“The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading,” read the New York Times headline. The subtitle declared, “The results of a national test showed just how devastating the last two years have been for 9-year-old schoolchildren, especially the most vulnerable.” But the pandemic is not really to blame. Progressives’ preferred policies are to blame.
What's that saying...you can lead a horse to water but you just can't make him pee standing up? Or something like that. Anyway, we have a similar situation in our country right now but it's certainly no joke. We all have our tribes, and anyone outside our tribe is suspect. Facts, which were once used to settle an argument, are meaningless to most Americans anymore, and that includes those on this site who aren't at least suspicious of Trump (he factually failed to defend his allegations of election fraud in multiple courts, he factually did not tamp down the rhetoric on Jan 6, and he factually had top secret documents in his possession when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago). So IMO, the consequences of COVID on education will be just another big stick used by each side to further their own agenda while vilifying their opponents, and the REAL victims - students in this case - are left to figure things out on their own. This applies to almost every other politically-charged topic: Border security, voter registration, gun control, homelessness, addiction, and poverty just to name a few.
Agree totally! I have 9 grandchildren who have been home schooled thru 12 grades. They have been taught and know more from their schooling than I learned in public school. 3 of them have gone to college. The great grandchildren have started home schooling as well. The Woke Public Schools are losing and don't like it.
On a related note, let’s see how well this fall’s incoming college freshmen who didn’t have to submit test scores perform in their first year of college. I know someone who attended religious private school (more in-person learning than the rest of our state) who didn’t get first choice colleges because of the high number of applications due to the test score waiver. If freshmen with mediocre scores do not do well at competitive colleges, will we be surprised?
Republicans SHOULD push for school choice, but largely WON'T because their wealthy donors and the chamber of commerce crowd are against it. Republicans champion individual responsibility, but no-one will hold these individuals accountable for these ill-advised and wrong thinking actions.
Democrats move in lock step. Republicans always have people willing to vote for their personal benefits of money, power, favorable press, etc. and throw the best interests of their constituents under the bus. The left cheers them as mavericks as they line their pockets and continue to be invited to the cocktail circuit soirees. Fealty to the interests of their voters is wholly dependent upon where they sit in the reelection cycle.
As to the education decline, the pandemic is the savior of the Educrats giving them an easy excuse for their failures. These downward trends would have occurred even if there hadn't been a pandemic. It was just made far worse by the leftist academics in charge continuing their trend of wrong-think in all facets of their involvement. Regan said it very well, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”
Now I'm just waiting for the calls to discriminate against red state kids because of their unfair advantage of being in school over the blue state urchins. They'll even say it w/ a straight face to the cheers of their lemmings.
Completely agree, but we are a family that spent 18 years homeschooling 3 now successful and very decent adults. So, I've been in this camp for a long time.
I said, YEARS AGO, school choice was a winning platform, for Republicans, but then they were wedded to government control of schools. They are complicit in allowing teachers’ unions to gain the power they currently maintain.
Yep. I would even advocate for allocating extra school choice resources to the poorer communities to help parents get their kids to better schools. Choice is good, but only if it's actually a choice. There are many parents (mostly single-parent mothers) who would jump at the opportunity to choose a thriving school environment for their children if they could actually get them there. I also think charter schools that build on the principles of parental involvement, classical education (with electives in more culturally relevant topics), and just consequences should be part of the "make-education-great" package in both urban and rural low-income schools. Students should have to apply, a parent should have to commit to attendance and homework, and class sizes limited to 18. But it will never happen with the NEA and AFT.
Of course the left will spin and spin, but anyone with any common sense knows the Dems and their progressive wing are to blame for this. Let’s just hope there are more with common sense so we can throw them out on Nov 8!
What's that saying...you can lead a horse to water but you just can't make him pee standing up? Or something like that. Anyway, we have a similar situation in our country right now but it's certainly no joke. We all have our tribes, and anyone outside our tribe is suspect. Facts, which were once used to settle an argument, are meaningless to most Americans anymore, and that includes those on this site who aren't at least suspicious of Trump (he factually failed to defend his allegations of election fraud in multiple courts, he factually did not tamp down the rhetoric on Jan 6, and he factually had top secret documents in his possession when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago). So IMO, the consequences of COVID on education will be just another big stick used by each side to further their own agenda while vilifying their opponents, and the REAL victims - students in this case - are left to figure things out on their own. This applies to almost every other politically-charged topic: Border security, voter registration, gun control, homelessness, addiction, and poverty just to name a few.
Agree totally! I have 9 grandchildren who have been home schooled thru 12 grades. They have been taught and know more from their schooling than I learned in public school. 3 of them have gone to college. The great grandchildren have started home schooling as well. The Woke Public Schools are losing and don't like it.
Erick, sounds like it might be a good time to re-run your "Where does Brian Kemp go for his apology?" post.
Once again, the Legacy media got it 100% wrong.
On a related note, let’s see how well this fall’s incoming college freshmen who didn’t have to submit test scores perform in their first year of college. I know someone who attended religious private school (more in-person learning than the rest of our state) who didn’t get first choice colleges because of the high number of applications due to the test score waiver. If freshmen with mediocre scores do not do well at competitive colleges, will we be surprised?
Republicans SHOULD push for school choice, but largely WON'T because their wealthy donors and the chamber of commerce crowd are against it. Republicans champion individual responsibility, but no-one will hold these individuals accountable for these ill-advised and wrong thinking actions.
Democrats move in lock step. Republicans always have people willing to vote for their personal benefits of money, power, favorable press, etc. and throw the best interests of their constituents under the bus. The left cheers them as mavericks as they line their pockets and continue to be invited to the cocktail circuit soirees. Fealty to the interests of their voters is wholly dependent upon where they sit in the reelection cycle.
As to the education decline, the pandemic is the savior of the Educrats giving them an easy excuse for their failures. These downward trends would have occurred even if there hadn't been a pandemic. It was just made far worse by the leftist academics in charge continuing their trend of wrong-think in all facets of their involvement. Regan said it very well, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”
Now I'm just waiting for the calls to discriminate against red state kids because of their unfair advantage of being in school over the blue state urchins. They'll even say it w/ a straight face to the cheers of their lemmings.
Completely agree, but we are a family that spent 18 years homeschooling 3 now successful and very decent adults. So, I've been in this camp for a long time.
I said, YEARS AGO, school choice was a winning platform, for Republicans, but then they were wedded to government control of schools. They are complicit in allowing teachers’ unions to gain the power they currently maintain.
Yep. I would even advocate for allocating extra school choice resources to the poorer communities to help parents get their kids to better schools. Choice is good, but only if it's actually a choice. There are many parents (mostly single-parent mothers) who would jump at the opportunity to choose a thriving school environment for their children if they could actually get them there. I also think charter schools that build on the principles of parental involvement, classical education (with electives in more culturally relevant topics), and just consequences should be part of the "make-education-great" package in both urban and rural low-income schools. Students should have to apply, a parent should have to commit to attendance and homework, and class sizes limited to 18. But it will never happen with the NEA and AFT.
Of course the left will spin and spin, but anyone with any common sense knows the Dems and their progressive wing are to blame for this. Let’s just hope there are more with common sense so we can throw them out on Nov 8!
Depending on how obvious the incompetence is anywhere from 30% - 40%+ give Biden an "approve".
Eric did a fantastic breakdown, something like...
80% vote
Of those 37% will always vote R & D
Of the remaining 26% 1/2 are one issue voters
So you are swinging an election with 13% of the voters.
In the end, unlike president, the candidate with the most votes wins. That is an axiom that is lost on a lot of people.
Another winning issue with non-traditional Republican voters.