Yes, the “law-made instrumentality lumbers on under all varieties of circumstances at its habitual rate,” with minimal adaptability to new conditions. “By its very nature it is fitted only for average requirements, and inevitably fails under unusual requirements.” Herbert Spencer had it right over a century ago. The latest example? The massive cluster-muck that was school shutdowns during the lockdown period of the recent pandemic.
Here at Common Sense with Paul Jacob you read of the overkill that were the lockdowns, especially as regarding public schools. But now the evidence is pouring in, as reported in Reason magazine. Yes, government schools exhibit the old Spencerian principle:
When COVID-19 shuttered virtually everything in 2020 and forced public schools to begin distance learning, those schools responded with the agility one would expect from a decrepit battleship forced to make a quick change of course in the face of an unexpected enemy. In other words, the state’s hulking K‑12 system barely responded at all, even as small and nimble private and charter schools quickly adapted to the new reality.
I remember news stories about public schools unable to set up even the most basic Zoom classes, of teachers who had no idea what they were supposed to do — and then of unions and administrators resisting efforts to re-start classroom teaching even after the rest of society was getting back to normal. Instead of re-ordering procedures to help kids stay current on their schoolwork, the school establishment mainly whined about not having enough money.
Anyone who needs a reminder about why government bureaucracies are incapable of providing quality public services need only look at the resulting disaster. A Stanford University study found, “a substantial decline in student learning in both English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics between the 2018 – 19 and 2021 – 22 academic years.” Those are the general figures, but the results for poor and minority students were a travesty.
Steven Greenhut, “More Evidence That COVID School Closures Wrecked Student Performance,” Reason, March 1, 2024.
The whole article is worth reading, though we add one caveat: “COVID-19” did not shut down schools: governments did. In reaction. In over-reaction. For very little reason. The lockdowns in general were unnecessary and usurpative. But regarding schools — government or non-government — they were baseless and grand folly.
And if you want to see how learning can happen in online chats, look to unschooling and home schooling and other systems with actual, working feedback systems.
Dr. Phil has a clip that is making the rounds on this subject. It is worth viewing:
Related articles:
The Great School Reset, January 27, 2021
The Only Choice Left, February 11, 2021
The Young and the Unmasked, January 19, 2022
The Expulsion of the Sick, September 6, 2023