell.
