4/18/2020

Teachers

The virus hitched a ride into Heinsberg, a rural district of farmland, ponds and brick houses along the Dutch border, in mid-February. An infected couple had unknowingly brought it along with them to a Carnival celebration with hundreds of people. Since then Heinsberg has been Germany’s canary in the coal mine, the place the country watched for what might happen a few weeks into the future. Now it’s a test case again, this time for what happens when you open schools during a pandemic.

Social distancing has almost universally been synonymous with enforced homeschooling—or at least parents making the attempt. “Been homeschooling a six-year-old and eight-year-old for one hour and 11 minutes,” Shonda Rhimes, a television producer, tweeted soon after California schools closed. “Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.”

Photographer: Lukas Schulze/Getty Images Europe

Photographer: Lukas Schulze/Getty Images Europe

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