Perhaps one of the cleanest and most depressing pieces of evidence for our complete lack of seriousness is what is happening at present to the country's children and our efforts (speculative?) to educate them.

In a timely report, the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card delivered some very unwelcome but clarifying news just before the midterm election.

The report simply makes for stunning reading. We actually suggest you check it out but the highlights are:

• Two decades of - let's be kind here - hard work in improving educational outcomes has been erased during the last two years.

The details are, if anything, worse:

• Fourth and eighth-graders had significant declines in math and reading across the board.

• Only 33% of 4th graders and 31% of 8th graders can read at a proficient level or higher.

• Particular worrying was the fact that the younger cohort experienced the largest drop in reading scores since 1990 and the first-ever decline in math.

• No state or jurisdiction posted gains in math in either grade, nor did any of the 26 large districts included in the analysis.

Here it is represented graphically. Math is at top, reading is the bottom.

A single state (Utah) had a (declining) 8th grade math score that was not statistically significant compared to its predecessor.

Across the country, 38% of eighth-graders tested below the "basic achievement level" in math. Basic equates to partial mastery which is not exactly wonderful.

Here are the Grade 4 reading scores broken down (rather obscurely) by state

The takeaway is that the test scores demonstrate that we have created a learning deficit that could have a rolling impact for years and weigh on economic output.

Unsurprisingly, this got lots of national attention though likely not enough. Children unable to read is an existential problem that makes most of our problems pale in comparison. Whatever irks you about the state of America, this likely matters more.

We can deplore the state of our nation's airports (or subways, there are essentially no trains) as much as the next frustrated traveler or commuter but "me not reading so good" should take precedence. It is civilizational and also it betrays our collective responsibility for children's basic welfare.

Kids don't get to vote, remember. Someone else needs to care about their welfare.

The costs of the pandemic - and most explicitly the costs of the policies consciously adopted during that period - are now becoming clear. That distinction is important.

Liberal comic, Bill Maher put it very well and very succinctly on his show recently:

This was an optional decision and a heavily politicized one. Don't let that fact get lost.

• But, while the above may still be true and have accelerated many issues, the problem with American schools go far beyond the pandemic.

The system is far more broken than what happened over the last two years and our foolish and misguided efforts to protect children and, really, ourselves.

This can best be seen by diving into the educational performance of one of the worst performing states - Illinois.

There is an incredible investigation by an organization called Wirepoints using the state's educational data makes for terrifying reading, even by the standards of 2022 news.

The title of the report is: Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system ​

Amazingly, that title is, if anything, kind. It all goes downhill from there.....

And helpfully, the data is from 2019, so no one can get off by blaming Covid-19 (or Covid-19 policies).

Here are some data points:

• In Chicago in that year, 100% of the city's teachers were rated as "Excellent" or "Proficient".

• That might seem to be good news but it must be compared to the fact that only 30% of its 3rd grade students are reading at a 3rd grade level.

Trying to square that inconsistency is emblematic of the broader state of affairs.

Statewide the number of 3rd grade student reading proficiently is at 36% but Chicago is still, if anything, an outperformer.

• In Decatur, the number of students reading at a 3rd grade level is 2%. No, that is not a misprint. 2%!

• Math is even lower....

What is incredible about all of this is we haven't even gotten the erosion of standards or Covid learning loss or the inherent corruption that is likely in a system that rates teachers as "Excellent" when the MAJORITY of young children cannot read or do math.

This is just the start of the dysfunction, not the end.

Illinois is a prosperous "progressive" blue state. It is dominated by Democrats (and the unions that support them). The land of Lincoln spends well over $16K per student which is, for context, the 8th highest across the country. And yet its schools are completely failing its children.

It is revealing that its teacher unions have struck 4 times in the last 7 years and secured more money and benefits for themselves each time but there is no action on behalf of the state's illiterate population of students.

This is the best evidence of what a deeply unserious country we have become.

If you can't read, you have little hope of learning (or doing) much else.

Many of these children may very well have difficult home lives or troubled families but that is not a sufficient excuse for the fact that the system is failing them so completely.

Failing to teach children to read is not something we can get away with let alone blame their "circumstances". Especially not at 16k a year.

Finally, keep in mind that nearly all of the children who cannot read are advanced to the next grade where their problems will only be compounded and their future opportunities diminished. A 3rd grader is 8 years old. The sadness of a child of 8 already sidelined in life and betrayed by the very institutions set up to educate, care and help them is deeply disturbing.

Time to get serious.

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