The student behavioral problems that spiked after in-person learning resumed are getting significantly worse, as politicians deny their roles in school lockdowns during the pandemic.
An EdWeek Research Center survey showed over seventy percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders said students are misbehaving more now than in 2019, a shocking increase of 66% from the last survey in 2021.
Crystal Thorpe, the principal of a junior high school in Indiana, said it was the worst year for student behavior she had ever seen in her school, citing fights and generally aggressive behavior.
It’s not just students. Ron Avi Astor, professor at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, blamed teacher stress as a result of going to online learning.
“Adults are kind of at their worst, so to speak. We as adults also experienced a lot of exhaustion, fatigue and trauma,” Raviv said.
“We know that their rates of teacher burnout and teacher stress are at an all-time high, and think about you when you’re stressed and you’re anxious and your patience for behavioral challenges, whether they’re in the classroom or whether they’re with co-workers,” he said.
Thorpe also noted the “increase in the use of social media among our young people” as a reason for their behavioral issues and mental health struggles.
Fauci Dodges Responsibility
While Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leader on health policy during the pandemic, acknowledged “something clearly went wrong” during the country’s COVID-19 response, he absolved himself of most blame.
“Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did,” Fauci said when asked about his “heavy-handed” policies by The New York Times Magazine.
Fauci’s tone was defensive throughout the interview. At one point, he accused interviewer David Wallace-Wells of “Monday-morning quarterbacking” in response to criticism and blamed “culture wars”.
“I think anything that instigated or intensified the culture wars just made things worse… the culture wars have been really, really tough from a public-health standpoint,” Fauci said.
