White Flight

Monica Showalter does a survey of the results of Covid on government schools--especially in the primary stages. What's happening, as we start to get some date is a Wokester apocalypse: Public school enrollment plunges in California -- and everywhere else.

Showalter focuses on California, but notes that much of what she's talking about can be seen to one degree or another in other localities:

it's actually happening all over. Detroit, New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Austin, Tucson, Minneapolis, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Janesville, Wisconsin, Chautauqua County, upstate New York, plus the entire states of New Jersey, Iowa, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Hawaii, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Washington, Virginia, and quite likely all of the others are reporting public school enrollment drops.

Yes, it is happening elsewhere. For example, in Chicago, which is one of the larger school districts in the country with one of the most radical government teachers unions.

The other thing that's happening in California and is certainly happening elsewhere is that the demographic that's fleeing government schools is Whites:

In California, it's white students, who are bolting most. AP reports that they comprise 22% of school enrollment, but account for half of the exits. They're moving on to private schools, whose enrollments are up, or to homeschooling, which is available to anyone with a literate and motivated parent. Or else just moving to a better state. It suggests that poor black and Latino kids, who form far larger demographic groups within the California districts, might just be not bolting because economically, they can't.

There's another aspect to this. I know that in my area there's a stark disparity--on an ethnic/racial basis--in the return rate of students as schools slowly reopen. Anyone with a bit of awareness of area demographics will quickly realize from news reports that schools that are heavily White or "White Adjacent" (a term I learned yesterday--it means Asians or high achieving "Non-Whites" and is a Woke pejorative) are experiencing very high rates of return. By contrast, schools that are dominantly Black or HIspanic have return rates that are catastrophically low. The real question, of course, is what happens in September--or late August, as the case may be. Who expects school districts to enlist the police to become truant officers? We may see permanent dropouts from government schools beginning at very young age as another part of the fallout from the Covid Hoax.

Showalter states that the move is most prominent among younger students--K through 6th. She attributes that to the need younger kids have for more visual, hands-on learning, so parents are desperate to get their younger kids into physical schools. I suspect that another factor in this is that it's much easier to switch schools with younger kids than it is with older kids--much less culture shock involved, much less push back from the kids. I suspect also that the move is most prominent among the higher achieving demographic of all races/ethnicities.

Local school boards have been enablers of the ongoing child abuse that we've witnessed, but the list of the usual suspects will surprise no one. The government teachers unions have used Covid to maximize and extend their political muscle, which translates into ever harder Left policies that go well beyond education:

The unions themselves were beyond-vile in their behavior. as RedState contributor Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, in an excellent piece, noted here:

This is a nice way of saying that the California Teachers Unions held parents and students hostage while they made demands for social justice contingent on their return. Demands like funding BLM, and Defunding the Police. While doing this, they still collected bonuses for teaching 45-minute Zoom classes, and maligned parents who wanted their children to actually be taught in person.

What's more, they not only made strange hostage demands, as well as called for more money, they extended and extended, and extended the lockdowns, as they drew higher pay and worked fewer hours, ...

Not surprisingly, measures against charter schools figured prominently in government teachers union demands--the government teachers want a captive population and are mostly OK with the White Flight from government schools. Also notable was the push for the right to strike for almost any reason, which translates into enormous political muscle in Blue states.

And, of course, the Leftist politics--Critical Race theory, the Trans takeover of girls school activities, especially sports--is part of the dynamic that is also leading to White parents taking their kids elsewhere for a real education:

Now [Zhou is] busy imposing critical race theory on all public schools nationally -- that's the stuff that tells whitey he's the bad guy, or needs to 'try to act less white,' even if he's just four years old. That likely accounts for at least some of the white exodus from public schools. (Remember: much of California still votes Republican even if they don't win). It's a phony education that wrecks some kids' self-esteem, makes other kids hate their neighbors or think they're victims, and amounts to propaganda at the expense of education. Who'd want that?

It all adds up, and what it may--hopefully--be adding up to is a growing cultural awakening and shift. This is what is needed for America. What we're seeing could be just the beginning--what we see come September should tell the story. Will parents return their kids to government control come Fall, or will they keep them in privates schools? The private schools will want long term commitments--including in the very tangible form of tuition down payments--from their new families. The lure of "free" schooling is strong, but the uncertainties and craziness that involved parents have witnessed have eroded trust. And all of this is part of the leadup Election 2022.