TUCSON, AZ – I remember going to school for the first time. I wasn’t really for it. New kids, strange buildings, and learning? Now who would want to have any of that in their lives? But I wasn’t so keen on my Mom continuously taking pictures of me wincing in the sunlight while wearing my Winnie-The-Pooh backpack either. So, somehow, something gave and I started going to school. I turned out to like it. Kind of nice to have friends that were my age, buildings that didn’t reek of cheese puffs, so on and so forth. Plus, learning! Who doesn’t like to learn? But if you know anything about education, you’ll know this for sure.

It’s comeuppance is most effective in person. Simultaneously, the same could be said of it’s downfall.

Margaret Chaney, the president of the Tucson Education Association believes it’s a matter of prioritizing teachers’ healthiness currently.

“Everything is really dependent upon the Pima County Health dashboard.” Chaney says.

COVID-19 Has Affected Education Across the Country

This is, of course, in regards to the COVID-19 outbreak, which rippled the entire education system throughout the world. Because of the deadly virus, students and teachers alike had no choice but to resume through Zoom.

Some educators believe the risk of returning to campuses, based on hybrid models, was still too much of a risk for them to peacefully return for education.

There are even teachers invested in organizing a protest on Monday to oppose the possible return date to teaching, come the day of October 19th.

This strikes Chaney as odd, being that they were able to reach an agreement of the hybrid model beforehand. “It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it is a good start,” says Chaney, hopeful that children will be able to return to continue receiving their education.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I never did understand that, entirely.