The Difficulty of Reopening Schools
I have seen plenty of discussion lately about the reopening of schools. The CDC put out new guidelines for the safe reopening of schools a week ago today, and some, like Gov. Ron Desantis of Florida who called these guidelines a "disgrace", are outraged. Many news organizations on the right also seem upset at this, and about President Biden's rhetoric and promises about reopening schools.
Today I wanted to look at a new right-wing media source's coverage of this issue, one that I previously had never of, but was featured on the front page of Real Clear Politics: The Federalist. Margot Cleveland, the author, begins her framing of this issue by stating that President Biden and the Democrats used COVID to "score political points" and refers to people who believe former president Trump bears some responsibility for the death toll as "propagandists". From here, her point seems to be that since Democrats are now in control, they seem to care less about politicizing COVID, she gives no mention of what this actually means, and are caving to the teacher's unions who want schools to reopen safely, rather than reopen unsafely. However, she characterizes the efforts to reopen safely as "ever-growing", while holding up the Republican proposal of "reopen the schools" as what we should be doing.
The main problems that I see with this article are the extremely loaded word-choice the author uses, and the overly simplistic approach she is advocating for in light of such a complex issue. First about her word-choice, when she frames things as coming from "propagandists" or democrats wanting COVID to be handled better as "scoring political points", she is not actually addressing the issues at hand. Instead, the way that she characterizes these things, largely through word-choice, leads them to be dismissed immediately. If I write something off as "just politics" or "propaganda", but don't explain that, I have simply made a claim that something should be dismissed without giving any reason for its dismissal. This is the problem that the author here has, which also leads to the larger issue with her article.
The larger issue that I see is the overly simplified nature of it. Similarly to her dismissive word-choice and lack of any coherent argument, is her claim that the Republican idea of "reopen the schools" is actually a helpful policy advocation. The problem here is that her Republican idea and the Democrats idea are the same. Reopening schools is literally everybody's goal. No one wants schools to stay closed. The difference is that, according to her, the democrats want to talk about how to do that safely, whereas republicans do not. That is it. If you look at her article, without the loaded word-choice, that is what she's saying. However, it is simply disguised through framing and word-choice to build outrage among one side.
The contrasting example I wanted to look at, Erica Green of the New York Times offers an excellent and thorough explanation of what is happening with this issue, while also mentioning some of the issues with the Biden administrations handling of messaging around reopening schools. She dives into the impact that new variants of coronavirus have, brings the teachers union's wishes into the picture, and offers plenty of real examples of why the administration is tempering expectations. The language is not directing the reader to one conclusion of the other, it is simply allowing them to get a more full picture of what is actually at play in this issue.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/19/biden-administrations-obvious-politics-playing-on-opening-schools-is-alienating-even-progressive-parents/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/biden-schools-reopening.html?searchResultPosition=6
Hey Clark! Awesome post. Our topics for our blogs are very similar, so I am enjoying reading your ideas and interpretations. Your following statement, "The main problems that I see with this article are the extremely loaded word-choice the author uses, and the overly simplistic approach she is advocating for in light of such a complex issue", really stuck out to me because it highlights the use of framing by the media in so many of these types of articles. As previously discussed in class, framing involves choosing an organizing theme that emphasizes some aspects of a situation while downplaying other information in a story (Bennet, 2016, p.33). This post represents a complex situation that is reduced to two competing frames offered by people with very different views. I have encountered many situations like this in the topics I have researched, and there seems to be an overarching theme: The goal is to win in support of the correct narrative. This post was very thorough and very thoughtful. I like how you point out the "oversimplification" going on in the article, and proceed to challenge it. I will keep an eye on your blog. Awesome work!
ReplyDeleteYou make great points here! I also was not surprised that The Federalist articles made those points. The Federalists is an extreme, right wing outlet that focuses in conspiracy theories. It is true, everyone's goal is to reopen schools but it has to be done safely because there is a virus going around! I saw a report on the news of teachers being upset and wondering why they are not being included in the distribution of the vaccine when they are essential workers and because politicians and the president himself want schools reopened. If people want schools to be reopened, then they need to use that same energy to get teachers and the rest of school staff to be vaccinated first before anyone else. There are people who are getting vaccinated who really don't need it.
ReplyDeleteThe article highlights different views regarding the challenges that face the reopening of schools. In response to the report, for several months, the Trump regime got blamed for ignoring science by coercing learning institutions into reopening amid the global COVID-19 pandemic without considering such an initiative's safety implications (Aefsky, 2021). Currently, the Biden government, barely a month in office, has started receiving accusations of disregarding science, but mostly for undertaking the opposite. The dilemma remains that parents want their children back in school, whereas the teachers remain reluctant to resume teaching (Aefsky, 2021). Therefore, the teachers' unions seem to act as obstructionists.
ReplyDeleteThe WHO and CDC provided safety guidelines to prevent the spread and contain the virus (Aefsky, 2021). However, as noted in the article, the emergent new COVID-19 variants have increased the concerns on schools reopening. From the article, different influencers hold different opinions on how to reopen the schools. Other people view the issues surrounding COVID-19 impact on various economies and sectors as mere political gimmick employed by politicians (both the Republicans and the Democrats) to gain a political advantage (Aefsky, 2021). The article analyzes two different articles published by various media companies that highlighted these challenges; however, the author argues that one piece seems biased in its argument by not providing proof, while another gives a detailed description of the situation.
Responding to the article, many scientists studying viral transmission in schools justify their findings by asserting that safety measures remain essential, which is often assumed during the schools reopening debate or getting included as an aside (Aefsky, 2021). The reopening schools' science continues to evolve, especially with the introduction of vaccines and highly dangerous variants of the COVID-19 that present new difficulties (Aefsky, 2021). The available guidelines remain unclear.