Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced she was closing schools on March 12, 2020 due to COVID. At the end of the 2019-20 school year, Grand Haven students were passed onto the next grade regardless of their quality of work. This lowering of expectations did not end with the initial school shutdown, but continued for two-and-a-half years. From the beginning of the next school year in the fall of 2020, the dumbing down of the American educational system and shift in control away from local communities had become painfully obvious.
Parents were bothered by this blatant lowering of expectations, and teachers were bothered as well. In the Grand Haven Area Public School (GHAPS) Staff Perception Survey one teacher wrote, “I worry about the amount of growth my students are making in the virtual environment. I’m already hearing about students that are returning to the classroom well below current grade level expectations. How will this be handled when students come back in the fall? Will there be a common message? I know that every virtual teacher is working hard and we aren’t getting the same output in student growth and performance that we would if the students were in person.”
I as a parent received the message loud and clear. Before Covid, students had a maximum number of days they were permitted to miss school. During Covid, they were required to miss school if they were in contact with someone who tested positive. Many students spent weeks of time at home without the slightest symptoms of illness. This was a drastic assault on the quality of our children’s educations. Proving you were not sick was more important than classroom attendance and achievement.
According to data from the Michigan Department of Education, these are the number of students reported chronically absent at Grand Haven High School.
2018-19, 1899 Total Students, 257 chronically absent
2019-20 - No Data Available
2020-21 - No Data Available
2021-22, 1767 Total Students, 1084 chronically absent
This was the case all across the country. In Chicago, the teacher’s unions fought hard to keep schools closed while a leader was spotted vacationing on the beach.
Unfortunately, the dumbing down of the American educational system did not begin with Covid. Covid just made it obvious to a large number of people. The following video features a Chinese immigrant living in California. He got involved in educational politics after realizing his children were receiving an inadequate education. He was shocked when he discovered that his child’s teacher did not understand that one divided by zero was undefined.
Schools across the country are failing. Historically, local communities directed the educational system in their areas, but today leaders in education look toward state and federal leaders for guidance. During Covid, local leaders decided to follow the advice of state and national leaders, rather than listening to local parents, evaluating the situation and thinking for themselves. Here are some comments from parents regarding the GHAPS leaders handling of COVID.
“When children are sent home to quarantine because of possible exposure how come they can’t Zoom into their classes? This would keep them connected and not fall back in their learning.”
“Not one teacher reached out to our kids during last lock down.”
“Culture of Caring-Difficult to answer this question when we, as parents, don’t know how you, as a district, measure these four core values. Culture of caring? Let’s see: My child was quarantined due to being contract traced to someone in her class. For two weeks, she was on her own and NONE of her teachers checked in on her or offered support. She was told her assignments were in Google Classroom. That was it. She was alone - left to learn two weeks of high school curriculum- on her own - with only the help from us, her parents, and Google. How is this a culture of caring and academic excellence when students are having difficulties learning and are sent off to remote learning by themselves without any teacher support? Not to mention the mental health struggles with our kids throughout the past year. Academic learning isn’t happening when their mental health needs to be the priority.”
“Do your research and be bold enough to stand by it. The quickly adopted narrative of COVID and not critically thinking for yourselves has weakened this community. Very poor planning and execution of goals.”
As the control of the American educational system has shifted away from local communities and towards state and federal, the quality of education has greatly suffered. Rather than raising expectations and improving education, centralized control has lowered expectations and eroded academic quality. We can’t keep going down this path. Public education needs to create a sufficient foundation that enables everyone to achieve extraordinary success in life. It is the combination of our constitutional republic and legacy of quality education that makes America the land of opportunity.