“A Republic if You can Keep it”
Benjamin Franklin
The substantial damage being done to younger generation Americans is unconscionable. It remains to be seen whether it is reversible.
Last Sunday the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (JS) included a story about a significant change in how the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is reporting the results of the mandatory standardized tests that are administered in elementary and high schools every year. The purpose of the testing is to measure academic achievement in the fundamentals. Wisconsin students are performing poorly.
For the past 10 years, test results have been reported as below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced. Proficient indicates the student is mastering reading and math at grade level. The two basic categories indicate the student is behind where they should be, while advanced means performing beyond expectations for grade level. In the 2022-2023 school year, just 39% of Wisconsin public school students were proficient in reading and 37% were proficient in math. 20% of public-school students are chronically absent, defined as missing more than 10% of the days they are supposed to be in school. In districts where absenteeism is higher, scores are lower.
The Wisconsin DPI is a complex bureaucracy led by Superintendent Jill Underly, employing nearly 600 people, and overseeing state funding of education that exceeds $7.5 billion annually. Leveraging their vast brainpower and educational expertise, the DPI produced a solution to the dismal academic performance of Wisconsin students. They are “updating” terminology used to describe performance levels on statewide standardized tests. This change, according to DPI, is “intended to foster conversations promoting student potential and growth at every level.” DPI further explained the new terminology is clearer and is part of a trend away from “deficient labeling.”
Using terms that are “asset based,” DPI elaborated, will “promote academic potential, engagement and growth at every level and improve feelings of encouragement and motivation among students.”
The new terms are developing, approaching, meeting and advanced. They will be used for the first time to report the results of the tests the students took last spring when they are released to the public in the fall. Changing the approach to scoring will make it difficult to compare test results from previous cycles to current performance and may mask the seriousness of the downward trend. A convenient consequence for those who should be held accountable.
Many Wisconsin children cannot read or do basic math, knowledge and skills that are building blocks for self-sufficiency down the road. Many of them, by DPI’s own admission, are neither “developing” nor “approaching.” Those who are theoretically some of the best academic minds in the state apparently think the solution is to make failure feel good. This thinking comes from the same faulty logic that brought us participation trophies so kids don’t have to experience the reality of winning and losing. Children know if they can read. They know if they are learning. Adults lying to them has become a common way to betray their trust. Is it any wonder kids report feeling anxious and depressed? There is no doubt the poor academic performance in Wisconsin schools has no easy fix. Broken families, undisciplined learning environments, truancy, and the explosion of medicated “special needs” kids are among the challenges. But so-called education experts who propose a solution as outrageous as this new labeling scheme need to be replaced.
Fast forward to a glimpse of the future. In a “Weekend Exclusive” the same Sunday JS that brought the news of DPI’s new scoring offered a pathetic look at how some young adults are faring as they make their way in the world. Entitled “Millennials, Gen Z’s ‘Spiraling,’ Blowing Savings…eh, Whatever…” the article focused on young Americans in their 20’s and 30’s who are alarmingly behind where they should be developmentally and in building a future for themselves. Described as “spiraling,” which is defined as inability to control negative thoughts, the young people featured are disenchanted with life. Young adults, according to the article, are adrift, jumping from job to job, “can’t afford to save money, everyone’s partying a lot seemingly embracing an ethos of chaos.” Interviewees summed it up: “I feel like we’re still adjusting.” “I know what I have to do, and I know that I need to get disciplined. Stop smoking as much, stop spending as much time on my phone, start eating better, start working out. Even though we know we should be making changes…it’s sort of like a ‘eh…whatever’.”
We don’t know how representative these individuals are of our younger generations or why the JS thought they were worth showcasing. The article was sprinkled with advice from the so-called “mental health professionals” and it should be obvious to everyone by now that the more we look to these “professionals” for answers the sicker we get. It’s time to start exercising our own good judgment. If this in any way exemplifies America’s future we are in serious trouble.
Today, we are a country deeply divided about what it means to live free and are in a fierce battle for our future. Extreme liberal ideology is taking a wrecking ball to truth and personal responsibility. We are about to elect the next President of the United States and life will be vastly different with a President Trump or a President Harris at the helm. How to educate and prepare the next generations to live is just one of our many disagreements. Donald Trump has the Department of Education and many other bloated, ineffective government agencies at the federal level in his crosshairs. Kamala Harris is peddling an artificial version of “joy” for everyone, running from positions she’s touted throughout her entire public life, and denying real problems and the sources of misery brought on by Biden/Harris policies. Harris spent Labor Day in Detroit standing shoulder to shoulder with Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, who warned Americans to reject Republicans because they “lie, manipulate and create fear.” We all remember Weingarten for her influential role in the prolonged shut down of America’s schools during COVID, long after it was clear healthy children were not at risk and causing real harm to them educationally and developmentally.
Wisconsin’s election will be pivotal in securing a win for Trump. Our legislators have left the well documented vulnerabilities in our election system unaddressed. Cheaters will be working hard to exploit the vulnerabilities to deliver an improbable Harris win. It is up to us to get out and vote in numbers never seen before.
It was Benjamin Franklin who famously answered the question, “Well doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” with “a republic if you can keep it.” We intend to keep it.