February 28, 2021 - 7:18pm
David Perks is the founder and headteacher at the East London Science School, built on the principle of offering a strong foundation in science and maths and encouraging critical thinking.
When they come back on March 8th, he will not be following government guidance and requiring his pupils to wear facemasks in class.
“I just felt it was completely upside down,” he tells me on LockdownTV. “If you’re going to bring the kids back, we want face to face teaching. Unless you do that, what are we actually doing?”
“We’ve just been doing months of Zoom lessons where the big problem you have with children is they won’t turn their cameras on. To then bring them into school, and instead of getting on with what you normally do, you put a face mask on — it’s like being back at home in a Zoom lesson. It’s just completely antithetical to what we’re trying to do.”
His school was hit earlier in the pandemic, with so many of the teachers and senior leadership falling ill to Covid they had to close the school even before the Government ordered it. So he now believes a lot of the teachers and pupils are immune. “We haven’t had a single positive test from a member of staff or child since December,” he says.
He believes the sudden change in guidance a year into the pandemic, tightening recommendations on mask wearing in class, is a political move designed to appease the teaching unions.
“It completely strikes at the heart of the relationship between the child and the teacher in the room. If you can’t have that relationship, then what are we doing, right? So I think it’s one of those things where… the unintended consequences of it are far worse than the benefits. If you lose it now, you lose it forever — you can’t suddenly say, well we don’t do that. Yes, well, you did.”
As a science teacher and founder of a school based on scientific principles, Mr Perks is not happy about the way science has been used to justify political decisions during the pandemic.
“I found it very challenging to see the Prime Minister defer to the scientists stood by his side… The decisions you make are decisions for people, and that’s an inherently political decision. You use science to decide things at your peril, because it’s only one way of understanding.”
Thanks to David for sharing his experience — we’ll be watching to see what other schools choose to do.
Freddie Sayers is the Editor-in-Chief & CEO of UnHerd. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of YouGov, and founder of PoliticsHome.
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Subscribe“He believes the sudden change in guidance a year into the pandemic, tightening recommendations on mask wearing in class, is a political move designed to appease the teaching unions.”
This is obviously the case.
David Perks is putting the well-being of pupils and quality of learning first. He is clearly a man of integrity.
He sure is
Some common sense and integrity from a teacher, for once.
‘For once’ – snide unnecessary addition. In imitation of the style , one might add ‘typically snide’
Required reading:
http://inlandnwreport.com/2020/11/18/if-masks-dont-work-then-why-do-surgeons-wear-them/
and “‘No evidence’ surgical masks – which cost £150,000 a year – prevent infections”. Interesting the difference hysteria makes to Imperial College’s ‘science’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5061599/Scrap-surgical-masks-robots-help-save-NHS-150m.html
Well, if you believe the sources you’ve used, you’ll be believe that Elvis is still alive!
Tracy–
While masking does reduce the probabilities of infection and transmission, it only does so by a very small amount.
When you consider the population that Master Perks is dealing with who already have a very low probability of infection and transmission — recovered Covid patients and children — the probability of masking being effective in his school (any school, really) is (a very low probability) X (a very, very low probability) = (a very, very, very low pronbability) which swings the cost/benefit ratio well to the advantage of no masks.
So theBritish Journal of Surgery falls below your personal standards. Please reveal to us where the study is flawed.
He just needs to say “Science school, we’ve looked at the science, masks do nothing”
There is a line. Hiding under your bed would be even safer than masking. As an extreme non-masker (I have only worn one a couple times) it would be much less stressful to just give in and wear one.
I really like how South Dakota handled themselves, the ONLY USA state which never masked of locked down, and their outcomes are as good as anyone’s and their economy booming with added jobs instead of job loss!. The whole Fla/Calif thing, Sweden/EU, Belarus/Germany.
Breaking ones economy during this age of soft cold war with China is insane. Destroying children’s education (poor students rarely catch up from missed school, all the studies show), destroying people who mortgaged their lives to create their small business, lost jobs, lost starter jobs the young will need after school, mental issues, family issues, missed preventative health, society wide mistrust of others, deaths of despair, increased drink and drugs, and on and on – the drop in lifespan by the reduced income will kill many early – AND at least 1-2 Million children in third world countries will DIE from reduced economic activity by Western lockdowns (UN Study from spring), and the third world people will suffer HUGELY!!!!!!! by this callus act of slowing economic activity globally as they only hang on by their finger nails to their livings at good times. You mask minded killed 10s of third world child for every Western Granny saved!
