Our schools should never have been closed.
The expert advice was consistent about this.
Officials of the teacher unions should hang their heads in shame.
They could have worked cooperatively to create a safe work environment. Instead they chose to use their political clout to close the schools, throwing an extra burden on teachers and parents, and diminishing the educational outcomes of the students.
They acted against the best interests of their members, the students and the community. They compromised professional health advisors.
What has been missing in this debate is someone to speak up passionately for the students whose education has been interrupted by this self-serving behaviour - someone to stare adults in the eye and say:
“How dare you!
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.
The science has been crystal clear.
People are suffering.
People are dying.
How dare you pretend that this can be solved
If you close my school.”
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The first six lines in italics above are taken from Greta Thunberg's speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, September 23, 2019.
