OPINION:
In some respects, the children of this nation are now less educated than their parents.
That is the inescapable conclusion of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, which declined among all racial groups and in urban, suburban and rural areas. Those students hit hardest were poor and non-White. Among 13-year-olds, the decline in math scores was the biggest drop in 50 years.
Much of the blame is due to the federal lockdowns during COVID-19, which were, of course, initiated and enforced by former President Donald Trump.
Catholic schools, which generally stayed open during the pandemic, experienced no net declines in test scores. They already had superior results — despite the fact that most Catholic schools have older facilities and less money than comparable public schools or public schools in wealthier suburbs — primarily because they focus on education.
Michael Hartney and Corey DeAngelis note: “The typical parochial school starts its learning day earlier, focuses on the basics, and most of all were much more likely to encourage and provide in-person learning throughout the pandemic.”
The failure of the educational establishment to do their jobs is not particularly surprising. Most public schools have been failing for some time, and most parents outside of wealthy suburban enclaves have, wherever possible, tried to escape public schools.
This failure is not exclusively or even primarily the fault of teachers in the classroom. Teachers are, in many ways, just like their students — hostages of the labor unions.
The founder of Common Good, Philip K. Howard, has said: “While teacher pay has stagnated over the past two decades, the percentage of school budgets going to administrators has skyrocketed. Half the states now have more non-instructional personnel than teachers. … Union officials and central bureaucrats owe their careers to the bureaucratic labyrinth they create and oversee.”
Because of the deficiencies of the educational system and the genuine deformities in the larger culture — both of which are obvious — questions about how and by whom children are raised have taken center stage in electoral politics. It is no accident that the recent Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia featured no fewer than five presidential candidates as speakers.
This emphasis on the health, security and education of children probably inures the benefit of the candidates who are young enough to still have young children at home. More specifically, in the contest between Mr. Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, it provides an advantage to Mr. DeSantis.
Mr. DeSantis senses this. Speaking about the deformity of the culture and the particular targeting of children by some on the left, he recently said: “I see the issue not just through the lens of a governor or a presidential candidate. I see these issues through the lens of a dad of a 6-, a 5- and a 3-year-old. My wife and I really believe that parents in this country should be able to send their kids to school, should be able to let them watch cartoons, or just be kids without having some agenda shoved down their throats.”
Apart from emphasizing the age difference between himself and Mr. Trump, the governor’s comments also serve to draw a careful and nuanced distinction between traditional conservatism — which at some fundamental level emphasizes the necessity of a shared morality — and Mr. Trump, who has been more concerned with political transactions than any shared morality.
In case you missed that point, Mr. DeSantis went on to make it clear: “When I see events like they had in New York City where [drag queens are] chanting … ‘we are coming for your kids.’ Let me tell you something: You start messing with our kids, we’ve got problems.”
The governor has a record to go along with the rhetoric. He signed into law the Let Kids Be Kids bill in May, tax relief that included a permanent exemption for baby and toddler necessities such as strollers, cribs, diapers and baby wipes, universal school choice legislation, the Parental Rights in Education Act, and the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
All of us should look forward to the national discussion we are about to have on how we educate children, who make decisions about raising them, and, ultimately, who is responsible for their care and well-being.
On one side are those who believe the state owns children. On the other are those who believe that mothers, fathers and other guardians should make decisions about the children in their care.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House. He can be reached at mike@mwrstrat.com.
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