Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, dear friends, we will wrap up today's show with news from your remote classrooms on this snowy New York area day. Today, as you've been hearing, marks the first time New York City public schools closed their buildings for a snow day since students returned to in-person learning in 2021 after the beginning of the pandemic using tools for virtual school acquired during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city schools have ended the practice of closing school for snow days altogether. Instead, they have remote learning. It's another indignity visited on childhood by the legacy of the pandemic, right?

We're opening up the phones for two things. First of all, how is it going if you are a parent of a remote learner? Is the log-on working? Do you have the right technology? Are they actually doing anything or are they squirming away? Did the teachers release them after an hour because hey, what the heck? Go out and build a snowman. 212-433-9692. Parents of remote learners today, how is it going in New York City or anywhere else that's using that system today?

Also, we're inviting students of any age, not just parents, to call in and give us one opinion about anything in the news. We've been promoting this this morning. I don't know if any child out there is going to do it, but if you're a high school student or younger, if you call, you can tell your teacher that Brian Lehrer said you should get extra credit in social studies for doing it. All right? Gather up a cogent opinion on something in the news, kids, and call it in for extra credit. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We'll call it your current events or social studies lesson for the day, but you're the teacher because you're the one developing the opinion.

Parents, call in and tell us how remote learning is going today. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Call or text, and we'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. This is interesting. I invited parents to call in and say how remote learning is going for your kids today, and invited kids to call in and give us an opinion on anything in the news. What it looks like we have on the board mostly is kids calling in to give an opinion on how remote learning is going. We will start with David in Brooklyn. David, you're on WNYC. Thanks for calling today.

David: Oh. Thank you, Brian. I've been in school today, I guess you could say, but I've really been at my couch watching the snowfall. Yes, I've been learning, but not much, I don't think.

Brian Lehrer: You're a senior in high school. How was it supposed to go?

David: Yes, I am.

Brian Lehrer: Is it supposed to go period to period?

David: Yes. I go to Stuyvesant High School. It's a public school, and we get 10 periods in the day. For me, I have eight classes and a couple frees, so that's a lot of short Zoom meetings in and out. We're not learning much, but I'm wishing I was outside right now. I'm not sure how to prove this, but it's my birthday today. I just turned 18 and I'd like to be out there.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Today is your 18th birthday?

David: It sure is. I guess I'm an adult now, but right now I'm a student. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Right now you're a student feeling constrained by remote learning. Well, first of all, happy birthday. Are you doing anything later for your birthday? Never mind all the school stuff.

David: I am. I'm going to go out with a couple of friends in the city after school, but that's a bit late. School lets out at 3:35 for me, so that's a lot of day I'm missing.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Stuyvesant. Do you have a college yet?

David: [chuckles] Nothing confirmed. Well, I don't know where I'll go, but so far I've been accepted by the University of Edinburgh, which I'd love to go to. It's in Scotland. My parents are a little iffy about the whole international thing, but I just think I'd have a great time there.

Brian Lehrer: That's exciting. Adventurous even that you applied. David, thank you for checking in. Let's go next to Alize in Brooklyn, who is not a senior in high school yet. Alize, you're on WNYC. Am I saying it right? Hi.

Parent: Just say your name out.

Alize: My name is Alize.

Brian Lehrer: Hi, Alize. Sorry about mispronouncing your name.

Alize: Don't worry.

Brian Lehrer: How old are you and what grade are you in?

Alize: I am nine years old and I am in fourth grade.

Brian Lehrer: Are you in remote school today?

Alize: Yes, I am.

Brian Lehrer: How is it going?

Alize: It is very confusing because since everything is remote, all the kids are trying to sign on. Then it makes it hard for us to sign on, so there's not really a lot that we're able to do.

Brian Lehrer: Ah. What has any teacher been saying or having you do, if anything?

Alize: They're having us write about the snow and taking a test. We are playing--

Brian Lehrer: A test. They're giving you a test on a remote learning day?