Bravo Head Master! You know he took the Much harder path by standing up for decency and letting his charges return to life and learn to lose their irrational fear which has been drummed into them for a year. Time to quit this insanity.
I just watched Trumps Masterfully done speech, amazing, the only hope for the world, and loved how his audience went much unmasked! They have principals, you know it would be easier to just wear one, but they refuse because it is wrong. Well done Republicans.
Yes, there is now ample evidence to suggest that the states/countries that didn’t lock down delivered lower infection and death rates etc. Of course, it is common sense – the virus spreads more effectively indoors so the best place for people to be is outdoors, not locked up in a confined space.
Check out Kristi Noam’s speech at CPAC a couple of days ago. She is the governor of South Dakota, and she is on even better form than ever.
South Dakota is not the best example though is it. Purely because of population size and density. Fewer people in a larger amount of space means fewer infections.
Oh crap, ive just read further. You’re a trumpist. Ok. Makes sense now.
(no, im not a leftist liberal. To be anti trump idiocy does not immediately make one a democrat or leftist)
The virus spreads more effectively indoors, so population density doesn’t matter if everyone is indoors under lockdown.
That didn’t stop government’s from locking down in unpopulated areas. So your point is terrible.
The whole US has low population density compared to the UK – very similar Covid outcomes. Scotland has very similar Covid outcomes to England with 1/10th density and a harsher lockdown, more masking etc.
Population density is a really poor measure for things like viruses spreading. Urbanisation is more useful, household size, % who can work from home etc.
I had to attend a clinic last week. The nurse put on oximeter on me. I read two points lower than normal . She said everybody has a lower oxygen level masked Children should not wear one. No arguments.
Obviously there’s a normal range within which oxygenation is adequate – if donning a mask puts you at the lower end of the range, it’s still normal. What’s not normal is contracting Covid-19 and suffering both the short term effects – and yes, children do die – but also the debilitating long term effects, the extent of which many have yet to come to terms with.
“The decisions you make are decisions for people, and that’s an inherently political decision. You use science to decide things at your peril, because it’s only one way of understanding.”
Hear! Hear! All politicians should heed Master Perks. Had the scientists around the world possessed the smallest bit of humility and recognized that their place in society was no greater than anyone else’s, things would be lot better. History will place a lot of the societal disruption by SARS2-CoV-19 on the arrogance of the science establishment.
What a sensible man that school is lucky to have him as their head
The title is a bit of a clickbait, isn’t it? The guy says that it is up to pupils and parents to decide and he is not going to enforce it as it is “guidance” and not law. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
What I don’t think he said is whether it is primary or secondary or both. He says he is a science teacher, so I assume it is secondary.
He said he teaches Physics.
Maybe he teaches physics in primary school.
Or maybe not.
I take my hat off to David Perks for acting independently in the best interests of his pupils.
My main concern, which I have put to the head teacher of my daughter’s school, is the risk of physical and mental health problems arising from wearing a damp cloth over the mouth and nose for eight hours a day. There have been no studies on this, so “do no harm” should be the guiding principle.
How will head teachers convince themselves they made the right decision when cases of germaphobia, anxiety, self harm or worse occur as a result of this nonsensical (to quote our prime minister) strategy?
More people like you need to ‘man up’ and protest against this bollocks.
God Bless this man.
Not generally a great fan of teachers, having gone to school in the late fifties and all of the sixties, being mostly terrified of expressing an alternative point of view to that of the staff for fear of a thrashing.
Good on this bloke for having the ‘balls’ to use his common sense instead of blindly obeying as ‘Law’ each dic-tat proclaimed by buffoon Boris, a clown referred to as ‘Worzel Johnson’ by YouTube celebrity Alex Belfield.
I can’t believe how casual they are being about this. I’m an older teacher and am really scared of catching this, so I took semi retirement and will start supply when it’s safer. My dad went to work and never came home as he died in an industrial accident. No one should be expected to give their lives for a job.
What is it you’re so “scared” of? A bunch of school kids that the ‘science’ tells us generally don’t transmit Covid19?
I suspect there’s a fat state-funded pro-rata pension influencing your paranoia!
Sounds to me like a case of ‘wanting your cake and eating it’; maybe “take” full retirement and make way for someone with integrity and bottle … like David Perks?
Sour grapes ehh, Gunta?
Sorry but you really need to get a grip. Life is full of risk.
Having used masks for 20 years or more my experience of protecting one from others is roughly zero. I suppose it might protect others from one do there is a justification there.
