Masks & Mandates
In describing their return to high school in fall 2021, many students expressed strong opinions over masks and their schools’ mask and vaccine rules. Students’ comments reflect the full spectrum of opinions on mask-wearing, and they are evocative of the political divisions in our country. Students of diverse opinions shared that decisions about their safety have become politicized and many asked for more transparent information about COVID outbreaks in their schools.
What 20 Students Had to Say About Masks & Mandates
“Yes, the issue of wearing masks and overall political turmoil plays a big role in (my) School District because the COVID pandemic. I am not proposing a solution to this problem, but I am more-so expressing my frustration towards the issue. I am fed up with immature adults bombarding the school board meetings with insignificant issues. I understand COVID and wearing masks is a sensitive subject but I find the reactions to these issues very immature. The school board should primarily be focusing on the quality of education (my) School District is providing and the overall well-being and equity amongst students. Students need a say. (My) School District has much room for improvement and should prioritize students over petty political issues.”
10th grade, girl/woman, LatinX
“Get us back motivated for school and get these kids to wear their mask. I don’t feel comfortable walking around a school with kids that are maskless.”
12th grade, girl/woman, African American
“Why is there no remote option? It is so unsafe, I hear people coughing and sneezing in the hallways, in classrooms all around me and it is just so unsanitary how am I supposed to focus in school when this is all I can think about? … We are literally toying with our lives right now by coming into close contact with people. This is not fair for those who do not want to go back to school. No matter how many times people get told to wear their masks, they do not care! But I care about my life. How about you? … It’s really hard, transitioning into a school full of floating germs every single day. I don’t feel safe and my voice is not heard. This is really disappointing.”
12th grade, girl/woman, Asian
“The only change is that I prefer online learning now and would rather be at home than at school where people don’t put their masks on properly, or on at all.”
12th grade, girl/woman, LatinX
“Many people including myself have lost someone during this pandemic. … My father died. And I feel like seeing people at this school who don’t take covid precautions seriously in front of teacher who don’t say anything and bull crap. Also funneling us all into one staircase where no one wears a mask is a horrible setup.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“This school is still forcing students together during a pandemic. People are still dying because others are ignorant. I have family at home and if they get sick, they are in big trouble. Students don’t wear masks correctly, teachers put students in groups, tables aren’t sanitized. It’s disgusting. There’s signs saying students should social distance but no one enforces it.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“I think that the school making masks optional is a horrible idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up back online a couple weeks or months after this.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“Removing the mask mandate (and the CDC propaganda) would be the step to re-normalize things.”
12th grade, boy/man, Asian
“This change is huge! And packing 30 kids in a classroom after they spent 2 years doing school in their bedroom will be overwhelming for them. Let kids sit outside if they need it, especially when they have to be forced to wear a mask. … I also believe having the covid vaccine should be necessary to be on campus. We have seen what not having the vaccine has done, school events are being canceled left and right. Please do us all a favor and require at least one dose of the vaccine in order to do on-campus schooling.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“Be open and honest with us about the situations going on. You can’t just sugarcoat everything and move on. We need to know the information too. COVID-19 affects us. You can’t just tell us to put on masks and claim it’s because of the COVID numbers and then never tell us what the numbers are.”
12th grade, boy/man, white
“It doesn’t bother me that we have safety precautions, it bothers me that people think that the rules don’t apply to them. Just yesterday, some kid complained that the bus driver reminded her to put on her mask. That is ridiculous.”
12th grade, girl/woman, Asian
“Your mask rule is completely ridiculous. You have made a fun learning environment into a complete prison and it is awful. I no longer want to come to school at all, it is so dreadful. All the teachers yell at you all day and tell you all of this stupid mis-information about COVID.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“Get rid of the mask mandate is definitely a start, if you guys are even willing to do that, if you aren’t, keep supplying the paper ones. You are making us wear them you should be the supplier, not giving us some cloth mask and not preventing us from getting more. We are stupid kids we are going to lose them, it’s weird how you guys work with teens all day yet don’t know how they actually are.”
12th grade, boy/man, white
“I don’t like the masks, I personally don’t think they work and I don’t want to wear one anymore. I think the school should stand up against the mandate.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“It’s also hard when we have to wear masks and are constantly reminded to pull them up? The amount of people who have been vaccinated and gotten corona is insane. … Many people judge others for getting or not getting it but in the end it should be YOUR choice.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“I think they cannot force wearing mask and if people feel more safe wearing it then allow them but if someone doesn’t then that’s their own health and nobody else’s.”
12th grade, girl/woman, white
“It’s been pretty f*cking sh*tty. Every day I am scared to walk in the building, I hate leaving my house. Kids not wearing masks sucks, but it has also been more than a year and a half of a pandemic, and you have provided no lessons or guidance on the importance of wearing masks or ensuring that students of all backgrounds have masks. You only care about punishment. You refuse to get to the root of the problem, you only want to disinfect the top layer. How many students have had COVID?”
12th grade, boy/man, white
“And the vaccines don’t do squat. People have been getting covid even with it and it weakens your immune system to everything else. It’s more dangerous (than) the actual viruses. Stop making us wear these stupid things just so you can have a little taste of power and stop shoving the vaccine down our throats they’re doing more harm than good.”
12th grade, female, selected “other” for race/ethnicity
“I think we should have the hybrid learning again. I don’t think it’s smart that we all are forced to go to in person learning when some student’s do not feel safe around other students when it come’s to COVID- 19. Reminder: not everyone takes this pandemic seriously … I myself do not wanna be in a room filled with so many people. … Not long ago I remember sitting in a study and hearing rumors about how someone had covid and was sitting in the same room as me and everyone else. It’s not funny at all.”
11th grade, girl/woman, selected “other” for race/ethnicity
“Sending kids home if they’re not abiding by the mask mandate is necessary for the safety of the student and staff, please actually enforce these rules that are in place. Kids walk around school with their masks down and it poses a risk to everyone else, and a “mask up please” isn’t going to change this. There need to be actual ramifications for putting others in danger.”
12th grade, boy/man, white
Explore the full Students Weigh In series
Education in the United States, as across the globe, changed dramatically when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools across the country to close in spring 2020 and over 50 million students were asked to learn remotely.
In response to a stark lack of firsthand data about how the pandemic and school closures were affecting students’ lived experiences YouthTruth explores what students have to say about learning and well-being during COVID-19 in our series.