Alize: Online they give us a test.

Brian Lehrer: What's the test about?

Alize: It's like a review test on our math.

Brian Lehrer: Uh-huh. Do you need help with any of the questions? I'm pretty good at that.

Alize: No. [giggles]

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Would you rather they just canceled school today and make it up some-

Alize: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: -other day? Yes.

Alize: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Alize, thank you very much. Good luck out there. Let's see. Who's next? How about Delila in Brooklyn? You're on WNYC. Did I say your name right? Hi, Delila.

Dehlia: Hi. It's Dehlia. Thank you for taking me--

Brian Lehrer: Oh, Dehlia. I'm sorry.

Dehlia: All right.

Brian Lehrer: Where do you go to school and how are they setting it up today?

Dehlia: Well, I recently transferred to a charter school, but we still follow the same DOE protocols for this type of thing. I've been assigned a classwork for every single class that I'm in. [chuckles] I think it's really silly because we normally have school the same way that this is, but it's just kind of-- Like, we had a lot of hard stuff with pandemic. A lot of my friends have had really hard memories from COVID and online school then, and this just brings back horrible memories of having to stay home. It's really hard to self-manage. I know a lot of my friends struggle with that.

We already use the internet and digital stuff so much that it's hard to constantly be encouraged, stuff like that, in school. Our teachers were supposed to give us shorter lessons to make up for the snow day, but most of them have given us 45-minute long lessons at least. It's pretty hard.

Brian Lehrer: Just so I'm clear, those 45-minute lessons, are they just basically homework things you can do on your own or do you have to be zoomed in?

Dehlia: Mostly it's homework, things we can do on our own. We have office hours on Zoom if you have struggling with any of this stuff, but it seems like a lot of busy work. I think it's disappointing that the mayor has chosen to do this now.

Brian Lehrer: There's your opinion. There's the opinion piece for extra credit in social studies. You tell them tomorrow Brian Lehrer said you should get extra credit for expressing your opinion on a public affairs show on the radio.

Dehlia: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: When you said that there are bad memories coming back from the height of the pandemic, you're 15, so you would have been 12, around there, give or take, right, during a lot of the remote learning. How do you remember it? What did it feel like then in terms of how it stays with you now?

Dehlia: I think it was just miserable. At my school, we mainly had Zoom every day. We had to log in and do our work. It's a really hard thing to constantly be on a computer for anyone, and then constantly for a 12-year-old. There's deadlines. They gave us extra work most of the time just because it was easier for them. They didn't have to budget it. We had to budget it. It's an unpleasant memory. It's hard to keep myself on track when it's the last thing I want to be doing. I'm a good student. I know a lot of the people at my school are just refusing to do the work.

Brian Lehrer: Dehlia, you certainly were on track here. Thank you very much for calling in. Good luck with everything.

All right. Now, here's a little inside baseball. The usual director of the show, Mary Croke, did not work today. Our producer, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, is directing this morning because Mary had to stay home with her kid because of the remote learning. Guess who are both calling in? Mary and child, Frankie. Hi, Mary.

Mary: Hi, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian Lehrer: Good. How weird is this, you and I talking to each other on the air? We talk to each other off the air all day.

Mary: It's so weird. I am getting a taste of our callers. I feel a little bit nervous.

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: That's understandable. Frankie is there with you?

Mary: Yes. Say hi.

Frankie: Hi.

Brian Lehrer: Hi, Frankie. How old are you?

Frankie: Seven. I'll be eight in eight days.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. That is almost eight. You're so close to eight. Are you doing remote school today?

Frankie: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: What grade, first of all? If you're seven, are you in-- You're about to turn eight. I'm going to guess second grade?

Frankie: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: What's your teacher having you do?

