Remember how we shut down all the schools for a virus that didn't put most children in danger?
Yeah, maybe that was dumb.
The math and reading performance of 13-year-olds in the United States has hit the lowest level in decades, according to test scores released today from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold-standard federal exam.
The last time math performance was this low for 13-year-olds was in 1990. In reading, 2004.
Maybe we should have been listening to the experts who predicted "brain drain" and developmental consequences that would set America, and the world at large, back decades in education by shutting down schools for two years.
A large body of research shows that most American children experienced academic struggles during the pandemic. It has also been clear that low-income students of color were most heavily affected by school closures and remote learning, which in some districts lasted more than a year.
I heard many experts discussing this from 2020-2022, but most people probably didn't, because the Experts™ censored their peers from warning us. And yet the truth remains that some people did actually warn us that closing schools wasn't merely a 2-year setback, but a decision that would affect multiple generations to come.
The 13-year-olds who took this version of the NAEP exam last fall were 10 years old — and in fourth or fifth grade — when the pandemic began. Many were old enough to participate in remote learning without minute-to-minute adult assistance, as younger children often needed.
But the ages of 10 to 13 are also a crucial period for mastering foundational skills, from multiplication to recognizing a character's feelings in a short narrative passage.
"The bottom line — these results show that there are troubling gaps in the basic skills of these students," said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which gives the NAEP exam. "This is a huge-scale challenge that faces the nation."
But it's okay, because proficiency is racist anyway. Civilization might not work without competent, educated people, but we'll feel nice when we're all equal in squalor. We can be the "quit" in equity!
The percentage of 13-year-olds who reported reading for fun has also declined. Last fall, 31 percent said they "never or hardly ever" read for fun, compared to 22 percent in 2012.
Have you looked at the woke books they give these kids? No wonder it's not fun!
Anyway, we might not have to wait long for the end to come, because while we talk about race and gender instead of teaching math, other countries like China are preparing their kids for engineering and war...
