Read on Twitter
I think this is broadly right - maybe “disaster” is a bit stronger than I’d want & probably “might well be necessary”. To argue as if there are no downsides to school closures is incredibly limiting & a more generally bad sign in terms of the making of arguments. https://twitter.com/davies_will/status/1343651077590298626
Some of the point too is who is the target of the argument - I don’t think this is tenable “against” teachers & their unions (& has to be made in a way that doesn’t make oneself useful to reaction), as much as because they know the downsides but it is necessary on a wider level.
Going to add a couple of tweets here, firstly schools closing doesn’t mean no schooling - it means online learning so retaining even intensifying a lot of the worst features of schooling while cutting off kids socialising.
I think schools should close: I think it’s necessary to make that argument seriously & honestly and address the downsides (I mean a few months ago pew were arguing shifts online proved Corbyn was right about free broadband - that argument entails a grasping of downsides)
Equally people saying this position is anti-teacher or whatever, there was a second tweet explicitly saying this argument shouldn’t & doesn’t have to be used against the arguments of teachers unions.
“Nobody thinks this”. Maybe nobody with a huge profile absolutely explicitly but then the zero covid line and the argumentation by a lot of the SCG comes pretty close to that.
The family is part of the ISA with repressive, violent features too.
Finally, under current conditions I’m not sure how important “this argument is useful to the right” is as a demand that things not be said. They have tremendous power, they don’t need to make distorted use of left arguments - I’d rather we made arguments seriously.
