Education, Education, Education
Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers believed only educated citizens could make the American experiment in self-government succeed. He and John Adams proposed a system of broad, free, public education that was radical in the day.
For a long time education was the responsibility of parents alone in what we now call ‘home schooling.’ That was how kids learned the three “R’s.”
Our public education system started with local communities. States started getting involved in the 1830’s but it wasn’t until the 1920’s that education of the kids became mandatory, whether public or private, the latter mostly supplied by churches/religious groups.
As a result of those efforts and evolution, most children grew up reasonably well educated, not only in reading, writing and arithmetic, but they also learned how to be good citizens with an understanding of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
In 1857, 100 teachers met in Philadelphia and formed the National Teachers Association, later named the National Education Association (NEA). It had very worthy goals – “to elevate the character and advance the interest of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States.”
And while it continued for many years as an apolitical, professional organization it ultimately became a union with greater emphasis on what helped teachers, rather than what was in the best interest of children’s education. That became blatantly obvious during the COVID education debacle in the US.
In addition, the NEA spends a lot of money in the political arena. In the 2021 elections it spent twice as much in political contributions as it did on its membership, with over $67M in donations. It placed third in total political contributions in the country that year. The nation’s second largest teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), spent $49M for political activities that same election cycle. Together, teachers’ unions are number one in total political spending.
Those numbers make the two teachers’ unions able to exert significant influence in the chambers of government. That influence was used to keep schools closed in many states. Those continued closures were then recommended by the federal government, spearheaded by the CDC as egged on by the teachers’ unions. These closures continued for over 2 years in many states and municipalities despite the quickly known experience(science) that the risk of catching COVID-19 and dying from it was largely in the 65+ age group – and almost nonexistent in school age youngsters. Even when some closed schools opened, the mandatory mask wearing and 6-foot distance between students was implemented.
An overwhelming majority of states saw significant score declines among fourth- and eighth graders in math and reading between 2019 and 2022, with students posting the largest score declines ever recorded in math, according to new federal data that provides the most comprehensive evaluation to date of the impact of the pandemic on academic achievement.
“The results show the profound toll on student learning during the pandemic, as the size and scope of the declines are the largest ever in mathematics,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NAEP), the research arm of the Education Department. Carr added: “These mathematics results are historic. They are the largest declines in mathematics that we have observed in the entire history of this assessment.”
In addition, the percentage of students below the “basic” level – the lowest level of academic achievement – grew. In math, 25% of fourth graders were below the basic level in 2022 and 38% of eighth graders were below the NAEP basic level. In reading, the percentage of students below the NAEP basic increased by 3 percentage points in both grades.
As a footnote to the report America’s Catholic schools defied these sobering trends. Students attending parochial schools experienced no meaningful decline in either subject on the latest NAEP. The report also says although over twice as many private school educators (17%) were in the COVID-vulnerable 60-or-older category, Catholic/parochial schools stayed open for their students.
Faced with those public school numbers, one would think the emphasis would be on making up lost ground. That school boards would have school administrations and teachers working on significant improvements in reading and math to get back on track of more learning and scholastic achievement.
Instead of doing that, school administrations and many teachers are embroiled in controversial items like CRT, Project 1619 and teaching sexual preference to very young students.
Needless to say, parents are not only disappointed, but frustrated. We hear nothing positive for the now below grade level kids in those school districts. Instead, there appears to be a push for classroom learning and curriculum with little or nothing to do with reading, writing or math. That sexually explicit classroom subjects and library books for 3rd graders and younger students seem to be more important that the basics. Many of those parents with daughters don’t want boys in girls’ lavatories, locker rooms and competing in female sports activities.
On top of that, parents who loudly complained about the situation, have been labeled by the DOJ as ‘domestic terrorists’ – and many have even been arrested. This was done at the behest of the teachers’ unions.
Pre-pandemic, the US ranked 18th in the world in education systems, so we were not setting any records before COVID 19. Add the shutdowns in 2020-22 and we’ll fall even further down the list.
Education, education, education. It’s the key to the success of kids these days to function in the Information Age.
It’s past time, parents, school boards and school administrations get their focus back on teaching kids the basics – the 3 R’s. That also means taking the huge teachers’ unions out of the driving seat.
*********************
Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/education_a_oncenoble_profession.html
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question: What is the smallest country in the world? The answer to last week’s # of furlongs in a mile: 8. The distance is now mainly used for horse racing in the UK.
The labor market cooled in June with a lower than expected 209,000 jobs added.
Gallop released a poll last week that showed just 31% of American adults “have confidence” in the U.S. government, down from 56% in 2006. A whopping 69% of Americans said they did not have confidence in the government. Pretty sad state for the feds.
Disney stock price is down from$200 in 2021 to around $90 now. Its stock rating has also been lowered. As Disney’s trouble with the state of Florida and the raising of its theme park and streaming prices, attendance is lower, and income is down.
President Biden vetoed a bi-partisan bill which would have totally killed his plans to forgive student loan debt. As you know, SCOTUS killed his current plan last week. He still thinks somehow you and I should pay the college costs and legitimate loan contracts for former students.
Meta (Facebook) launched a rival to Twitter called ‘Threads “last week. It’s a text-based version of Meta’s photo-sharing app Instagram. Billionaire titans duking it out.
Epiq Bankruptcy reports Chapter 11 “reorganization” bankruptcies surged 68% the first half of this year, with filings for small businesses climbing by 55%. Chapter 13 filings that allow individuals to repay a portion of their debts jumped by 23%. The president is calling it Bidenomics.
Oh, BTW, the WH insists inflation remains high because of “high profit margins” by businesses.
Likely one of the most secure buildings on earth – the White House with cameras and Secret Service everywhere – and we’re told they will likely never know who or how a stash of cocaine was found there.
Two-thirds of NATO nations have banned cluster bombs because they cause untold civilian casualties. So, guess what? The US is now sending cluster bombs to Ukraine.
