A professor's tweet about his students choosing not to wear masks has got users on the microblogging site talking. Matthew LeHew, who is an assistant professor at Dalton State College, Georgia, wrote on Twitter that he starts every class by showing his students an ultrasound picture of his son who is due in October. He does it as an appeal to his students to wear a mask in his classroom and protect him and his family from any risk of COVID-19 infection. However, Mr LeHew added that only 5 out of his 45 students wore masks in the classroom.
He wrote, "I'll never be able to look at this job the same way." The post has received over 46.7 likes and 5.7 retweets (and still counting) in less than 24 hours of tweeting.
Mr LeHew said he was overwhelmed by the responses to his tweet and would mute it soon. He added in the tweet thread, "I want to be clear that I still care for and value all of my students and want them to succeed. I don't want them to suffer for their choices; I want them to make better ones. I'll always work toward that."
The responses to Mr LeHew's tweet were moving to say the least. One of the first reactions came from former professional American basketball player Rex Chapman.
A user wrote that he tried the same experiment to make his students wear masks. "I did the same thing," he wrote, "My wife has a C-section scheduled for a high-risk pregnancy in 8 days... To be honest, I came home from class both days and cried for a while."
Another asked Mr LeHew to be more upfront. He wrote, "I told my students they could kill me because I had heart surgery... Only one isn't wearing a mask now. Be more direct with them about how their actions could infect you and your wife."
However, a rift arose between the community of teachers and students. This user said, "Why ask others to protect themselves when you want protection? Protect yourself entirely instead of obligating every other person to bend to your will & needs."
Some justified the students' behaviour.
Some criticised the state for being incapable of making masks mandatory in the US. "Blame the district for not mandating masks. Kids shouldn't be given the choice," this person wrote.
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