My concerns about public education in America piqued after reading a tweet authored by the U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona. In his tweet, Dr. Cardona celebrated the innovative efforts of schools and district’s nationwide to ensure K-12 students are vaccinated against COVID19. Dr. Cardona mentioned “scholarship opportunities” and “prizes” among incentives to encourage students to get vaccinated. The Secretary of Education thought this was worthy of celebration.
I am horrified that the highest ranking education administrator in the United States thinks this is a good plan. It is not any educators’ role to engage in public health management on this level. To incentivize vaccinations could suggest districts’, schools’, or teachers’ endorsements of the efficacy, necessity or safety of the vaccines or even the drug companies offering them.
The intermingling of schools and the vaccination push is far outside the scope of any public schools or districts. Teachers carry significant influence in the lives of many students and families. A teacher’s encouragement can result in the vaccination of students despite wrong or contradictory information related to vaccines, who should take them or which vaccine one should take. Involving schools in the actual effort to vaccinate students is beyond unethical.
Instead of schools incentivizing vaccinations, perhaps schools should incentivize literacy or compliance with special education mandates. Maybe schools could incentivize equity in education, or better academic outcomes among disabled students or students of color. Public education has no business incentivizing COVID19 vaccinations. Education stakeholders should be questioning why students are being bribed to take the shots. Who’s really benefitting from the vaccinations? Or who’s benefitting the most?
Email comments to FMTeachersLounge@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter @DrTeresaSanders
Check out my blog at www.TeresaESanders.com
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.