Ever since March of 2020, when the public school system was forcibly closed due to COVID-19, parents and honest commentators warned that this was going to be detrimental to the mental health of students, as well as their academic achievement. And then we lived through the whole rotten ordeal, while “experts” said that “kids were resilient” and it was more important to stay home and never get sick ever again.

Well, the chickens have come home to roost. Student mental health is in the toilet. Kids that came of age during lockdowns are having immense difficulties with coping skills – so much for that “resilience,” right?? And now we get yet another report card on student test scores. It’s not pretty.

Fourth- and eighth-graders fell behind in reading and had the largest ever decline in math, according to a national educational assessment showing the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on America’s children.”

The alarming findings are based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and math exams, often called the “Nation’s Report Card” and conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the Education Department.”

“If this is not a wake-up call for us to double down our efforts and improve education, even before it was – before the pandemic, then I don’t know what will,” US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told CNN’s Brianna Keilar during an appearance on “New Day” Monday.”

He called on schools to ensure they are using funding from the Covid relief package passed in 2021 to boost student scores.”

The first national assessment of student achievement in three years revealed the largest math score declines among fourth- and eighth-graders since the initial trial assessment in 1990, according to the Center’s Commissioner Peggy Carr. The tests were administered between January and March.”

No state or large urban district showed improvements in math, the report said. Eighth-grade math scores sank in the more than 50 states and jurisdictions participating in the assessment. The last report card was issued in 2019, before the start of the pandemic in the US, where schools were shut down and teachers turned to online learning.”

“Eighth grade is that gateway to more advanced mathematical course taking,” Carr told reporters before the report’s release. “This is what these students are missing. They’re missing these important skills that will prepare them eventually for (science, technology, engineering and math) level careers.”

The average math score of 236 for the fourth grade was 5 points lower than in 2019, and 8 points below the 2019 mark of 274 for the eighth grade. The reading score of 217 for the fourth grade was down 3 points this year – the same decline as the eighth grade score of 260 – compared to 2019.”

Honest question: Who didn’t see this coming? Well, that would be the entirety of the leftist media, who worshiped at the feet of Anthony Fauci and hung on Randi Weingarten‘s every word. And when it was reported previously, it was all the fault of THE BAD ORANGE MAN. But now the problem is even bigger than previously reported. And the left’s response? “This was expected.”

And now will come the "this is no time to cast blame." https://t.co/SVwi50MxrT

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 24, 2022

Now, I am pretty sure that if the left had run with the message that “learning loss is expected, but let’s keep the schools closed for over a year anyway” then the reaction from parents would have been a HELL of a lot different. Instead, parents were fed the “kids are resilient” and “we will make up for the losses” line, all while the kids were the proverbial frogs in the pot that was being turned up to a boil. This message is… not going over well with parents today.

hahaha "let's do the work" how about you work on going to hell with that kind of blame-avoidance nonsense.

Signed, A Parent.

— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) October 24, 2022

The other part of this problem are those who are actively telling students that what they lived through wasn’t nearly as extreme as they remember.

For the preservation of history pic.twitter.com/tqP9Dj9c7u

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) October 24, 2022

Yeah, that “history professor” who is trying to gaslight his students went and locked his Twitter account when people came with receipts. The truth is an inconvenience to the left, so they will simply tell a student that it wasn’t NEARLY as bad as they remember. Whatever happened to “speaking your truth,” hmmmm?

The left has already decided how to fix these student test score declines. You can see it in Cardona’s answer and in Ifill’s tweet. The answer, forever and always, is SPEND MORE MONEY. When Ifill pulls out the trite answer of “let’s just do the work,” that doesn’t mean that she’s going to spend her time tutoring kids. Nope, that is code for spending more money on whatever the teachers unions say they need. Just look at Randi Weingarten’s chickenshit response to the student test scores today.

This woman actively made sure that schools stayed closed because it benefited her union and her own power, and now she would like MORE money to spend however she sees fit in order to “fix” the problems that she brought into existence. I have two words for her, and they aren’t “Merry Christmas.”

Remember how Glenn Youngkin made education a signature issue in his campaign, as Randi Weingarten campaigned with Terry McAuliffe? That didn’t turn out so well for Democrats. Now, with the midterms just two weeks away, this news is not going to boost the chances of anyone who championed the school closures, or anyone seen on the side of those who did.

Angry parents are voting, and we cannot be bribed off with the promise of more money. Come November 8th, we shall see just what the consequences will be.

Welcome Instapundit Readers!

Featured image via alamosbasement on Flickr, cropped, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)