But that is not the reason we are told to wear masks. We wear masks to tell everyone we are in it together. Masks are a badge for the sheeple, for the public for the old and young for the fit and unfit. It is the ultimate non discrimination trigger.
And if you think it’s stupid here, try Spain.
But I’d rather wear masks than have a crazy curfew as France has.
You will do what the government says, for scientists are the righteous and those who oppose will be smited and avenged.
Having used masks for 20 years or more my experience of protecting one from others is roughly zero. I suppose it might protect others from one do there is a justification there.
But that is not the reason we are told to wear masks. We wear masks to tell everyone we are in it together. Masks are a badge for the sheeple, for the public for the old and young for the fit and unfit. It is the ultimate non discrimination trigger.
And if you think it’s stupid here, try Spain.
But I’d rather wear masks than have a crazy curfew as France has.
You will do what the government says, for scientists are the righteous and those who oppose will be smited and avenged.
I think the Head Teacher is missing an important point. No one likes masks. And they make human interaction (like teaching) very difficult .
But its not an individual decision. If wearing masks protects other people -and scientific advice is that if the right mask is worn properly it does- then an edict to wear masks inside seems logical. A “do as you please ” is wrong because it is not a matter for the individual it is a matter for the whole group.
If I may infect others by not wearing a mask that cannot be my free choice.
There are any number of things that put other people in danger, such as the influenza. Yet people didn’t walk around in masks in most parts of the world before 2020. Driving can also put others in danger. Flying planes as well. Jogging too. What if I’m jogging along in a park and a person with osteoporisis bumps into me? My increased and incredibly athletic speed could break that poor person’s bones! Therefore, no driving, no flying (we’ve got to put a stop to all those birds!) And absolutely no jogging, please. It is dangerous!
Or instead of adopting such an extreme response to risk, we can simply recognize that life, by its very nature, carries risk. It always will, no matter what we do. We’ve accepted that for years. (There’d be fewer deaths from car accidents if speed limits were lower, yet we’ve all accepted increased speeds despite the accompanying risks.) If you are concerned about catching the latest coronavirus or any other illness, you have the right to stay at home and protect yourself or use whatever high-level protective gear suits your fancy. It’s your fear and your life, and you should do with it what you will. The rest of us, however, need to be allowed to live life. Masks are vectors for filth and uncomfortable, so it isn’t a tiny thing to force people to wear them.
So this guy founded a school in which he encourages the learning of critical thinking, yet aligns himself with conspiracy theory and those in society who are deeply inadequate in critical thinking application… What a strange dichotomy!
Hardly.
You mean he disagrees with you.
‘So what you are saying is’, if somebody questions authority then they are a conspiracy theorist?
Remember Professor Kelly, weapons of mass destruction, pre-invasion Iraq 2003?
Or maybe he just has the common sense that huge numbers of people have lost.
Totally irresponsible headteacher, who doesn’t seem to care for the welfare of his staff or students; moral is probably very low. I am a teacher who has been campaigning from the start for students to wear masks at all times (because the science says so) and for ventilation to be improved across the school. With 9/12 of my colleagues contracting CV, in my dept alone, it is proof schools are unsafe in their previous form. Covid amongst teachers and support staff is up to 3 times greater than in normal population! Yet still they won’t vaccinate us! Schools are vectors where little Jonny takes it home to you, fact! Never mind the fact that children suffer with long covid too. You’d think Heads would do all they could to prevent transmission – this head is a disgrace.
You support masks yet, by your writing, your hand is a virus hot zone. Maybe masks are not the magical tool you want to believe they are. And what has come of those infected? Have they all recovered and returned to work?
Actually the science says that children are very poor conductors of COVID. Very few teachers have contracted COVID from a pupil. I agree with you on the ventilation though, that is important. Why do you believe teachers are not being vaccinated? They clearly are. Some still refuse to go back to work. They should be fired if they do that.
The level, of oxygen in a child’s blood is lower masked. This is an absolute fact .
I think you mean morale is very low…
Masks didn’t work to stop the spread of the virus. The fake “science” even admits this when it tell us to wear two masks now.
Mr. Boylon–
Why are we still reading discussions of masks? They’re annoying, but not harmful. With so many people freaking out about unmasked people for no rational reason, putting one on in a store seems to be a charitable civil action.
Get a jab and forget about becoming infected, spreading the virus, and quarantining. As more people are jabbed, mask-wearing will become a thing of the past, regardless of what the political class “orders”.
