Our second snow day of 2019 has come and gone. And although many of us spent it cuddled up under the blankets, or playing outside in the snow, others were plotting against us to replace our precious snow days with ... Digital School Days (cue dramatic music). Now, I know what you’re thinking; “They can’t replace our snow days with digital school! That will never happen”. Well, it’s happening. Collège Sainte-Anne (a Private High School in Lachine) implemented this program into their school curriculum, and on February 13, 2019 – CSA announced on Facebook that all classes were available online. Although many were quick to show pride in their school’s initiative, others were not so happy. Some left comments on the Facebook post to ask where the days had gone where one could simply enjoy their snow days in peace – and to that we say; where indeed?
Virgin Radio asked the question on their Facebook page: Should snow days be replaced with digital school days? And people were not afraid to voice their disdain for this concept in the comments.One person said, “Let the kids enjoy a snow day and play outside”.A parent commented, “No! Let them have fun in the snow! Plus, a lot of people work from home now on days like today”.A teacher even took the time to chime in, and said, “No. We don't get that many snow days where it's going to have an impact on the student's education. Let them have the day to play in the snow or relax”.Overall, the resounding consensus on digital school days seems to be an overwhelmingly loud NO, from the perspective of parents, students, and even teachers. Unfortunately, if digital school days infiltrate our school system, it means some tedious work for children as well as parents. However, this is not to say that this program would only offer negative outcomes. In fact, it might benefit the students in the long run.
Even though our snow days are few and far between, our school systems only have so many snow days accounted for in their school calendar. During a particularly bad winters, if those snow days are no longer available, vacation days are taken away from March Break or Summer Break. However, when children take their lessons home, no time is lost. And although it does seem unfair to do work on an extremely snowy day; ask yourself the following questions: Are we willing to lose some of our summer days in order to laze around on a snow day? And yes, these are children we are talking about, but is this a realistic expectation that we are giving them? That snow storms = lazy day?CNN wrote a very thorough article about snow days being replaced with digital school days, we will leave the link to it here.
As for what we think? Snow days should be fun! It’s not every day that a child wakes up just to go back to bed. If there were a way to implement a half online day, we think that this would be a fair compromise.All this to say, although there are lots of mixed feelings concerning this topic of debate, we feel that it is important to examine it from every angle and then make a well-informed decision on where you stand. As for outdoor play in the winter, did you know that Laurus Summer Camp is offering discounted March Break prices in both Laval and Montreal? Sign up now to take advantage of these savings!Finally, what are your thoughts on Digital School Days replacing Snow Days? Let us know in the comments below!
