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Why You Should Stop Worrying About Kids Being “So Far Behind…”
The pandemic is preparing kids for life beyond the classroom
There’s a sense of excitement in the air. Nowhere is that excitement greater than in classrooms across the country. Except maybe in the many kitchens impersonating classrooms this year.
Christmas is less than a week away. Teachers and students are packing up their books or shutting down their laptops and eagerly starting their holiday break. And parents are cheering in the background.
The next time classes convene it will be in a new year — 2021. Thank goodness.
If ever there were a reason to celebrate the new year, this is it. Vaccines are rolling out across the country. And, for the first time in ten long months, we have the thrill of hope and the anticipation of a brighter tomorrow. A tomorrow that looks more like the yesterday we all know and love.
But despite the promise of better days to come there is a bleakness hanging over education. And, according to some alarmists, our country’s entire future.
“Kids are so behind…”
You don’t have to be an educator or even a parent to have come across what has now become a popular refrain in America. “Kids are so far behind…” One study has even projected a loss of lifetime earning potential due to the COVID-slide.
I too fear the pandemic will impact our children’s financial stability. Destruction of businesses and livelihoods caused by shutdowns. Loss of family savings. Parents or caregivers taken by COVID. Government stimulus packages our kids will be paying for forever. National debt that is spiraling even further out of control.
And don’t even get me started on the inequities and inequalities, plaguing the nation. The divisiviness among us. A problem that has existed for many years, but the pandemic has brought to light.
But one thing I’m not worried about affecting their future is a brief interruption in education. Despite what the research suggests.
The Research is Bleak
Various studies have documented the COVID-slide, the learning loss caused by the pandemic. Standardized tests show that students…
