This past year, families have been leaving public schools for in-person private schools, virtual charter schools or homeschooling. | stock photo
This past year, families have been leaving public schools for in-person private schools, virtual charter schools or homeschooling. | stock photo
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy says that if the Michigan powers-that-be keep classrooms empty in favor of remote learning, the public schools may lose thousands of students for years to come.
The Center maintains that children are suffering from "learning losses" in subjects like math and reading.
"In the spring, many families were willing to give schools the benefit of the doubt as they adjusted to distance-learning programs, but it looks like time has run out on that goodwill," Ben DeGrow, the Mackinac Center’s director of education policy, and Will Flanders, research director at the Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, wrote in an op-ed. "Part of the frustration is tied to students’ learning losses in key subjects such as math. Even more significant, perhaps, are concerns about mental health and child care."
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, many parents were enthusiastic about the remote learning programs. But as the pandemic stretches into almost a year, more parents are recognizing that remote learning is not the best way for their children to be educated.
"Fewer parents are now 'completely satisfied' with their children’s education; their number fell by 10 percentage points since last year, according to a Gallup poll," DeGrow and Flanders wrote. "Parents across the country have expressed their dissatisfaction by voting with their feet: States from Colorado to Georgia have experienced substantial declines in public school enrollment."
Many parents simply want their children to attend in-person school, but some school boards have not been receptive to their concerns.
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