Debate #8: Online Education is Detrimental to the Social and Academic Development of Children

(Week #6: Post #2)

This, or That? I’m Still Not Sure…

Okay, team, I know that this probably isn’t what you want to hear about our last debate topic, but this was one that I really feel indifferent about. I wasn’t really pulled to one side or another, and I think that I really fall right down the middle (exactly what teachers want with persuasive writing, right?). With a lot of the debate prompts this semester, the wording itself made me feel very strongly maybe too strongly at times. I wonder if I feel less strongly about this topic because I think that we need to separate pandemic teaching from online teaching, to begin with. Pandemic teaching isn’t a great reflection of online teaching and learning—online learning is a choice—pandemic online learning was an emergency plan to try to keep kiddos learning and engaged. The only other thing that I would change about the prompt would be to specify an age range, as some people were thinking really young children, and others were thinking high school kiddos. It does change perspectives on things quite a bit, or at least I think so anyway.

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