J. Peder Zane: Progressives ignore how remote learning will widen the achievement gap.

Progressives like to proclaim their commitment to “science,” “tolerance” and “love” – and they have the yard signs to prove it.

Many have recently added “Black Lives Matter” posters to their declarations of virtue. Unscientific research conducted during my bike rides and walks around Raleigh suggests these are far more common in predominantly white neighbors. No doubt African-Americans share the sentiment, but because they live it, they don’t need to perform it.

Indeed, one of the more interesting dynamics discovered by social science surveys is that white progressives say they are more concerned about racial inequality than any other group of Americans – including African-Americans.

The soft underbelly of this Great Awokening, however, has been exposed by the increasingly radical demands for social justice voiced following the killing of George Floyd in May. As Ibram X. Kendi states in his bestselling book, “How To Be An Antiracist,” it’s no longer enough to say the right things. One must also take affirmative actions – often involving personal sacrifice – to reform what activists see as the systemic racism that defines the United States.

This is driving the cancel culture which has forced out scores of individuals considered good liberals just a few months ago.

While I reject this politics of personal destruction, the antiracist position does illuminate the wide gap between the words and deeds of white progressives.

An important example of this is the current debate over the reopening of our public schools in North Carolina.

Many of our state’s largest districts, including Durham, Mecklenburg and Wake counties, say that COVID-19 makes it too dangerous to offer traditional classroom instruction at this time.

I am not so sure about that. Early data from Sweden and more than 20 other countries that have operated their schools suggests those concerns are overblown.

The larger point here is how little of the discussion has focused on the devastating effects remote learning has on low-income students.

Public education ground to halt in North Carolina when the virus kicked in last March. Wake County schools, for example, stopped taking attendance. All grades became pass/fail and students only had to submit work if they wanted to raise their failing average.

Wake school officials told me they know many students fell behind, but they do not know who and by how much in part because they cannot measure student engagement. Districts with many low-income students that did track engagement had alarming results. ProPublica Illinois reported that “15,000 high school students in Los Angeles, one-third of the students in Minneapolis Public Schools and about a quarter of Chicago Public School students,” failed to login or complete their school work.

A New York Times article from April which reported engagement was close to 100 percent at “several selective or affluent schools” concluded that “the dramatic split promises to further deepen the typical academic achievement gaps between poor, middle-class and wealthy students.”

Kenneth A. Dodge and Yu Bai of Duke University wrote that this is a severe problem in North Carolina where they estimated that 19 percent of our students – a total of 230,618 – do not possess the technology to access virtual learning.

School districts say they are working to address this gap, but remote learning will inevitably leave low-income children behind, further entrenching inequality. If we care about all children, we must acknowledge that disadvantaged students will pay the heaviest price for our current decisions and make their needs a priority.

This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 12:00 AM with the headline "J. Peder Zane: Progressives ignore how remote learning will widen the achievement gap.."