President Joe Biden visited Luis Munoz Marin Elementary School in Philadelphia on Friday and spoke with students thankful for the return of in-person learning.
“I want to say thank you to you for letting us go back to school because in computer it was hard to learn about stuff,” the student said to the president. “And in person you can see our friends and hug them and can learn more in person.”
SHOW AND TELL: Child gets brutally honest with Biden about the problems of remote-learning. https://t.co/2jAgeYYaVh pic.twitter.com/RGkASRYZs7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 12, 2022
“Makes a big difference between being in school and on a computer, doesn’t it?” Biden responded.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, experts warned of the negative impact of remote learning on children’s mental health.
“Virtual instruction is not the same as quality, in-person education, and it’s especially not accessible for many students with disabilities,” said Dr. Jennifer Reesman, a neuropsychologist who works with children.
“We need our schools to be open. Public school is a public good, and as mental health professionals, we can tell you that open public schools are a safety net,” she added.
During Biden’s visit, he was accompanied by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who previously called for masking in schools but later failed to wear one herself while delivering a speech at a conference.
According to White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, Biden’s stop at the elementary school was to “highlight how the American Rescue Plan is delivering critical resources to keep schools safe and open, combat learning loss and address student mental health.”
A study from NWEA in July reported that students were faring worse academically “by the end of the 2020-21 school year compared to what we first reported in the fall.”
The study also found that students’ reading comprehension declined into 2021, as well as their proficiency in math, which has been decreasing since 2020.
“Math achievement fell even further behind historical trends – the difference of 5 to 10 percentile points in the fall of 2020 widened to a difference of 8 to 12 percentile points in spring of 2021,” said the study.
Lastly, the pandemic also worsened inequalities among minorities, who were “less likely to be learning in person and more likely to encounter obstacles in accessing instruction compared to White students,” according to NWEA.
