We actually SAW people last night. Indoors. Less than six feet apart. With no masks! I know! Slap-your-face amazing!
We’re all well over two weeks past our second shot, and while we still fist-bumped and air-hugged, it was heady stuff to consume a beverage while having an in-person conversation. One thing about the pandemic, it’s offered a legit excuse for avoiding other people:
“Yes, we’d love to get together, but you know, Covid. . . .”
We got to thinking about the after effects of this past year plus, and all the people embracing this new work-from-home dynamic, often realizing they could live anywhere. The son of a friend of mine and his wife are moving from Florida to Missoula, Montana, of all places. They’re avid skiers, and when the cold gets to them, they’ll just fly to Florida and rent a place for a while. It’s a whole new fluid way of living, but does it come at a cost?
Three of us there last night are retired teachers, a job that’s inherently social.
As a high school teacher, I routinely saw around 120 kids each day, plus whatever faculty I might encounter. While one of us is still teaching part-time remotely, we all agreed that on a long-term basis we would have missed the daily interactions and casual conversations in the workplace. And so often, the best way to reach a student was a moment by their locker, or when they’d stop off at our desk before they started their day.
I can’t imagine being at home for both work and leisure. It would be like experiencing a pandemic that never ends. Not everyone has a job that translates well into this remote world, but for those that do, will there be a societal cost?
In my later years, I would eat in my room for 20 minutes to regroup after teaching all morning before heading to the staffroom to be a bit more sociable. But that was in later years. For the first decade or so when we were younger I would be playing ping pong in the staffroom. I would do that after school too if possible. In the second decade I had the chess club in my room at lunch hour almost every day. In later years though, those 20 minutes of downtime seemed important to me.
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't think I ever once ate in the lounge in my last 10 years. Instead, I went to a fellow teacher's room or worked at my desk. Not only did I need the quiet - and the chance to get caught up on work - but I was on the third floor and what with travel time, would have ended up with barely 10 minutes to eat.
Delete(Don't you love the people who think teachers have such a cushy job!)
I am sure there will be cost. And that the extent of that cost will not be fully realised for some time.
ReplyDeleteI am currently teaching using the "hybrid model" where some kids are at home and some are in class. It is a nightmare. I find that invariably I am neglecting one group or the other.
ReplyDeleteI did end up experiencing becoming an online teacher this past year. I did not enjoy it. It was so much better when school resumed "in person" in September. Unfortunately for my colleagues, now, it's back to online again. I'm newly retired and it is very odd not being around people all the time. I do miss the laughter. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteSummers were a kind of rehearsal for retirement, a time when you could go all day without seeing another person. I think that's one of the hardest aspects of retirement for teachers.
DeleteI'll bet this past year made it a bit easier to leave, though!
I'm looking forward to getting out more once I've been vaccinated, but who knows when that will be? We're so far behind our schedule here, plus one of our vaccines has possible side effects that I certainly don't want, so I'll hold out for the "good stuff".
ReplyDeleteOne of my neighbors is well beyond retirement age but keeps postponing it. She doesn't like online teaching but is in person some hours now. I wonder if she, single woman, worries about loneliness in retirement, or just missing a lot of people in the environment all day.
ReplyDeleteIt's been an unprecedented time in the history of the world. I am sure there will be long term ramifications from our inability to get through this quickly.
ReplyDelete