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We romanticize and resent youth as a time of non-stop fun and partying, but the reality is much different. Young people are often really lonely and struggle with social isolation. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/04/885546281/why-some-young-people-fear-social-isolation-more-than-covid-19
That’s why it’s not enough to tell young people to stay at home indefinitely, and assume that is enough. They have stronger needs than a lot of elders to get out and see people, and if we actually want to fight the virus, they need tools to meet those needs while reducing risk.
The alternative, as we’re seeing, is young people throwing all caution to the wind and going to bars and parties, which are high risk. “Just stay home for a year or more” isn’t working.
To reduce viral spread, young people need strategies to minimize risk while socializing. Because “just don’t socialize for a year or more” is a message falling on deaf ears, for understandable reasons.
I'll add that the puritanical bent to the "schools, not bars" discourse is obscuring some of the more science-based and grounded reasons for schools and not bars. One thing to consider is if young people's social needs are better met at school, they won't clamor as much for bars.
I'm not sure opening schools is the right thing. But if it is, it can't be because education is viewed as more morally pure than partying. We should leave morality out of this as much as possible and focus on human behavior and biology.
But I do think a more careful argument can be made about how schools might be a safer outlet for the need for young people to get out, see people, and keep busy. Without that, they might be more willing to take much more serious risks, like going to parties.
