Should schools stay open during lockdown?

[Yoda]

Bruh.

If you haven't realized, this type of progressive taxation system exists around the world and works. In Finland for example, there is a system which taxes the rich much more than the less rich, and as a result healthcare, university, school are all free. Not saying this is the way that American could go, but rich people stay in these countries because although they pay more tax, they still get benefits.

Right now, economic inequality is so bad in the US that the top 1% make more than 39 times that of the bottom 90%, which is insane to say the very least. What is being done as of now to reduce this inequality? Very little. If you wanna talk about it being bad for the economy then consider the fact that over 61% of americans say that there's too much inequality, which leads to unstable markets potentially.

You're comparing a country with a little more than 5 million people to a country with ~328 million.

The reason those people are in the 1% is that either they made something people like or someone in their family did. The fact is if you don't like people having that much money stop supporting them. Purchasing things on amazon supports them, using your iPhone or MacBook supports them. You aren't gonna make them not in the 1% by taxing them a large amount instead they will either keep using the loopholes or move out of the country. They have the money to move anywhere and there are many countries around the world that would take them not including they could just buy a whole island and say screw it I own an island.

 

[Brandon]

Now, I can only speak personally here:

Every week, on Thursday - my college lecture finishes at around the same time as secondary schools finish for the day. I rely on public transport to get to and from my place of education, as well as so many secondary school students do.
At my college, it's fairly sensible. Masks are required to be worn in ALL communal areas such as hallways, seating areas and study areas, and they are required to be worn inside classes if a 2m distance between each student in the class cannot be met.
The secondary schools in my area do NOT require their students to wear masks for whatever reason, which I find quite bizarre.
The bus got full very quickly with schoolchildren from a variety of different schools, none (or a select few) wearing masks, and sitting shoulder to shoulder - completely ignoring any regulations put in place.

Seeing as half of my college lectures are already at home and online, to account for the lack of space in classrooms, so we are already somewhat prepared if educational institutes fully close. I, again only speaking personally, know that I work better in the classroom as opposed to where I'm sat now, in front of a computer screen.

However, there have been confirmed cases of COVID-19 in my college, and a surge more in secondary schools for the reason above.

It is my opinion that schools SHOULD close to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It's a hassle, and it's not exactly beneficial, but it is important to protect the students and their families who may be living (or in close contact with) the particularly vulnerable.

IF schools do NOT close, at the very least, it should be a requirement to have tighter safety measures put in place. Because at least where I am (England) they are not sufficient. A lot of people have, and continue to die because of our governments inability to act, so we need to pressure them into ensuring that our students are SAFE.

 

[Scroll32]

theres a petition on the gov website to close schools down while lockdown 2, has over 300k signatures

"
Although Mr. Trump donates his salary to the government, it is subject to income tax along with his other earnings. But because Mr. Trump’s overall income was negative, he did not owe regular income tax on any of it.

He was, however, still subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax, a parallel tax system that reduces the benefit of some deductions, preventing wealthy people from erasing their tax liability altogether. Most significantly, the A.M.T. formula disallowed $45 million in losses that Mr. Trump had carried over from prior years.

But tax laws gave him one more line on which to reduce the A.M.T. Mr. Trump had $22.7 million in General Business Credit, much of it carried forward from prior years, that he could apply. The credit is a smorgasbord of tax incentives and givebacks to business owners, and in Mr. Trump’s case they ranged from credits of $322,926 for Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on employee tips to at least $1.5 million related to rehabilitating the Old Post Office in Washington.

The business credit cannot be used to get a refund; it can only be applied against taxes owed. Mr. Trump had more than enough to cancel out his $7,435,857 tax bill. But on the Form 3800 for the General Business Credit, his accountants subtracted $750 from his allowable credit. Why they did that is not clear. But the result was a total federal income tax liability of $750.
"

Have a read. If I understand correctly, he had more than enough to cancel out the tax bill, but only paid 750 from it. Of course he is a businessman and has accountants working for him, but as the president of the United States, or as the president of any country really, your primary goal should be to do something to benefit the society, and not look for easy ways to get out of paying large amounts of tax.

of course I could be wrong about this as I don't know much about economics but my other points stand still.

Bruh.

If you haven't realized, this type of progressive taxation system exists around the world and works. In Finland for example, there is a system which taxes the rich much more than the less rich, and as a result healthcare, university, school are all free. Not saying this is the way that American could go, but rich people stay in these countries because although they pay more tax, they still get benefits.

Right now, economic inequality is so bad in the US that the top 1% make more than 39 times that of the bottom 90%, which is insane to say the very least. What is being done as of now to reduce this inequality? Very little. If you wanna talk about it being bad for the economy then consider the fact that over 61% of americans say that there's too much inequality, which leads to unstable markets potentially.

You could just you know, invest in job training and education so you give people a chance to prosper and still keep big companies in the us.

 

[Patrick]

I'm sure if things get worse, they will shut down again.

 

[Yoda]

I'm sure if things get worse, they will shut down again.

As long as the death rate keeps lowering I doubt anything will happen. The people getting infected at the end of the day doesn't matter as long as the number of people getting better increases.

 

[sander2798]

Schools shouldn't be open. From my experience, schools and computers don't go well together. Systems are outdated, teachers cannot work with them. Hire computer specialist and set up systems to completely digitize learning. For the social aspect, allow sports rather than school. You should be in school to learn, not to talk with your friends during classes all the time. Also, this would directly solve the problem of having an insufficient amount of teachers. Make the best teachers do online classes for a large group, and have all current teachers provide 1 to 1 support online. For some reason schools really dislike this idea haha.

 

[Kieraaaan]

If schools stay closed then I fear the next generation...