Posted on 12/08/2020 8:05:42 AM PST by Kaslin
The idea that bars should remain open yet schools remain closed runs counter to any sense of logic, not to mention good public policy.
The past nine months have seen more than a quarter-million Americans die from the coronavirus. Each and every death represents a tragedy — a life cut short, an empty place at the family table this holiday season, children mourning their parents, even parents mourning their children.
But a separate and ongoing tragedy has also struck at countless more than another quarter-million Americans: Children who have disappeared from school following last spring’s COVID-19 closures. A survey conducted by CBS’s “60 Minutes” found that among 78 of the largest school districts in the country, at least 240,000 students remained unaccounted for when school resumed, in many cases virtually, this fall. This number doesn’t, of course, include the many other children schools have lost in other districts.
Each and every one of those cases also represents a tragedy. Indeed, it’s a slow-moving crisis. Every child who doesn’t return to school to complete his or her education represents dreams unfulfilled. It means diminished career prospects, lower earnings, an increased risk of trouble with law enforcement or substance misuse, more expense to society through the criminal justice and welfare systems, and on, and on, and on.
Just as these students have fallen through the proverbial cracks, however, policymakers do not seem to be doing nearly enough to solve the problem.
In their reporting on these missing children, “60 Minutes” spoke with one of them, a high school senior in Tampa, Fla. named Kiara. Kiara said she had moved around town eight or nine times since elementary school; her stepfather lost her job when the pandemic hit, and she was currently living in a motel.
A school district administrator said Kiara had been a good student before the pandemic but started failing classes when learning went virtual. Listening to her describe her situation, it’s not hard to figure out why her performance suffered:
Not having that teacher to really talk to was kinda difficult and just me not having a laptop at the time was difficult doing it on my phone. Just such a small screen. …[Doing virtual learning via her phone] was very difficult because my phone is really skinny. At the time, I didn’t have glasses so I’d have to, like, slide to the left and slide to the right and slide up. So it was just really iffy. …
Definitely, I definitely come outside [to escape her crowded motel room]. I’ll sit here and study. But sometimes, you know, the mosquitoes are coming, you know. It’s hard.
At times, Kiara would walk a mile to a nearby park to get some peace and quiet to complete her work — but the park didn’t have WiFi or an electrical outlet. She said she would “try to make it work as best I could,” but it doesn’t take a doctorate in education to realize why any student’s performance would suffer in that environment.
In some respects, Kiara represents one of the luckier victims of the school shutdowns. She has big dreams — she wants to become a dental hygienist, and eventually a dentist — and fought through the obstacles the COVID-19 closures put in her path. But it’s sadly understandable to see how some families and some children would just give up.
Across the country, public school enrollment has declined for the current academic year. Outside D.C., Montgomery County, Maryland’s public school enrollment declined by 3,300, or about 2 percent, this fall; on the other side of the Potomac River, Fairfax County, Virginia’s enrollment declined by nearly 5 percent. In Missouri, public school enrollment dropped 3.2 percent statewide, with a 31 percent drop in preschool enrollment and a nearly 10 percent decline in kindergarten enrollment.
These changes represent two distinct trends — both ends of the proverbial barbell. In Montgomery County, Fairfax County, and other wealthy enclaves, the enrollment declines come from affluent families enrolling their children in private schools to escape another year of virtual or hybrid learning in public education. At the other end of the spectrum, children like Kiara in families facing financial and other logistical difficulties dropped out of virtual learning entirely.
The chaos children like Kiara continue to face with virtual learning — a national scandal if there ever was one — argues for a major expansion of school choice, so that no child faces these kinds of obstacles again. Thankfully, Ohio just enacted a major expansion of school choice, giving students an early Christmas present; other states should follow suit (in the interests of full disclosure, I have worked on a variety of projects advocating for school choice; however, no clients had input into this article).
Until every parent has access to school choice, school districts should start taking steps to reopen their classrooms to in-person instruction. There are fine and valid disagreements to be had over the necessity of business closures during the pandemic, but the idea that bars should remain open yet schools remain closed runs counter to any sense of logic, not to mention good public policy.
