After two years of wearing masks, quarantining, and being six feet apart, we are now lifting mask mandates for schools. Thanks to falling COVID numbers we are now making steps to becoming like we were pre-COVID. 

Although many see the lifting of the mask mandate as a good step forward, many question whether we are ready for this big step. Many people are saying good riddance to the masks, although they are still heavily recommended.

The point many people are making is that we are a country built on freedom, and we should have the choice whether we wear a mask or not. With the low cases and low risk kids face, we should have the choice whether or not we want to wear a mask. 

Although freedom of choice is a compelling point, it is also important to focus on people’s health, and our children’s education. With the increase of cases, schools threaten to close. For Cathedral Catholic specifically, we had to postpone school by a week in the beginning of the year and by a few days before second semester.

People should have the right to choose whether they want to wear a mask or not, but the second it starts to affect me and my education there should not be a choice. There’s a time and place to not wear a mask and people need to recognize it. 

It may be easy to say we need to wear masks all the time but we also need to look at little kids. A little kid cannot comprehend the need to wear a mask, and will grow to resent it and refuse to wear it. Is it really effective to force kids to wear a mask when they will just inevitably wear it wrong and lose its purpose? We need to think logically when we make our decisions, is forcing everyone to wear a mask the hill you’re willing to die on? 

People are vocal about what they feel about mask mandates, it’s not really worth our time and energy to argue with them and force them to wear masks.