By now you have to have lived on a deserted island to not have heard about the disastrous learning loss experienced by students during and after the pandemic.

Americans are almost numb to reality, partly because the problem seems abstract, and partly because the sheer repetition makes the problem seem like the new normal.

Schools themselves are treating the problem as something to be ignored or swept under the rug. New York, for instance, has increased graduation rates by…relaxing the standards. Gotta keep those numbers looking good, even if the reality really sucks.

But the problem is much worse than you think because few people talk about a huge chunk of the problem: many students are barely attending school, and others have opted out and are just missing from the system.

Although achievement is down across the board, it is WAY down for lowest achieving students. In reading, the NAEP scores for bottom quartile are the worst *ever recorded* (among 13-year-olds).

For anyone worried about equity, this should be a national emergency. pic.twitter.com/CPgi9mfrg8

— Vladimir Kogan (@vkoganpolisci) June 26, 2023

The basic numbers are hideous–wiping out decades of progress in student performance. And there is no sign of progress having been made now that students have been back in school for two years. In fact, in many cases, the decline continues.

Much worse, though, is the lesser-known fact that at least hundreds of thousands and perhaps many more, since not all states have reported–simply dropped off the map and don’t appear to be getting any education at all since the beginning of the pandemic.

It has been widely documented that public schools have been bleeding students at a rate that alarms public school advocates; what is little discussed is that they don’t appear to have shown up on the rolls of other schools or be in home schools. They are simply…gone from the system.

Anecdotally you can see where many of these students have wound up–Minneapolis’ carjacking problem, for instance, is being driven by young teens who appear to have nothing better to do–but practically speaking all we know is that they don’t appear to be getting any form of education at all.

School leaders and some state officials worried about how they would lose financing if the students did not return. More students means more money from the city, state and federal governments.

There is no longer urgency to find the students who disappeared from school. Early in the pandemic, school workers would go to students’ homes to try and help them return to the classroom. Most such efforts, however, have ended.

A problem not discussed

The missing students identified by the AP and Stanford represent more than just a number. The study represents thousands of students who have may have missed out on the basics of reading and other skills in kindergarten and first grade.

Discussion of children’s recovery from the pandemic has centered largely on test scores and performance. But Dee, the Stanford expert, said the data suggests a need to understand more about children who are not in school and how that will affect their growth.

“This is leading evidence that tells us we need to be looking more carefully at the kids who are no longer in public schools,” he said.

Public schools of late have been laser-focused on ensuring kids get the proper ideological indoctrination, but nobody actually seems to care that the kids are not all right. As much as we keep being told that teachers are “experts” and that parents should hand them over to the blue-haired pierced Queer 20-something for sexual and pronoun education, nobody seems to be talking about the fact that kids simply are doing much worse academically than in previous years, which were no great shakes to begin with.

Perhaps a too-sparsely-haired middle-aged man my opinion doesn’t count for much, but in my not-so-humble opinion schools ought to at least try to get the basics of their mission accomplished before they lecture us on the non-academic competencies of their institutions. If they can’t teach math and reading, their authority to claim expertise in social and emotional development rings rather hollow.

Trust us, we’re the experts.

In precisely what? Apparently not teaching math, reading, and science. Look at the results.

In some ways the culture war–which, you can tell, I am deeply interested in–is a distraction. As much as we can criticize schools on these efforts, perhaps we should just demand that the discussion be shelved and schools be simply prevented from teaching anything but core subjects until they show some results.

We can fight about alphabet ideology after test scores shoot up dramatically. Until then you only teach basics, PE, and the arts. No ideology at all of any kind, including civics, perhaps.

Throw in a requirement that every teacher be able to pass the citizenship test that every immigrant does to become naturalized, and we would have a good start.

That, and demand that the public schools find those missing students. That seems to be more important than recruiting drag queens.