I'm just amazed by the right wing outrage over schools being closed because of a pandemic. As usual they blame teachers and the unions for all the woes our children are suffering.

Duncan makes a good point when he says, "Every week or so we get a study or an epidemiologist saying something like, 'Schools can open safely if they use masks properly, have social distancing, and proper ventilation.'"

My question is this: Have these outrage pundits, journalists, and right-wingers ever watched their own children or any children in classes from kindergarten to ninth grade?

The idea that children will strictly adhere to wearing masks, staying in their 6 foot lanes, while stuffing gummy bears in their mouths when the teacher isn't looking is ridiculous.

"You can't expect little kids to use masks properly. Schools are not designed for social distancing (they are overcrowded). They don't have windows that open. The SCIENCE about kids/teens being or not being carriers/vulnerable isn't straightforward," Duncan writes.

After I graduated Hunter College in New York City with a performance degree in music, and a minor in education, I was also qualified to teach in the public school system in New York State.

For several years I was a substitute teacher because the pay was good, I was young, and I could work any day I wanted or not.

I usually liked to go back to my old high school, but at times I was hired in an elementary school and did some substitute teaching for grades seven and eight in Long Island.

Let me tell you, just trying to get kids to sit quietly for a few minutes in elementary school was a chore let alone pretending they could act like adults dealing with a pandemic.

I was substitute teaching the day the shuttle blew up in 1986, and I'll never forget that day. When the principal made an announcement to the school with the shocking news, some students jumped on their chairs and were happy a teacher had died. This was a seventh grade class, ages 12 to 13. But they still acted much of the time as kids who didn't have any understanding of what happened.

It is complete insanity to believe schoolchildren are capable of adhering to CDC guidelines. In many cases, the schools themselves lack ventilation systems that comply with the guidelines, and in some schools in Philadelphia, they are using wall fans to comply.

How many idiot adult Trump supporters have we seen openly mock and flat out refuse to wear masks, and attack store workers and baristas? We even had a militia group occupy a State Capitol and later plan to kidnap Governor Whitmer because wearing masks was somehow impinging on their freedom.

But your children will just adhere to all these rules perfectly?

Sure thing.

I have a bridge to sell you.

Or some Trump steaks.