While there was much rhetoric around COVID-19 school closures harming the well-being of children, with some sources saying these COVID-19 closures increased suicide, a new study calls that finding into question.

This study used a number of methods to track the history of teen suicide and compare it to different back-to-school times during COVID. They found that youth suicides declined during COVID school closures, but the interruption was short-lived as the decline reversed itself once kids went back to school.

The study wonders if the anti-bullying laws have really reduced the victimization of students as we all hope they do as queries about bullying increased with school reopening.

Now the study doesn’t want to support the closure of schools to prevent youth suicide. There are many good things about school, and missing the education may reduce the opportunity for monetary acquisition by students because they’re not qualified for jobs.

If you liked this then you get content like it every Saturday if you’re a member. You’ll continue to get my research notes as I write a book about how we don’t really care about “the children”. Members also get my courses included.

Of course, richer kids wouldn’t suffer this as parents can afford to pay for education outside of the school system. They are also more likely to have time to make sure that kids at home do their schoolwork.

I wonder if school just isn’t built for kids at all.

I mean, teens’ regular sleep schedule changes to be up later at night and sleep longer into the day, and we do nothing to change the school schedule to accommodate that1.

While many places remove books from shelves for “the kids”, we still have underfunded education systems with overloaded teachers.

I still think that school past grades 9 – 10 is mostly about showing a future employer you’ll listen2. The longer you stay in school, the stronger that signal is. This of course gives advantage to rich people who can afford to support kids longer so they can run the race further.

  1. See When
  2. See The Case Against Education