Bill Bennett, who served as Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan, said U.S. K-12 schools are turning into a social experiment as chronic absenteeism increases and academic performance declines significantly since the coronavirus pandemic. He emphasized the importance of avoiding.
“We’re not in very good shape. We need to improve a lot more. If you look at the scores… the reading scores have held up pretty well. The math scores have gone down quite a bit. But before the coronavirus, they were on a downward slope. Remember, the coronavirus has certainly accentuated that,”’ Bennett told American Report on Tuesday.
Considering the American education report card, a sharp increase in chronic absenteeism is observed in schools across the country. According to Attendance Works, the number of schools where 30% or more of students are chronically absent increased from 14% in 2017-2018 to 43% in 2021-2022.
The New York Times Editorial Board has written a new article lamenting the damage school closures caused by the coronavirus have done to children. (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
“There’s an issue of missing students, and it’s happening right now. And I think this has a lot to do with COVID-19. I think a lot of adults, if you look at their own behavior, don’t think schools are that important.” I think I’m saying it wasn’t,” Bennett said. .
The former superintendent blamed teachers’ unions for the prolonged school closures, stressing that some schools remain closed for long periods of time, creating a public perception that school closures are not that important.
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Another factor Bennett says is worrying about what they’re observing as parents become more aware of the materials and learning methods being implemented in some schools, particularly distance learning. pointed out.
A student attends an online class from home on Thursday, September 3, 2020 in Miami, Florida, USA. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This has led parents to seek alternatives to public education, resulting in the significant growth of charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling.
“The biggest increase we’re seeing is home learning,” Bennett said. “So many parents can monitor what’s going on as much as possible, teach their children what they want to teach them, and avoid exposing their children to things that don’t concern them or don’t interest them. I decided that.”
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Despite some people’s distrust of the U.S. public education system, Bennett acknowledged the need to rebuild trust to win back parents and students. In doing so, he emphasized the importance of schools becoming important learning institutions rather than sites of social experimentation.
“The answer is to make it clear that schools matter, and therefore they must matter, once again becoming temples of learning rather than social experiments, not far-fetched ideas. , Mathematics, English, History, Science, Art and Music were well taught and taught efficiently,” he said.
Only then will students come, Bennett said.
