A school in upstate New York imposed some of the most extreme measures during the pandemic—including silent lunches and outdoor masking. The rules are still in effect.
If the concept of shame still existed the adults involved here would clothed themselves in rags and wander the earth to make amends.
I just don’t see how we as a country can ever come together when the most highly educated and credentialed among us were the most authoritarian and true-believers in pseudo-science and superstition. NONE of the mitigation measures they so relentlessly pushed worked, yet there is STILL no acknowledgement of this irrefutable fact!
This school had great teachers?! In what? Clearly not biology, statistics, critical thinking, common sense or basic decency.
Courage is obviously not very common (especially in our safety obsessed culture), but the parents of these students acting as the paying clients in this scenario, never mind being ultimately responsible for the well being of their children, could have pushed back against these idiotic and psychologically destructive measures without needing the courage of Achilles.
Instead, they didn’t want to rock the boat so they let a handful of petty tyrants have their way. This is, sadly, a microcosm of what happened (or failed to happen) in broader society. The hysteria would not have lasted had just a few more people refused to comply with the nonsense.
It’s a very sad thing to see that people are so committed to enforcing these rules. This is one of the major concerns I had about implementing them. The other day I saw someone wearing a mask while alone in their car, in 2023. And another personal elsewhere wearing a mask while walking outside alone.
Some people have been emotionally broken by the implementation of these mandates. I’m curious how many agoraphobics and hypochondriacs we created in 2020 and going forward.
I hope you will follow up next school year when masks will (hopefully) be optional. The number of staff and students who don't mask when the mandate is removed will be telling. My guess would be that a few people in admin, a couple long-time teachers, and a several outspoken parents are driving the whole thing. Everyone else is afraid of the backlash if they were to dissent. Kind of like healthcare facilities these days.
As a scientist (physicist) and upstate NY native, I can say that Ithaca is a Left-wing bastion in upstate NY — which is mostly conservative. My mom went to Cornell, just down the road. Two things at work here are: 1) blatant ignorance of Science, and 2) unquestioned deference to authority. Both of them are to the severe detriment to the children in that unfortunate school.
Thank you for writing this important article, even though it is giving me flashbacks to when I was in elementary school, many years ago. Our principal, it later came out, suffered from mental illness. One of the effects of his illness was that he forced us to eat in total silence (although at least we could be normal kids on the playground). If he heard even a peep from the cafeteria, he would run in and scream at us to be quiet. It is impossible to convey how unnatural, frightening, and sad it was to be forced to eat in total silence. Kids need to talk and joke around with each other--social development is a crucial part of kids’ educations. It is heartbreaking and enraging that adults who don’t even have the excuse of mental illness are inflicting this misery on kids today.
I grew up in a small place in South Georgia but went to an elite college in the Northeast. this was over 50 years ago but I still recall how so many kids (not all luckily) had a level of arrogance I'd never seen before. But the ability to learn from books certainly didn't show up in their level of common sense as is clearly shown in this school where they'd rather torture kids than admit that they were wrong. I ended up dropping out of that college. The more I witness where those degrees took some of those who graduated, the more my decision is validated.
We had a wonderful school our kids attended 2016-2021. Against the tide, they continued with in person classes reopening fall of 2020, though as a private school, they of course knew few would pay for online school when our hefty taxes gave it for free publicly. I was horrified they had to wear masks, especially my son who was in preschool, but there was no other option (I did search for tutors).
Come the 2021-2022 school year, announcement came out they would be mask optional. Delighted but not surprised as they were wise to be in person when everyone else told them it would kill us all.
Dropped off tuition on the day it was due, 3 days before classes started, mingled with the staff, met the teachers, all unmasked, and was dumbfounded that night when update email came through that night reversing the mask policy, it would be in place "until further notice".
Pulled my kids out the next day after finding a competing school not participating in this insanity.
Quadrupled what we used to donate to the old school, as insurance new school got the message.
Luckily old school never removed me from mailing list so got the covid updates, which were (I know you are going to be schocked) IDENTICAL to the rates at our new mask free school 7 miles apart from old school
Bottom line these parents are cowards for not pulling their kids. I don't give a shit how *nice* their teachers are, or their kids have friends. Fuck them. They lost the right to educate. Need more Ray Shoesmiths in the world who stand up to bullies.
Repulsive.
Infuriating.
Unconscionable.
If the concept of shame still existed the adults involved here would clothed themselves in rags and wander the earth to make amends.
