Destroying Education in America

Writing on the Hot Air Site, John Sexton quotes at length from a recent Nicholas Kristof column about school closures. (via Maggie’s Farm) This saves you the indignity of subscribing to the Times.

As Sexton points out, Kristof is quite correct to lay the blame at the foot of Democratic politicians. And yet, he or his editors do not mention the greater blame, which belongs to the teachers’ unions.

Here are excerpts from the Kristof column:

The blunt fact is that it is Democrats — including those who run the West Coast, from California through Oregon to Washington State — who have presided over one of the worst blows to the education of disadvantaged Americans in history. The result: more dropouts, less literacy and numeracy, widening race gaps, and long-term harm to some of our most marginalized youth.

The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank this month estimated that educational disruptions during this pandemic may increase the number of high school dropouts over 10 years by 3.8 percent, while also reducing the number of college-educated workers in the labor force. This will shrink the incomes of Americans for 70 years, until the last of today’s students leave the work force, the bank said…

“We have to acknowledge that there is a large percentage of kids that have ‘disappeared’ — students who have never logged in, or logged in and never fully engaged,” said Melissa Connelly, chief executive of OneGoal, a nonprofit that does outstanding work with low-income high school students…

“The evidence on remote learning suggests that despite the best efforts of teachers it doesn’t work for a large share of kids,” said Emily Oster, a Brown University economist who has studied the issue. “I think we’ve deprioritized children in a way that will do long-term damage.”

Sexton comments:

There’s a lot to like about this piece but there are still a couple of obvious problems with it. For one, it blames Democrats generally but doesn’t quite single out teacher’s unions which are the main source of opposition to reopening, with or without the vaccine. Yes, it’s true that Democrats are responsible for this problem at every level, but it’s also true that some Democratic mayors and governors have been doing their best, even suing school districts to light a fire under them and the unions. The word union never appears in the piece, which is very odd.

The data on safety is in and the need of students is great. This is the moment the president should be cranking up the bully pulpit to full volume and saying all the things that Nick Kristof says in his column. The fact that the White House is not doing that means its not just teacher’s unions who are abdicating their responsibility to America’s children, it’s President Biden as well.

Of course, many private and parochial schools have remained open, giving their students an advantage. Up to a point, that is. Yesterday, Megan Kelly explained to Bill Maher why she had taken her two boys out of New York’s Collegiate School. For those who are unfamiliar with New York private schools, Collegiate sits at the summit. Parents would sell their souls to get their children into that school.

The Daily Mail reports:

She said her sons' school in particular troubled her.

When he was in third grade, she said, they 'unleashed a three-week experimental trans-education program.'

Kelly said it was difficult for her son to understand, and not helpful.

Her son was in a class where the children were eight and nine at the time.

'It wasn't about support — we felt that it was more like they were trying to convince them,' she said. 'Like, come on over.'

She also said her kindergartner, Thatcher, 'was told to write a letter to the Cleveland Indians objecting to their mascot.'

And then, Bill Maher himself read from an anti-racism letter that had been circulating at the school.

Maher read from a letter which was circulated among a diversity group at the school that said things like 'there's a killer cop sitting at every school where white children learn.'

The letter, written by the executive director of Orleans Public Education Network, Nahliah Webber, also claimed 'white kids are being indoctrinated in black death'.

Maher continued reading: 'I'm tired of white people reveling in their state-sanctioned depravity and snuffing out black life with no consequences.'

He added: 'There [are] racist problems problems in this country, but this is hyperbole. And this is making people crazy. This is not the way we get to the Promised Land.'

Keep in mind, this is the best that New York City is offering. If you want to know why wealthy people are leaving town and moving to Florida, the reason is simple. Once their children’s schools became consumed in woke madness, there was no longer a reason to stay.