Anyone who saw Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal headline “How Los Angeles Avoided National Academic Pandemic” probably spit their coffee out as their jaws hit the ground.
California was the worst affected state in the country during the COVID pandemic. The devastating effects on children continue to be felt. State officials, and inexplicably The Journal, are now trying to convince you that the Golden State was doing great. The Journal:
The Education Department’s test scores showed that eighth- and fourth-graders struggled in all states. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed a nationwide plunge in reading and math scores. However, the Los Angeles Unified Schools District was able to stand out by recording higher scores in all four categories.
The officials from Governor Gavin Newsom down are now, unbelievably speaking out about their successes, despite the destruction they caused.
Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said that the data was “so good” and referred to the results of his district. It bodes well for our L.A. and is a testament to the strategy.
“The data were so good.”
The article continues to discuss all kinds of student test results which show how amazing, brilliant, and remarkable the students performed. They almost sound like they are saying, “We should have another epidemic and close down schools again!”
Let’s look at some numbers.
Los Angeles students received 257 points out of 500 in eighth-grade reading. This is an increase of nine points. This was the only notable gain in federal analysis of scores from cities and states. Nationally, the average score of public schools on this portion of the exam was 259.
What does that mean? Despite Los Angeles’s nine-point increase in numbers, the rest of America’s dropped by three. Yet, Los Angeles’s numbers are still below the rest. Amazing, guys, amazing! The truth is shockingly revealed in Tuesday’s New York Times headline:
California students score low in math and reading tests
Although California scores are still low, they fell less than other states between 2019-2022.
Even those numbers that “dropped less than in other states” are suspect.
California Governor Gavin Newsom tried to make the pig look better by issuing a press release on Sunday that included the absurd headline “California outperforms most States in Minimizing learning Loss.” But he and many Cali officials fail to mention the human cost. Although student test scores may have risen a bit, the psychological damage caused by lockdowns is unimaginable.
Plus, who is actually taking the test? Five hundred thousand students from Los Angeles didn’t show up at all when schools opened in August.
Dr. Mark McDonald, a Los Angeles psychiatrist, and author of United States of Fear & Freedom From Fear, strongly disagreed with Newsom’s Substack Thursday speech.
He [Newsom] was proud of the policies he enacted to destroy the lives and health of children in California: “California concentrated on keeping kids safe during pandemics while making record investments that mitigate learning loss, transform our education system,” he said.
His policies did not benefit the underage voter, but only one constituency. California Teacher’s Union was the biggest donor to Newsom and the Democrat party, and it was the most powerful political force within the state. School closings were enacted in order to benefit them.
California parents will agree that the school closings caused a severe disaster. Many students suffered irreparable losses. This is not something that will change with a few test scores. McDonald:
Newsom paid teachers of the state to go on a two-year vacation, while children sat at home playing video games and trying fentanyl. Many of them committed suicide. One of my Santa Monica 15-year old patients died from a drug overdose during the closures. Safer at home was a fabrication. Newsom lied, and the children died. As this NAEP report for the year shows, so did the nation.
I have written extensively about the psychological and emotional damage done to children by adults who fail to manage their anxiety and cowardly comply with the tyrannical orders of narcissist Autocrats such as Newsom. Newsom kept his children in private schools throughout the pandemic, maskless. The shocking loss of learning in those who depended on adults to represent them is confirmed by the recently released national academic performance report. They failed us.
While those who instituted lockdowns and school closures and mandates pretend that it never happened, CNN’s Jake Tapper and other morons claim we should have a national conversation. However, people who were there know. We must not forget.
