Blame Woke Authoritarians COVID for Learning Loss

By Ron Paul

​​The Program for International Assessment (PSA) recently released its 2022 assessment of the math and reading skills of students from over 200 countries. This is the first assessment since 2018 and it provides more evidence that schoolchildren were damaged by the COVID hysteria. American students’ math scores were lower than 27 of the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The other OECD countries do not have any reason to celebrate, as the average math scores of students in all OECD countries declined by 17 points.

American students’ reading scores “only” declined by one point since 2017 – as compared to an 18-point average decline amongst all OECD countries. However, the National Assessment of Education Progress national report card recently reported a historic decline in reading among 18 years old.

While the drastic reductions in reading and math across the globe can be attributed to the COVID panic, Americans’ scores have been declining for years. The lockdowns are a symptom of the problems with the American education system. The real problem is that progressives have seized control over government schools. These progressives are more concerned with indoctrinating children than providing them with a quality education.

Progressives seek to control education because they understand that those who are indoctrinated as children will likely support progressivism as adults. It is no coincidence that progressive control of education and the decline of quality of the nation’s schools coincide with increased federal control.

Progressive federal bureaucrats used the promise of funding to entice states and local governments to surrender control of schools to federal educators. Wokeness is just the latest iteration of the progressivism that has been undermining America’s free-market economy, constitutional government, and all sources of authority — including parents and churches — outside of the federal government for over a century.

Ironically, the lockdowns may have set back the woke progressives by giving parents an opportunity to see how wokeness had infiltrated their children’s education. Wokeness is also suffering a backlash because of the claim that the only reason anyone could object to allowing a biological male to compete in athletic events with biological females is bigotry.

The backlash against woke education has led to parents showing up at school board meetings and/or running for school boards themselves to fight the woke agenda. The combination of lockdowns and wokeness are also causing many parents to explore alternatives to government schools, including homeschooling.

Parents looking to provide their children with a quality home-based education that promotes real learning and does not push a political agenda – but does instruct in the history and philosophy of liberty – should look into my homeschooling curriculum. My curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education that includes rigorous programs in history, mathematics, and the physical and natural sciences. The curriculum also provides instruction in personal finance. Students can develop superior communication skills via intensive writing and public speaking courses. Another feature of my curriculum is that it provides students the opportunity to create and run their own businesses.

The government and history sections of the curriculum emphasize free-market economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of liberty. I encourage all parents looking at alternatives to government schools — alternatives that provide children with a well-rounded education that introduces them to the history and ideas of liberty without sacrificing education for indoctrination — to go to RonPaulCurriculum.com for more information about my homeschooling program.