Woe the poor high school senior living in the U.S. who, looking forward to graduation in May or June, already accepted to the college of her choice, is now told that the schools are closed for the rest of the year and her plans will have to be scrapped. She will likely have to repeat her entire senior year next year, or perhaps even the year after, since the U.S. seems intent on scrapping life in general for the rest of this calendar year.
First, let me assure you that I’m not necessarily arguing against the closing of the schools. We must protect our young people as best we can. What I’m arguing is that there appears to be absolutely zero amount of planning for the education of our youth … it seems that nobody is considering alternate means for these young people to complete the school year that they have already spent 6 months of their lives on. Where is the common sense??? Must we keep throwing out the baby with the bathwater? Does nobody in our government think any more? Just because we have a fool in the White House shouldn’t preclude other elected officials from using their brains for something other than holding their skulls in place.
Once again, state governors have shown their immense capacity for willful ignorance by closing schools through the end of the school year, despite the fact that it is only March, and with callous disregard for both students and parents.
“The governor told California parents the SAT and other standardized testing would be canceled and the state would help with supplies to homeschool.”
Say WHAT??? The entire SAT is cancelled? Whose brilliant idea was that? So, even students who technically completed their course work at mid-term will not be able to take the SAT in order to enter college in the fall? What would you do if you were a student in that situation? I think many will say, “Screw this, I’ll just go work for the sanitation department,” else “I’ll just kill myself now.” I don’t suppose it occurred to the dolts in the Department of Education that the SAT could, with appropriate safeguards, be administered online???
And “the state would help with supplies to homeschool”? So what? Most parents whose children are beyond about 5th or 6th grade are not going to be able to homeschool their children in many subjects. Only those with advanced degrees plus the time and patience will be able to do so … likely about 10% of the population.
Common sense is seriously lacking in the United States today. Now, if the states thought shuttering the schools for the next 6 months was such a brilliant move, then they could have had teachers teach their classes online, from the comfort of their own homes, in their jammies if they wished. Students without access to a computer, modem or WiFi, could have been provided one at no cost by the Department of Education. Without the distractions, perhaps they would have learned even better, but noooooo … it would have required thought processes that no government official today seems capable of.
The quality of education in the United States had hit an all-time low, even before this. We no longer teach young people that wonderful art of thinking, but rather teach them technical skills. We teach little about history, literature, and how governments function, but rather how to program in C++, or how to build furniture. And now … we teach … nothing. For at least the foreseeable future, we teach nothing. Way. To. Go.
To reiterate, just so nobody misunderstands my point as happened in a post last week: I am not arguing against the schools being closed if that is what the medical community believe is the best way to save lives. The medical community, not public officials who are sans common sense in the midst of this pandemic. My point, however, is you don’t just shutter the schools for the next six months without a backup plan to ensure these young people are able to complete this school year. I, who am not even an educator, can think of a number of ways this could be done, but nobody … not a single person … in our federal or state governments has even bothered to try. I want our Department of Education employees to get off their arses and earn the money We the People are paying them! Yo … Betsy DeVos … are you listening? It’s your turn to earn your keep!
NANMYKEL.COM 
Thank you for sharing this post!!! You’re so right … DeVos was the worst possible choice for Secretary of Education … can you imagine if we had a real educator, one who believed that EVERY child deserves a good education? Sigh.
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