Student Union
Schools in Some Asian Countries Reopen as Others Wait
Students in South Korea, Vietnam and the U.S. state of Montana are returning to the classroom or are close to doing so, while educators elsewhere around the world evaluate when to reopen their schools.
South Korea had been planning for high school seniors to return to classes this week and others to return later in May. Instead, officials have delayed the reopening after the latest coronavirus outbreak. They are now trying to identify and contact 5,500 people who visited a popular entertainment area in Seoul over the weekend.
In Vietnam, students returned to their classrooms last week wearing masks. They are scanned for temperatures at the school gates. Health officials reported that the country had gone for three weeks without any new cases of COVID-19.
Both countries have contained the spread of the virus by expanding testing and tracking people who might have been in contact with anyone reported to be infected.
Official guidelines
In the U.S., the White House released guidelines to reopen the country in three phases. The guidelines propose that schools may reopen in Phase 2, along with theaters, religious centers, sporting events and restaurants. The guidelines suggest that states could make the decision after documenting a 28-day decrease of COVID-19 cases and putting in place a strong testing program.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security supports plans to reopen the U.S. in phases. The center, however, notes that there are still unanswered medical questions. One is about the rate at which children can spread the virus to others. That unknown makes it more difficult to know when schools should reopen.
“If schools are reopened, decisions will need to be made regarding whether tele-education will need to be provided to those students who do not come back to school, alongside in-person education being provided in school,” the center said.
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a research organization that supports limited government and conservative policy. In a report for the institute, John Bailey and Frederick Hess suggest that education leaders begin planning now to reopen in the fall, based on new information about how the coronavirus disease spreads.
“Depending on the public health situation, there may be waves of stopping and starting, partial or staggered openings, or other developments,” the report said.
Learning from other countries
The AEI said U.S. leaders might learn from the reopening of schools in other countries. For example, Danish health officials have reopened schools but with required hand-washing and social distancing rules. Spaces between students are larger, and classes are much smaller. Tables, door handles and other surfaces are disinfected two times a day.
The report suggests changes to school operations, including lunches and transportation.
Schools may permit only one student per seat on school buses to observe social distancing guidelines. Large cities will need to provide a safe environment for students using crowded public transportation.
Lunches may be served in classrooms or in smaller groups. Now, some schools are bringing meals not just to students but also to people in need in the community. All of these services will add to the costs of operation and require more money.
Mental, physical health care
Students will be returning to school after a long period of isolation. Some will have lost friends and family members to COVID-19. People in their families may have lost jobs. More mental health workers will be needed to help them deal with depression and anxiety.
Older teachers and staff members are at a higher risk of serious illness if they get the virus. And some may wish to continue teaching from a distance until a vaccine is available.
Montana schools
A small school in Montana was one of the first to reopen in this school year, doing so on May 7.
The Willow Creek School has 56 students. Bonnie Lower, head of the school system, said she knew the school was taking a risk in reopening for just 2 ½ weeks.
But a local survey showed most of the parents in the rural community wanted to reopen the classrooms. They wanted their children to continue their studies and experience a little of normal life before the school break, Lower said.
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This week the University of Southern California canceled the graduation speech of its senior class valedictorian at a time when there is a growing debate over the limits of free speech on American college campuses.
USC’s Asna Tabassum, a Muslim biomedical engineer major, was selected from among 100 outstanding students to address the graduating class of 2024 this May. However, the school withdrew the invitation for her to speak at the graduation ceremony citing safety concerns.
Tabassum denounced the decision, which she attributed to her public support for Palestinian human rights. She said it is part of “a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice.”
The school maintains it is a safety issue, not about free speech. School officials say they received an alarming number of violent threats after selecting her as speaker.
USC is one of many American universities that have struggled with policies over free speech and campus protest since October’s Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the continuing fighting in Gaza. After weeks or months of on-campus protests and rallies, schools have been taking more forceful action to punish protesters who administrators say have become disruptive.
On Thursday at Columbia University in New York, police arrested more than 100 students who had gathered on campus for pro-Palestinian protests. The school’s dean wrote that the protesters had been told several times that they were violating university policies and would be suspended. The students say they were exercising their free speech rights.
At Washington’s American University, protests in all campus buildings have been banned by the school’s president since January. Under the new policy, students may not hold rallies, engage in silent protests or place posters in any campus building.
Protests and safety
University students have a long history of engaging in political activism. From the Vietnam War to abortion rights, universities have played a key role in American political debates.
However, students now say that schools like AU with a long-standing protest culture are silencing protesters with new rules.
Arusa Islam, American University student body president-elect and current vice president, says the policies are preventing an open discussion about U.S. foreign policy.
“Indoor protesting was never a problem, it was never an issue before October 7th,” Islam said. “Students were allowed to put up posters in buildings and students were allowed to have a silent protest.”
“And now we don’t have that right anymore,” she added. “We have been silenced and it is affecting us greatly.”
American University’s president, Sylvia Burwell, says the school’s new policies are intended to ensure that protests do not disrupt university activity.
Burwell also referred to recent events on campus that “made Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.” She added, antisemitism is abhorrent, wrong, and will not be tolerated at American University.
While administrators insist that they are making narrow restrictions in the interests of providing an education, critics say the policies have a far-reaching effect.
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“The campus climate at Cornell has been tense surrounding free speech in recent times,” Ting emailed VOA.
Ting said that both students and faculty feel the policy has had chilling effects on free expression.
“Students report facing arbitrary, escalating punishment for violating the policy, with the policy itself lacking clear outlines for the consequences of civil disobedience,” she added.
In its new policy Cornell warns students that disciplinary action may be taken if protests impede people or traffic, damage school property or interfere with the school’s operations in any way.
In its campus-wide notice explaining the new guidelines, the school wrote that the new policy would ensure that expressive activity is allowed but must remain nonviolent.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, also known as FIRE, has tracked free speech issues on American campuses.
FIRE and College Pulse have produced an annual survey, since 2022, ranking colleges based on their policies and what students say about the free speech climate on campus.
This year the group reported that “alarming” numbers of students say they self-censor or “find their administrations unclear” on free speech issues.
“College campuses have always been places where students have been unafraid to express themselves and with the recent Gaza conflict after the 10/7 attacks, it’s been very heated on both sides of this issue,” said Zach Greenberg, the senior program officer of FIRE.
Harvard ranked last in this year’s survey. FIRE said the school punished some professors and researchers over what they had said or written, and students reported a poor climate for free speech on campus.
The controversy came to Congress late last year, when Harvard’s president testified over complaints of widespread antisemitism.
“I don’t think you’d find many students on campus right now that would say we are the model for flourishing free speech and ideas exchange in the country,” said J. Sellers Hill, president of Harvard’s school newspaper The Harvard Crimson.
“But I think you’ve really seen that be acknowledged by administrators and it seems to be something they are dedicated to taking on.”
As the head of The Harvard Crimson, Hill manages the paper’s 350 editors and 90 reporters, who’ve covered, in detail, the ongoing free speech/protests controversy and the resignation of former President Claudine Gay following her testimony to Congress.
“I think no one would dispute Harvard has work to do and progress to make,” Hill said. “I think it’s a tough sell, for me, that Harvard is uniquely in its own league in terms of intolerance of speech. That doesn’t square with what I have seen on our college campus or on other college campuses around the country. I think Harvard is held to a higher standard.”
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