EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN STEEP DECLINE

It was interesting to read of parent and educational experts concerns about the long-term effects of learning loss, caused by school shutdowns during the COVID pandemic.

Parents wonder how much curriculum was not covered during the shutdown; if accommodations will be made in September; or if students will move on without the benefit of the uncovered curriculum.

Where was their concern for the long-term effects of learning loss for the past 40 years? That epidemic of academic mediocrity began in the early 1980s with the Whole Language Program. Teachers were told to get with the plan. Reluctantly they complied, knowing the result would be a travesty of uncorrected mistakes that would form the core of future adult slanguage. Isn’t that why we need computer programs like Spellcheck and apps like Grammarly?

Parents weren’t concerned about learning loss when the semester system reduced instruction by 49 hours per course, at the high school level; when inclusive education infiltrated our classrooms and with it came increasing numbers of below grade courses; when universities didn’t place particular value on honours courses, and students opted to take those soft courses, and honours courses almost disappeared in many high schools.

Nor do they seem concerned that the demise continues today, with decreasing numbers of high school students enrolling in academic courses. The result has been increasing numbers of students receiving high school diplomas based on an upper elementary level challenge and graduation becoming a celebration of mediocrity.