The future of hundreds of thousands of children lies in the hands of policymakers and school officials coming up with a plan to open their doors as soon as possible, and keep them open. Kiara and students like her deserve far better than what they have received during the past nine months — and they deserve it now.
An uneducated and dependent majority is what the left wants.
“Lockdowns Have Caused More Children To Drop Out Of School...”
So the virus is benefiting education by getting kids away from those monsters in our schools. GREAT to see an upside to this otherwise-nightmare.
Next we’ll be told that due to all this covid stuff that MORE money is needed for teachers, public education, equipment, staff...blah blah blah. They don’t wanna see the students anymore, but damned if they plan on giving up the money.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Absolutely agree with you %100! In the area where I live every private school has been back Face-to-Face with some modifications since August. All of the local public schools have gone %100 virtual- after allowing 1 day a week attendance for several weeks. My daughter attends one of the private schools. I told my husband in 10-15 years she and her classmates will be the ones creating the wealth and jobs in this country. The “students” who “attended” public school will be the ones the Left will be using to stir public discord. He said you’re right the Left will be looking at people like our daughter and saying to the ones who probably won’t be able to read “see they have more than you- vote for us and we will take it from her and give it to you.” One of my daughter’s teachers and I got into a brief discussion because she couldn’t understand why the public schools were closing. I postulated the DemonRats were behind it all because they know they need an ignorant, lazy populace to vote for them.
Yep. Stupid, terrified, socially dysfunctional, and dependent - exactly what an autocratic oligarchy needs from its subjects.
Montgomery county Alabama is “missing” 10,000 students. They don’t have enough Chromebooks so that may be part of the problem. Plus spotty wi-fi coverage in the rural areas. It’s a mess. Most of the surrounding counties are in class.
Amen!
And that is EXACTLY what our government run "education" system is producing.
I've been saying it for 26 years, I'm going to say it again. Homeschool your kids, people!
That old excuse about two incomes being necessary to live in today's world has been totally exposed for what it is. An excuse.
Oh, what's the use? Go ahead, excuse-makers. Commence flaming.
Many, many reports of cyber and zoom being failures and parents up in arms against the school boards, but ... the commie boards have seen this coming for a long time and are just marking time until some clearer governmental (emphasis on the mental) direction is authorized.
For now, the reports of whatever kind of failure in the school system is just filler to placate the parents and heep them from "sitting in" and taking the buildings thay have paid, and are paying for.
Dropped out or decided to homeschool?
l8r
60% of small business owners are conservative. They are the target of these shutdowns.
My nine-year old grandson asked me why he needs to go to school any more. He said he can find anything he wants on the internet. In his mind, if the purpose of school is to teach knowledge, why can’t he get it from the same source that’s been used the last eight months, the computer screen. That is why we will get more dropouts from the kids who are already smart and disciplined and can teach themselves.
Starting with the propaganda, through the property taxes to pay for it, may enough people walk away as they realize they can do better with an internet connection than they could with the school "system".
The ONLY reason most boards of education care is they get money from the state for each child in school.
My kids out here in Marin County California finally going back to the actual campus my 13-year-old has been showing out for this socially distanced computer bowl crap lab and he’s been the only kid there and my 10 year old is been going to his school and only him and one other kid show up
So you can as the school districts are finally starting to open back up a lot of these parents are still keeping their kids at home which to me is kind of bizarre
I want my kids getting up every day at 7 AM brushing your teeth getting something to eat getting on your bike and going to school until they’re graduating high school
An uneducated and dependent majority is what the left wants.
Unfortunately you are right, sad but true and of course they will deny it. Dumb and ignorant people are more easily controlled, and that virus debacle plays right into heir hands. As hard as I may try I just don’t see a good outcome.
Unfortunately, high school is a rite of passage, and frankly one he was looking forward to. Trying to make the best decisions in unchartered territory.
“An uneducated and dependent majority is what the left wants.”
That is why the left is against Home Schooling and private schools. The left wants your child to be in their public schools to brainwash them. Remember Hillary’s it takes a village to raise a child. Just Say No
Parental Investment - Survivable of the Fittest
If we raise and educate our own children the fewer Antifa/BLM members in the future. Our children will excel in their careers and help grow the family wealth that is passed down from one generation to the next.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mount.
Don’t allow a crisis go to waste.
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