In a recent story the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s remarks about the need for caution about the coming school year were reported. Fauci noted, as he has in the past, that the lack of widespread testing, and the non-existence (so far) of effective treatment or a vaccine for Covid-19 should make us cautious. (You can read the article yourself)
He also suggested that the notion that children are not seriously affected by the virus could be “cavalier”.
Certainly, wise thinkers are addressing the challenges that might confront schools, students and parents at all levels of education when the opening of fall classes arrives. Staggered schedules to reduce class sizes, adequate protective equipment for staff and students, frequent cleaning of buildings and furniture – all of these are in play.
But for a lot of parents of elementary and secondary students in particular, whatever plans are developed may fall short of what they need to hear to be comfortable sending their kids back to traditional school settings in September. Whether based on a concern for their children’s’ safety, or the threat of “what they might bring home”, or both, the thought of mixing their kids in with dozens or even hundreds of others will be very frightening.
At the same time, many parents are totally unprepared to provide an alternative for their kids. Homeschooling is a skill – read some of the best Twitter feeds from experts in this area – and not everyone will be up to the task.
We’re busy brainstorming ideas here at 3DWebWorldz, to determine how our virtual worlds in a web browser might be adapted to help with this dilemma. We already have some great examples of “virtual classrooms” at https://myschool3d.com that you can visit just by signing in, and it’s possible that we may be able to adapt our platform to fit into the homeschool toolkit as well. Your ideas and feedback are appreciated at we work on this worthy task!
