Dr. Pradheep Shanker zeroes in on one of the most infuriating aspects of kids getting screwed in the name of protecting kids from COVID

In case you haven’t been paying any attention over the past two and a half years or so, the kids are not all right.

And now it’s official:

Reading scores saw their largest decrease in 30 years, while math scores declined for the first time in the govt's history of testing 9-year-olds — showing the sheer magnitude of the pandemic's effects on America's schoolkids. https://t.co/jTsBKISquE

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 1, 2022

Children have lost time they’re never going to get back. Ever. And for what? So teachers’ unions could flex their muscles. So Democrats could paint Donald Trump and Republicans as stone-cold killers.

"This year, for the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years."https://t.co/jqRZK15sl4

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) September 1, 2022

of all the things that happened in the pandemic, this was the most predictable thinghttps://t.co/YzNMW9bHiM pic.twitter.com/BIRFYJxzSl

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) September 1, 2022

Some of us *begged* urban schools to open for the sake of the children

This was a train wreck we could see a mile away but our culture has grown so partisan that there was no one left to offer a dissenting view in these schoolshttps://t.co/Wcgj679F5R

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) September 1, 2022

It’s absolutely devastating. And it didn’t have to be this way.

Back when all this started, we really didn’t know what we were dealing with. It wasn’t clear how COVID worked, why it affected different people differently, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. And it wasn’t clear what sort of impact it could have on children’s health.

But as time went on, patterns began to emerge, and it became clear that — with some exceptions, of course — children in general were actually the demographic least likely to suffer severe or long-term illness from COVID. As soon as we figured that out, schools should have thrown their doors back open. In-person speech therapy and physical therapy and occupational therapy for children should have resumed. But that’s not what happened. At least not in Democrat-run states. And that’s largely due to the fact that so many Democratic leaders — and their many media apologists — actively refused to learn from mistakes and admit that they’d been wrong.

Do not forget. They harmed children to teach Trump a lesson. https://t.co/oY6VbygShI

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) September 1, 2022

Dr. Pradheep Shanker, like many of us, has been an outspoken advocate of in-person learning and has warned repeatedly that school closures would do untold damage to a whole generation of kids. He came to that conclusion after looking at the science — the actual science — and the data and concluding, correctly, that the risks inherent in keeping children out of school overwhelmingly outweighed the benefits.

DeptEd: "COVID closures caused plummeting test scores."

Liberals: "NOBODY COULD'VE PREDICTED THIS!"

Me, in December 2020:https://t.co/9wZvcnA5jb

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) September 1, 2022

Dr. Anthony Fauci infamously changed his mind with regard to COVID safety protocol. But rather than admitting to making errors, he lied and gaslit. And that’s the big different between a doctor like Fauci and a doctor like Dr. Shanker. Dr. Shanker is not only capable of admitting that he’d changed his mind, but he also understands how important it is to be able to make such an admission. Fauci was unwilling to put his pride aside, and countless children suffered as a result.

Its time people admit that leaders like Kemp, DeSantis, etc mostly got it RIGHT on school closures/openings.

And I fully admit in May 2020, I was VERY worried about this. But I too was wrong.

Until you can admit you were wrong…you simply are lying to yourself and the public.

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) September 1, 2022

I remember publicly saying that I was very worried about Kemp opening hair dressers at that time.

I was wrong about that too. But at least I can admit it.

But supposedly the 'smartest people in the room' can't.

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) September 1, 2022

The “smartest people in the room” aren’t the ones who tell you they’re the smartest people in the room. They’re the ones who are actually smart enough to admit to their mistakes and learn from them.