Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
As we said last month in this column, the judgment of whether to open public schools for in-person classes would be a tough one throughout the nation, from big cities to rural towns. In addition to the factors involved in the spread of COVID-19, public schools have many political parts, such as teacher unions and deer-in-headlights state governors, which tend to work against bold decisions.
The safe option for public schools was always going to be remote learning until the situation clears up.
Unfortunately, the facts are beginning to roll in on virtual schooling and none of it is really good.
Consider the report by the Los Angeles Unified School District laying bare the shocking reality that over “50,000 Black and Latino middle and high school students did not regularly participate in the school system’s main platform for virtual classrooms after campuses closed in March.”
“Low-income students and Black and Latino students,” the report said, “showed participation rates between 10 and 20 percentage points lower than white and Asian peers.”
This is the nation’s second-largest school district and it sits in one of the most connected cities in the world. This creates a division in proper public education that cuts against the grain of American values.
The L.A. report asserts that prolonged lockdown, with only remote learning, will set back Hispanic students by 9.2 months, Black students by 10.3 months, and low-income students overall by 12.4 months.
Now, it must be said that these reports can be stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey with the biases of those who commission them. But common sense tells me that there’s something to the idea that remote learning skews against kids who come from families and communities without resources. It without doubt leans more heavily against kids who come from families who don’t give a rip about education.
Virtual school is better than nothing, I guess. But, in-person public school is tried and true way to go in America. We need to get back to it as soon as possible. I’d like to see it happen before 2021. I’ll bet a lot of parents are with me on that.
ONLY IN MARIN
Marin County takes a lot of ribbing for being in it’s own world of privilege. The ribbing won’t stop when people find out that Marin’s website on the coronavirus pandemic actually admits that one of the most frequently asked questions about COVID-19 rules in Marin is: “Does my housekeeper need to be part of my social bubble?”
Only in Marin.
‘LATINX’?
I admit I’m not the most touchy-feely kinda guy when it comes to progressive nomenclature. I am well read, however, so here’s the latest on how to refer to people of Latin American descent.
Overall, “Hispanic” is preferred by a 61 percent majority, followed by “Latino” at 29 percent. Coming in dead last is the term “Latinx,” which is an attempt by the cool kids in American culture at being gender neutral.
Twelve percent of those polled by Pew Research said they absolutely hated the term “Latinx” because of its patronizing “Anglicism.”
Here ends the lesson on 2020 American culture. At least, for this week.
HOW HOT WAS IT?
It was so hot in Marin last week that people were saying nice things about Donald Trump just to get a cold shoulder. (H/T Argus Hamilton.)
ONE MORE THING
And now you also cannot unsee that. Apologies to you and Clint Eastwood. I’ll pick up my knitting and let myself out. Until next week, stay safe and mask-up.
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