I just don’t see how we as a country can ever come together when the most highly educated and credentialed among us were the most authoritarian and true-believers in pseudo-science and superstition. NONE of the mitigation measures they so relentlessly pushed worked, yet there is STILL no acknowledgement of this irrefutable fact!
This school had great teachers?! In what? Clearly not biology, statistics, critical thinking, common sense or basic decency.
Courage is obviously not very common (especially in our safety obsessed culture), but the parents of these students acting as the paying clients in this scenario, never mind being ultimately responsible for the well being of their children, could have pushed back against these idiotic and psychologically destructive measures without needing the courage of Achilles.
Instead, they didn’t want to rock the boat so they let a handful of petty tyrants have their way. This is, sadly, a microcosm of what happened (or failed to happen) in broader society. The hysteria would not have lasted had just a few more people refused to comply with the nonsense.
It’s a very sad thing to see that people are so committed to enforcing these rules. This is one of the major concerns I had about implementing them. The other day I saw someone wearing a mask while alone in their car, in 2023. And another personal elsewhere wearing a mask while walking outside alone.
Some people have been emotionally broken by the implementation of these mandates. I’m curious how many agoraphobics and hypochondriacs we created in 2020 and going forward.
That’s on the parents to be still tolerating this.
I hope you will follow up next school year when masks will (hopefully) be optional. The number of staff and students who don't mask when the mandate is removed will be telling. My guess would be that a few people in admin, a couple long-time teachers, and a several outspoken parents are driving the whole thing. Everyone else is afraid of the backlash if they were to dissent. Kind of like healthcare facilities these days.
As a scientist (physicist) and upstate NY native, I can say that Ithaca is a Left-wing bastion in upstate NY — which is mostly conservative. My mom went to Cornell, just down the road. Two things at work here are: 1) blatant ignorance of Science, and 2) unquestioned deference to authority. Both of them are to the severe detriment to the children in that unfortunate school.
This is child abuse, pure and simple.
Thank you for writing this important article, even though it is giving me flashbacks to when I was in elementary school, many years ago. Our principal, it later came out, suffered from mental illness. One of the effects of his illness was that he forced us to eat in total silence (although at least we could be normal kids on the playground). If he heard even a peep from the cafeteria, he would run in and scream at us to be quiet. It is impossible to convey how unnatural, frightening, and sad it was to be forced to eat in total silence. Kids need to talk and joke around with each other--social development is a crucial part of kids’ educations. It is heartbreaking and enraging that adults who don’t even have the excuse of mental illness are inflicting this misery on kids today.
I grew up in a small place in South Georgia but went to an elite college in the Northeast. this was over 50 years ago but I still recall how so many kids (not all luckily) had a level of arrogance I'd never seen before. But the ability to learn from books certainly didn't show up in their level of common sense as is clearly shown in this school where they'd rather torture kids than admit that they were wrong. I ended up dropping out of that college. The more I witness where those degrees took some of those who graduated, the more my decision is validated.
We had a wonderful school our kids attended 2016-2021. Against the tide, they continued with in person classes reopening fall of 2020, though as a private school, they of course knew few would pay for online school when our hefty taxes gave it for free publicly. I was horrified they had to wear masks, especially my son who was in preschool, but there was no other option (I did search for tutors).
Come the 2021-2022 school year, announcement came out they would be mask optional. Delighted but not surprised as they were wise to be in person when everyone else told them it would kill us all.
Dropped off tuition on the day it was due, 3 days before classes started, mingled with the staff, met the teachers, all unmasked, and was dumbfounded that night when update email came through that night reversing the mask policy, it would be in place "until further notice".
Pulled my kids out the next day after finding a competing school not participating in this insanity.
Quadrupled what we used to donate to the old school, as insurance new school got the message.
Luckily old school never removed me from mailing list so got the covid updates, which were (I know you are going to be schocked) IDENTICAL to the rates at our new mask free school 7 miles apart from old school
Bottom line these parents are cowards for not pulling their kids. I don't give a shit how *nice* their teachers are, or their kids have friends. Fuck them. They lost the right to educate. Need more Ray Shoesmiths in the world who stand up to bullies.
What kind of parents would leave their kids at that kind of place???
The staff has also gotten use to kids being submissive
So good to see that adults modeling a culture of bullying is so acceptable in these upper crust circles. The kids are of course watching and learning.
I look forward to reading more about how such a thing happens, but I feel you hinted at the answer already.
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity"
What is the date on which this piece was first published? Thanks.