The mask mandates that many school districts are attempting to push, or have already included as policy, are authoritarian in nature. Is it a good thing to be cautious, is it a good thing to protect your health and those around you? Yes. I consider that to be a virtuous thing IF you do it without being threatened by the government or by a teacher.
Here in the state of Florida, we are having this conversation about Mask mandates in school and how it affects the students. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has publicly banned school districts from enforcing mask mandates on students, yet in Broward county, they are defying the rules from the governor. DeSantis asserts that students and parents should have the right to determine for themselves what is appropriate for their health instead of relying on some arbitrary regulations from the local school board who doesn't understand the health of their individual students. People across the country have called DeSantis a child killer just for giving these people an option to choose for themselves, but ironically enough they do not mention much about Andrew Cuomo killing thousands of grandparents in New York. Some have even argued, in their demented twisted views, that what he is doing is authoritarian because it doesn't permit districts to choose what they want to enforce locally. Of course, this is completely asinine to believe such a thing.
The purpose of wearing a mask isn't exactly as clear as one might think as it pertains to lowering transmissions of diseases. The reasoning why we have these mandates that FORCE students to wear masks is essentially not backed by consistent science and data. Do I believe masks can help? Sure a mask can help, but putting a muzzle on a child seems wrong. Hell it's not even a muzzle, a muzzle has bigger holes.
It may seem trivial to be coerced or forced into putting on a mask to get a simple education, but this is where it starts. It's expected that nationwide lockdowns will return and maybe we'll see the military involve themselves in enforcing these policies. In Australia they have already mobilized the military; Will it happen here? With the Democrats in power, I argue that it is a strong possibility.
First it starts with mandatory masks, then comes the lockdowns, we already can see where this is going as we have already experienced this under Donald Trump in primarily Democrat-led states. School Mask Mandates are more about ideological servitude than it is about the healthcare and the safety of young students.