The Impact of Mask-Wearing on Student Engagement in Schools

It's not just kids who are tired of wearing masks. The other day, I conducted a little experiment with my 11-year-old Labrador Retriever. As a textbook example of that breed, any good emotion is immediately converted into kinetic tail energy. If I say “good boy” or “good dog,” his tail wags. However, when I stared at him with an expressionless face, his tail stopped wagging. Dogs, being social animals and bonded to humans through thousands of years of evolution, read our facial expressions even when they don’t hear our voices.

Humans, who are also a social species, face a similar challenge. As a science teacher, my teaching style relies heavily on conveying non-verbal information, including humor and facial expressions. The loss of emotive use of half my face to a pandemic has made me realize how much of my teaching style is based on facial cues. Voice intonation and delivery can communicate a lot, but having to wear a mask restricts this engagement.

Reduced Student Engagement Due to Mask-Wearing

Over the years, many students have told me they enjoyed my class and that their friends would introduce themselves on the street, saying my class was fun. However, mask-wearing significantly reduces student engagement. For humans, facial expressions have evolved over millions of years and play a crucial role in communication. They are important for conveying information in the classroom, where students form judgements based on the teacher's expressions and gauge comprehension.

“By accurately interpreting other’s emotions, one can obtain valuable information. All people, including teachers and students, use facial expressions to form impressions of another.”

As Mohamed Sathik and Sophia Johnson pointed out, the facial expressions of students are the most used non-verbal communication mode in the classroom and are significantly correlated to their emotions, which can help recognize their comprehension towards the lecture.

With much of the face covered, students receive less information than they need from the teacher, and the teacher receives less information from the students. This is particularly problematic for younger students who rely heavily on non-verbal cues to understand and engage with the material.

Physical Discomfort and Mask Policies

There's also the issue of the physical discomfort of wearing a mask for 8 hours a day, trying to read a screen while glasses are fogging up. In my state, only about 100 out of 3000 teachers wear KN95 masks, and I have yet to see a single student wearing one. Most of us, including myself, wear cloth masks that do very little to filter air but fog up our glasses.

As a 55-year-old with some health issues and a double-vaxed, booster shot level of antibodies, I'm willing to take the risk of not wearing a mask. However, this decision comes with significant discomfort and the belief that seeing a full range of expressions is necessary for an engaging learning environment. Instead, in my state, we are going through a kind of COVID Kabuki. I wear a mask, pretending it protects students, while students wear masks in between taking sips out of each other's water bottles.

I, too, have to be the mask policeman, enforcing a rule that the students hate and I don't particularly believe in. Meanwhile, students have far less actual connection to me or my material. I am forced to constantly enforce a rule that most of them despise.

Conclusion: The Cost of Compliance

The decision to make all teachers and students wear masks in my state was made by Governor Gavin Newsom, who was recently seen mask-free at a 49ers game, partying with celebrities. This policy, while well-intentioned, has created a disconnect between teachers and students, reducing engagement and potentially compromising the quality of learning. A balance must be struck between health and the pedagogical needs of young learners.