The Real School Wars, Part Two
Let's Say the Quiet Part Out Loud
Photo by Natilyn Photography on Unsplash
On Friday, I started a series about the latest issues in education politics. The big issues aren’t CRT or gender-neutral bathrooms, but accountability over school closures and classroom practices.
Last week, I gave a little intro to the topic and talked about the best way to get closure on that sad chapter in education history. We need more reparations, rather than putting public officials in the stocks, I said.
Today, let’s talk about the why’s. Why didn’t people push back against school closures at the time, especially in places where things were really extreme, like New Jersey, California, and Chicago? We have to go back to the 2016 election.
Due to a perfect storm of blindness of media pundits, arrogance among elites, and just plain bad luck, Donald Trump became president of the United States in 2016. Trump is a wart on American history. A glitch in our democracy. A massive error that will forever be an embarrassment to our country.
After the disaster of an election, Democratic leaders and most media sources focused on getting him out of office and insuring that he was never elected again. This meant that ride-or-die Democrats were supported without hard questions, and middle of the roaders and moderate Republicans were ignored.
Keeping kids out of school buildings was obviously a bad thing, but it was impossible to say that in public. If people like Weingarten and Fauci said that we had live in an igloo to prevent certain death, then that’s what we had to do. There was a fear that a more moderate position would inadvertently support Donald Trump.
In short, the truth took a backseat to politics, which is silly and sad.
With the potential of another Trump-Biden election in 2024, I’m concerned that we are returned back to that “us versus them” mentality. Children are the biggest losers when the stakes get too high.
But, as I said last week, yelling at certain Democratic leaders won’t help children improve their reading and math levels. We can learn from past mistakes, sure, but we can’t dwell too long on the bad decisions. In the meantime, let’s give children better quality education.
But that goal — a better quality education — has also been politicized and defined differently by different groups. And that will be the topic of the final newsletter on this topic. Coming soon!
LINKS
I have one more installment on the series on education politics, which will probably happen on Wednesday or Thursday. Then Friday will be all about the Coronation, because everybody needs a guilty pleasure.
Why are people still giving Charles a hard time about Diana? So weird. People don’t get along and get divorced every day. 1/2 of all marriages end in divorce. Nobody feels sorry for Meghan Markle’s first husband. I can’t keep up w all the Kardashian marriages.
Over the weekend, I attended the New York Book Fair. Pictures here.
I want to mock this article about “rich mom energy” in Vogue, but I also really want a pair of white jeans.
You’re not alone in exploring this issue: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/05/wheres-the-gop-soul-searching-for-getting-covid-wrong.html
The comments are the more intriguing part.
One danger is, of course, thinking that we knew then what we know now about how Covid spread. We forget just how little we really knew early on and how tough it became to make any decisions after matters became loyalty tests for different groups. Having taught throughout this period, either via webcam or later face to face, I recall mostly just how little anyone really knew. The 1.1 million American deaths, highest of any country, remain a very scary number. I am concerned that we’re not prepared for the next pandemic. I also think that students do indeed deserve additional tutoring or other support to make up for what they’ve lost. My first post closure face to face class were shell shocked—took us awhile to reach equilibrium.
I personally feel sorry for BOTH of Meghan's husbands.