In Porterville, California, farm worker Mayra Guzman worries about the future of her son, Manuel. Distance learning for him has been a complete failure.
“The teachers are calling me. You know, why Manuel is not in class? Manuel is missing this work, having a rough time. We are not learning,” said Guzman. Manuel responded, “We’re not learning nothing. Like, most children are not paying attention, like, we’re not paying attention. Like, we’re playing video games or something like that on our phones.”
For tens of millions of school children, it’s a similar story. A McKinsey report found students from kindergarten to fifth grade have missed out on 20% of the reading and 33% of math because of the pandemic.
Axios reports, “The U.S. economy could take a $14 trillion to $28 trillion blow in the long run because of learning loss,” according to Stanford Economist Eric Hanushek.
Wielding unusual power and resistance to returning to the classroom, are America’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, says, “It’s not a matter of not trusting the science. It’s a matter of, there’s been so much disinformation, you know, people don’t know who to trust. And so part of what’s vital here is to make sure that educators are involved in this process as well as the resources to make it happen.”
In fact, the science is now clear. On Feb. 3rd, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new director, Biden appointee, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said it is safe for teachers to return to the classroom, adding, “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely so while we are implementing.”
Almost immediately, The White House pushed back against Walensky’s assertion.
“Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously, she’s the head of the CDC, but we’re going to wait for the final guidance to come out so we can use that for schools around the country,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary.
A rift like that amid the pandemic would have received monumental coverage during the Trump administration. It received very little last week. To its credit, CNN did cover it, saying, “The administration seems to be all over the place on this frankly, and can’t get their story straight.”
The conflict may have exposed just how beholden the Biden administration is to the teachers unions and to a policy of caution in the extreme.
“I’ve spoken to Dr. Fauci and the so-called government experts since May of last year that none of the studies indicate that the kids are good spreaders of this disease. The kids don’t get very sick, really they don’t tend to transmit the disease either. We have studies now in a dozen different European countries. We have studies of private schools across the United States that haven’t missed a beat in a bit in session without any major surge,” said Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
The conflict has left families in a state of frustration. Take Fairfax County, Virginia., the nation’s 11th largest school district. Teachers there have been vaccinated yet still resist returning to the classroom. Administrators have crafted a hybrid model that leaves no one happy. One observer noted on Twitter, “They’re hiring thousands of unskilled classroom monitors to watch kids watch computer screens because their fully vaccinated teachers won’t return to the building. This is nuts.”
The damage done to children, deprived of education at a time when their brains are rapidly developing, means damage to a future economy. Stanford Economist Hanushek notes, “The main thing that drives the economy is the skills of the people.”
