It’s a very hard article to read, and everyone should read it. One of the best I’ve read on the topic and I’ve read many.
I’ve been involved in several private Facebook groups and activism in CA to try to get schools reopened (private and public are both affected), and to get sports back. Let Them Play, Reopen CA Schools, etc. I have two teens (both athletes) who used to live very different, busy, active happy lives before forced into their lonely dark bedrooms for “remote learning” by the state.
What I’ve learned after participating in 7 reopen schools rallies in front of district offices, and 3 LetThemPlay rallies, and 4 recall signature gathering events, is only these three things work:
1) Thousands of football parents calling, emailing, in rage in a single day to Santa Clara county to get them to reverse a particularly bad decision (harsher than the state’s). Football parents are enraged; I wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley.
2) Begin the action of recalling school board—to contact the county boards of elections and start collecting signatures. I do this every Sun afternoon and we are close to recalling one of our members, and will likely recall two more. I advise many parents in many CA districts to do this, and many are starting this. It lights a fire under the boards. They blame the unions but THEY make the final decisions to stay closed (if the state allows reopening which they have at certain points in time during the past year—the school districts and parents need to jump on that!).
3) Withdraw from districts and enroll in private schools or do homeschooling. This doesn’t hurt the districts at all (Newsom froze spending at 2019 levels and anyway the Dems just poured billions at the public schools today, for years to come) but it removes the child from the pain of remote learning. And best of all, the curriculum and teaching is universally better with either private or homeschooling.
It’s long past time for school choice and vouchers.
It was a powerful piece due to the stark contrast. I cannot help but wonder how many times this story could be told. Kids are resilient in many ways but that resilience (and growth) comes from activities and engagement. I think one of the worst things that can happen to a kid is to be isolated.
The undeniable fact that enrages me the most is that much of this “lockdown” was done for politics.
We have always homeschooled our kids, but even the lack of extracurricular activities over several months impacted them. How could it not? I am sure it was much worse on kids who were used to attending school!
I wonder how many elite parents are starting to realize this is necessary.
The Miseducation of America’s Elites
Affluent parents, terrified of running afoul of the new orthodoxy in their children’s private schools, organize in secret.
https://www.city-journal.org/the-miseducation-of-americas-elites