The gold standard for student test measurement is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. The schools flunked. The latest results are in from late 2022 and they sadly reveal just how badly American students are still suffering the after-effects of COVID lockdowns.
For 13-year-olds, the decline in math scores was the biggest in 50 years. Scores declined among all racial groups and across urban, suburban, and rural areas.
The share of students who reported “never” or “hardly ever” reading for fun has jumped by 9 points, to 31 percent – or almost a third. Whether that is because they CAN’T read or don’t like to read is an open question.
Which kids were hurt the most? According to the Washington Post: Hardest hit were the lowest-performing students and black children. In math, their scores showed declines of 12 to 14 points, while their highest-performing peers fell just six points. The pattern for reading was similar, with lowest performers seeing twice the decline of the highest ones.
Remember this the next time you hear the left pontificating about income inequality.
2) We Can’t Have a Lockdown Artist Heading the CDC
Speaking of lockdowns, no agency of government in modern times has failed the American people more than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Now Biden wants to appoint as the new CDC director, Mandy Cohen. Who is she? Cohen was the head of the North Carolina Public Health Agency where she advocated for shutting down businesses, schools, and churches during COVID. Worse than being dead wrong on the efficacy of lockdowns, she hasn’t even recanted.
Sounds like she’s the one that needs to be shut down. We at CTUP intend to launch a public campaign against her. The CDC needs someone who will totally overhaul the agency and atone for its sins of recent years. Remember: the CDC was completely unprepared for combatting a killer virus because the agency was too busy studying LGBTQ issues, climate change, and advocating for gun control.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) sees it our way and her blistering attack against Cohen is spot on:
The next CDC Director will play a critical role in helping restore public trust in our government health agencies. I have concerns about Dr. Cohen’s past decisions as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, including to keep schools and businesses closed during the pandemic.
Unless she immediately shows she has taken to heart the right lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and begins to restore trust in the CDC, this appointment will unfortunately just be a continuation of the current failed leadership. She must be candid about the CDC’s past failures and commit to being transparent and accountable to the American people.
We would have thought with a book title like that, she would have for years been on the lookout watch. But at Harvard, we guess you don’t have to practice what you preach.
4) Freedom Fest: Next Month's Liberty Extravaganza
For 15 years, economist Mark Skousen has run “Freedom Fest,” a gathering of thousands of conservatives, libertarians, and contrarians. Several of us from CTUP will be participating in the conference on July 12 to 15 in Memphis.
Jerry Bowyer, the financial columnist for Townhall.com says it “has become the largest and most influential gathering of thinkers devoted to promoting freedom in all its forms.”
Among the list of 250 speakers you can find at freedomfest.com are TV cable star Mike Rowe, (“Dirty Jobs”), and CTUP cofounders Steve Forbes and Stephen Moore.
Mike Rowe has done an entertaining video discussing why he’s coming to Freedom Fest. You can watch it here.
5) More Evidence That Drug Price Controls Are Dangerous to Your Health
We have to wonder, are Congress and Biden TRYING to kill people by delaying the introduction of new life-saving drugs and vaccines? Remember, the biggest “cost saver” in the Biden Inflation Acceleration Act was imposing price controls on patented drugs.
We now have yet another study — this one conducted by We Work for Health — a medical care research firm that examined the impact of drug price controls. It finds that over the next decade, more than 200 potentially life-saving treatments and therapies would be canceled or delayed because price caps drain the ability of drug manufacturers to make a profit.
The study examined what impact of the proposed SMARTS Act, which doubles down on drug price controls and puts American dominance in inventing new drugs at great risk. New treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, stroke, heart disease, and arthritis would be put at risk. It would likely reverse any gains from the “Cancer Moonshot” Biden has been touting.
It’s simple. If you take profits out of drug research, you get less research - and fewer breakthrough drugs. The left is trying to cold cock the pharmaceutical industry just as they are doing to American energy.