I’m not sure it’s charitable to humor irrational people who are willing to harass others in public. It seems like we would be encouraging such behavior if we are cowed into trying to prevent unstable people from a meltdown.
totally agree with your second point.
Ms. Kralendijk–
I have not seen any harassment in public. I believe people are allowed to be irrational silly or downright idiotic in public as long as they don’t bother anyone. I don’t see wearing a mask in a store as encouraging rude behavior.
There’s been plenty of harassment in public whether you personally have seen it or not. Plenty of videos of it. Members of my family have experienced it. One, a nurse getting out of her car at the hospital with her mask in her hand. By definition, harassment is bothering people.
We will have to disagree as to whether wearing a mask in public in an effort to keep unstable people from melting down is a reasonable practice.
Ms. Kralendijk–
I don’t don my mask in a store or casino or wherever else it is “required” for any reason other than that I think it is a nice, civil thing to do with no harm to me. I see no need to act as a Covid revolutionary.
We all obey silly laws that don’t harm us because it’s the civil thing to do — look at everyone stopping at a red light with no cross traffic in sight.
“Not harmful”? Masks are absolutely harmful, both physically and psychologically. They increase the risk of bacterial pneumonia and inhibit natural human social interactions. We need, as a species, to see each other’s faces and facial expressions. We need to see each other’s smiles. And I’m not as confident as you are that once vaccination becomes widespread, mass mask-wearing will “become a thing of the past”. Too many have been brainwashed into thinking they’ll never be safe again unless they and everyone else around them is masked. Or at least, into thinking that covering one’s face just to ease other people’s anxiety is “charitable” rather than enabling.
I fear you may be right about the brainwashing. The world has gone mad.
How does something covering your nose and mouth NOT reduce the outpouring of droplets and aerosols out of your respiratory orifices ?
Plenty of laser studies and similar to show that as far as the physics is concerned face coverings do have a mitigating effect + the Leung study looking at shedding of influenza or Sars Cov 2 RNA in exhaled breath + the huge German study by Mitze published in December.
I concur with the sliced swiss cheese model described by Ian Mackay – every little intervention counts in an additive manner.
The 2 mask thing is more to do with fit than layers.
If mask-wearing really has any kind of “mitigating effect”, it does not have enough of an effect to justify forcing people to do it, especially when we’re talking about an illness that kills less than 1 percent of people who get it. And asymptomatic people are not spreaders. And the “mitigating effect” applies only to people who have active symptoms, i.e. are sick and coughing and hacking like crazy. Ideally, people like that should stay home if possible, as people with the flu have always been advised to do.
Define “asymptomatic”. If you are actually presymptomatic then your capability of spreading the virus 1 -2 days before you develop symptoms is high (citations on request). Early symptoms may or may not include coughing and hacking.
What is your evidence for it increasing the risk of bacterial pneumonia? I was a health care professional for 40 years and wore a mask for 6 – 8 hours / day when working and I am still alive to tell the tale. None of my professional colleagues got bacterial pneumonia.
Death in some ways is the least of this disease as any caring, involved clinician (particularly intensivists) will tell you. Nothing like flu.
Look at the COVID curves in each country. Try to guess where on the curve masking became mandatory. Good luck, because there is no correlation whatsoever between mask mandates and COVID rates. If you actually want to “follow the science”, rather than just believing that “how can masks NOT work!”, this is the relevant data. Lab studies using human head models that show reduction in respired droplets are NOT the same as evidence of the efficacy of a public health measure in the real world. (PS: I’m a medical doc with an advanced degree in math/physics before med school, so I have more than an average grasp of the data)
Wouldn’t expect social distancing, mask wearing, washing hands, closing restaurants, rule of 6 or 4 or any other measure to show up on case rates because :
The humongous review published by Haug et al in Nature in November goes into all this in excrutiating detail :
“Ranking the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 government interventions”
As for the effectiveness of masks, I agree with you that lab studies are like lab studies with vaccines and therapeutics – at best they provide hints. So, you could mull on the following instead :
“Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks” Nature Leung April
“Face masks considerably reduce COVID-19 cases in Germany” PNAS Mitze December
“Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses” Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011
I’m a bit concerned that someone of your apparent intellectual prowess could think that it is possible to ascribe a point on a pandemic related curve to a single action or event. There are multitudes of factors at play at any given point, covering a range of bases from virology (i.e. mutations) to human behaviour (compliance), not to mention legislation (social distancing etc.), and so far as the UK is concerned, constantly changing regional variations in respect of lockdown et al. The reality is that it is virtually impossible to prove at a macro level the public health benefits of mask wearing across entire populations, as distinct from small groups where variables can be identified and managed.
