misinformation is dangerous

I am seeing more and more people taking time away from social media. Unfortunately it is never the person who should be going away.

I am amazed every day by people that I thought were intelligent folks sharing misinformation, or worse hostile, misguided opinions. 

I am reading and hearing how the misinformation and hostile opinions are hurting the community, and individuals.

Yesterday I shared that I was stepping away from teaching. A decision that was based in some part on how the misinformation and misguided opinions have affected my community, and by extension the job of teaching. 

Trust, or lack thereof, was the basis of my decision.

I do not trust my community.

I do not trust the school nurse, who ran around without a mask joking and telling everyone to "cough in her face." I do not trust the head custodian, who was spritzing disinfectant in classrooms so they smelled like they had been cleaned. 

These people think that the pandemic is a hoax.

I do not trust the administrator who walked through a group of staff members gathered without masks, in violation of district policy, and did not address it. 

These people will not enforce policies or procedures to protect the students and staff.

I do not trust the community members who send their kids to school sick. A community whose sole dialogue has been about getting parents back to work. Every opinion I read listed the numerous reasons kids needed to be back in school, not one of them mentioned education.