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Wear The Gown: The pros and cons of sending kids back to school

Weighing classroom learning with virtual learning from home

SAN ANTONIO — Parents are now weighing the pros and cons of sending their children back to the classroom. In tonight's Wear The Gown with University Health System we discuss some of their concerns with a doctor.

Over the past few months just like adults children have become used to wearing masks, but if they head back into the classroom they'll have to get used to many more changes.

"There's going to have to be a lot of decisions made by families coming up here in the next few weeks," said Dr. Robert Sanders who is a physician at the PediExpress Urgent Care Center within the University Health System.

He says there are pros about going back to school. Dr. Sanders added, "The pros of course are having that in person educational environment that a lot of children respond really positively too. They generally will get a little more out of school with that social interaction with the teacher with that social interaction with other people in their classroom."

School meals are big plus too. He said, "The fact that a child has a safe place to go to meals in one day is a really important factor about going back to school."

But one of the cons, interacting with fewer students by cohorting. Dr. Sanders told us, "For instance, a third grade classroom may not actually interact with other third-grade classes anymore they might only interact with their teacher and the other students in their classroom."

As far as virtual learning from home the pros are fairly obvious. Dr. Sanders said, "The good things are that you are minimizing your risk of contracting COVID of course. You are able to spend more time with your child and be able to engage with them in their learning." 

But the cons may outweigh the benefits for some families. Dr. Sanders stressed, "Having that limited social interaction another thing. Could be that the parents have to work and that's a reality for all families. We have to work. We have to be able to pay for our house and our food and it's very important that parents do work."

For more information about family health call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of Wear The Gown stories, just go to wearthegown.com.

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