Frankie: First, we did morning meeting, and we did like-- We said good morning to each other and we said what we're going to do in the snow, and then we had a 15-minute break. Then we went to mass, and then we have an hour break. Then we did science and then we had another hour break for lunch and recess.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] This is the archetypal remote learning day, Mary, right? A 15-minute morning meeting and a 15-minute break, and then one period, an hour break, another period, another hour break. How's it going?

Mary: Yes. It's going fine but it is definitely a lot to manage, so shout out to all the parents out there, and also all the teachers who are doing such a good job on such short notice. I think some of Frankie's class is listening, so we're having a good day, but we're excited also to get out there, right, and do what?

Frankie: Play in the snow.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. What do you want to do in the snow? That was one of your assignments, you said, right? To say what you want to do in the snow, so you could tell us too.

Frankie: I was going to go sledding, but then we left our sled at my grandma's house, so my mom had to buy another one.

Brian Lehrer: Uh-huh. Okay. I think, Mary, you're going to have some household budgeting fallout from this snow day, huh?

Mary: Yes. Thank goodness for the 99-cent store down the street that actually had one, so we'll get out there.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Good. Actually, Frankie, one more question. You're seven but so close to eight, but it hasn't snowed in New York in so long. Do you even remember the last time you could go out and play in the snow?

Mary: We had like a dusting, right?

Frankie: Oh, yes. We had a tiny, tiny bit of snow.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, this winter.

Frankie: Yes, this winter.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, but you don't remember the time that we had real snow in the past, right? It was so long ago.

Frankie: No. It was like when I was one year old.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. That was when you were little, now you're big. Frankie, in advance, happy eighth birthday, and thanks for calling today.

Frankie: Thank you for letting me call in.

Brian Lehrer: Mary's got a day off from work to take care of her kid, and what does she do? She calls the show. Mary, good luck the rest of the day. Talk to you tomorrow.

Mary: Thanks, Brian. Talk to you. Bye.

Brian Lehrer: Justin in Brooklyn is taking the assignment invitation that we gave out literally. A student calling in with an opinion on something in the news, that is not about remote learning, I think. Justin, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Justin: Good morning, Mr. Lehrer. How are you doing?

Brian Lehrer: Good. You can call me Brian. Do teachers do that? Is it always Mr. and Ms. something, or do they go by first names a lot?

Justin: It's going back and forth. It's up to the teachers nowadays.

Brian Lehrer: Individual. What--

Justin: It's been nice. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Tell us, if you would, your age and what grade you're in.

Justin: Yes. I'm a 17-year-old junior living in Brooklyn.

Brian Lehrer: Cool. What news issue did you want to apply it on?

Justin: I think really, it's less of a particular news issue but more of a ongoing issue just in terms of free speech. I listen to the radio every day, only NPR, because you guys are so into free speech. But I feel like nowadays, especially with my generation, there just seems to be a lack of freedom of speech, and people make up their opinions and aren't willing to engage with people who have other viewpoints, or if they do, they walk away with bitterness. I really just think that that's been ineffective throughout the year.

Brian Lehrer: Is it more lack of free speech, like the authorities of some kind will let you say what you really think, or is it more like just lack of engagement between people who have different opinions?

Justin: I really think it's the latter. It's lack of engagement. People just don't want to engage with something, and they dismiss other viewpoints as ignorant or uncultured or whatever it may be without actually taking the time to listen to those viewpoints. Just for me personally, I try to remain calm, but I think it can be really frustrating to just hear people not being listened to by others. We're taught since kindergarten and preschool to always listen to each other.

Brian Lehrer: You've come to the right show because that's what we try to do here anyway. Justin, tell that social studies teacher that I said to get extra credit, okay?

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Justin: Will do. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. That's all we have time for. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced in absentia by Mary Croke, plus Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum, with Zach Gottehrer-Cohen editing our national politics podcast and filling in for Mary in the director's chair. Our intern this term is Ethlyn Daniel-Scherz. Juliana Fonda braving the snow at the audio controls. Stay tuned for Alison.

 

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