Tracy–
Since you rely on anecdotal evidence, I can do the same. My two grandchildren have attended their parochial K-8 and high schools and participated in both school and club sports — football, volleyball, basketball, and weight training — since last August (with a government-mandated five-week break around Xmas. There have been no problems for student or staff in either school aside from a few 10-day quarantines at home because of someone showing a “positive test”.
It sounds like your school and the population it serves and employs may be the real problem since the U.S. national data shows the opposite of what you say you have experienced (assuming you are in the U.S. My guess is that the U.K.’s data is very similar.) This points up a real, undiscussed problem — just as the virus effects different populations of citizens differently, the non-pharmaceutical interventions do the same at the local levels. The only thing one can really say about the virus and our responses is “It all depends on …”.
There is absolutely NOTHING about this virus where “one size fits all” except the vaccines. They are the only thing we can all rely on.
“A few 10-day quarantines at home because of someone showing a positive test” – that seems like more than a minor inconvenience, to me. Why did schools never get this hysterical over the flu, which kills more children than COVID does?
If a lot of teachers in the US are getting seriously ill with COVID, I suspect that the high level of obesity among American teachers (like the American population in general) is a factor.
Ms. Prendergast–
It is not the schools that my grandchildren attend that are hysterical, it is the local health officials who, following the lead of politically-favored “experts”, mandated certain regulations as a condition of the schools being opened last August.
Some local government-run schools have remained closed because of hysterical teachers, parents, and school administrators, thereby increasing the enrollment and demand for private and church-run schools.
I imagine we will see “flu hysteria” in the future in those school districts that have remained closed since the media, absent any other bad news to hype, will probably turn the next flu season into Covid redux.
Are you a time-travelling teacher from one of my schools back in the fifties/sixties? Perhaps you also advocate the return of ‘corporal punishment’ … for the good of children, of course?
So no masks in surgery. No full face motorbike helmets, oxygen masks in aircraft.
The list goes on for anti-maskers, but really we wear masks only until they are clearly unnecessary, then off they come.
Mind you, it’s all tougher on city dwellers than us rural types.
I’ve never heard anyone suggest surgeons not wear masks during surgery. And I’ve never worn an oxygen mask while flying. What do those have to do with the article?
Light aviation at higher altitudes, a regular part of my kit. In airliners, masks drop down for passengers to wear in the event of a depressurisation.
Re the article it came across (to me) as another example of “I know better.”
I’m not sure. I’m a teacher, and would much rather teach maskless. Longer than twenty minutes wearing a mask and I end up coughing all over the place. I dread having to wear one when face-to-face classes resume. I may have to separate the class into those who wish to continue wearing masks and those who, like me, can’t function well with the pesky things on.
My sister is a nurse and her day shifts can be up to 12 hours long. During that time she has to wear a special, tight fitting mask – not the lightweight blue ones anymore – and goggles. She says it is making her job virtually impossible to do and causing her to feel anxious and stressed. When on a break, they can remove the mask between sips of tea etc.Breathing in one’s own carbon dioxide over such a long period cannot be healthy.
I know, my daughter is an ICU nurse who contracted COVID even while wearing the spacesuit type gear they gave her and a mask. She has since received the vaccine and is fine.
Airliner oxygen masks are an emergency feature, nothing at all to do with the article. The teacher hasn’t said “I know better”, in fact, he is allowing others to make their own decision which is the very opposite of “I know better”.
I personally would not want a teacher to enforce mask wearing in my child’s class. I will make that decision as to my child, not a teacher who thinks he knows better.
Consider “Horses-for-Courses”
So no masks in surgery. Those masks come off right after surgery. You know that, right?
No full face motorbike helmets, There are states where helmets are optional. The lack of them does not result in more accidents.
oxygen masks in aircraft. For use in extremely rare circumstances.
You’re going to need a better list because this one does not make the point you think it makes.
“No full face motorbike helmets, There are states where helmets are optional. The lack of them does not result in more accidents. ”
No, just more brain injuries. An example of natural common sense in action.
Surgical masks are only used to help maintain a sterile environment, specifically (considering how close surgeons often have to get to their patients’ bodies) to prevent droplets of saliva getting into a patient’s wounds and increasing the risk of infections; they don’t protect the wearer from anything and don’t prevent the release of airborne viruses.