No Set Schedule, No Supervision, Equals No Responsibility Resulting In No Education

 As I read the following KFOX 14 article here regarding the importance of students keeping a daily schedule during remote learning, this writer noticed the following key words: daily routine or set schedule. Doctor Jeffrey Shuster, chief medical officer at El Paso Children’s Hospital, believes there are many areas of development that negatively affect a child because of remote learning. The following are the two main areas:

1) Lack of sleep due to increased computer screen time, which produces a lack of physical activity.

2) Lack of social connections with other students.

The above article points out the following issues: "No schedule, increased computer screen time, and the lack of physical activity in children are all issues that doctors worry about with virtual learning." Quoting from Dr. Shuster: "One of the things that distresses me is when talking to patience or patience’s families, teenagers have got their lives completely turned around. They’re up at night and asleep during the day. Way too many are just ignoring virtual learning and will be set back at least a year if they don’t pass those courses." 

The following observation by Dr. Shuster is the real crux of the problem with virtual learning: "He said many are skipping virtual learning and playing computer games instead." This reminded me of the children of Israel in worshiping the golden calf: "Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play" (Exodus 32:6). Note their main desire was to "play" (and mankind has been playing ever since - see article).

A lack of  responsibility of students is the result of having (1) no direct supervision, resulting in (2) no set schedule, resulting in (3) no education  Without the 2-D's (discipline and direction from either parents or teachers), students will more than likely experience no education. The above observations are just some of the reasons why remote learning does not work. A literal classroom setting with a literal credentialed teacher works every time. Beloved, the principle is this: If something works, don't fix it! (see article).

---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

Related Article:

• Does The Covid Pandemic Spell The End Of Public Schools?