It looks like The Wall Street Journal has caught up with us:

The Tragedy of the Schools

Many parents are losing faith in their closed public schools—and are looking for alternatives.

By Daniel Henninger | February 3, 2021 | 5:46 PM EST

Among its multiple alterations, the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21 may be undermining the role of public schools in the United States, in place since the middle of the 19th century. It is a reassessment that is long overdue.

A relevant anecdote is Ronald Reagan’s famous explanation that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left him. Across the country the past year, that has been the experience of parents with children in many of the nation’s public systems—abandoned by schools they’ve supported with their tax dollars.

In Chicago, the nation’s third-largest system is on the brink of a strike, despite pleas from the city’s progressive mayor, Lori Lightfoot, for the teachers to return. Unions are resisting opening in Los Angeles, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Washington. Michael Mulgrew, head of the teachers union in New York City, says the schools may not open “until September.”

San Francisco’s Board of Education has enough time on its hands to vote 6-1 to cancel the names of 44 Americans from their public schools. On Wednesday, the city sued its own school board for failing to get the schools open.

Though teaching modes vary by state, what data exist suggests in-person teaching at public schools is below 25%, while it’s about 60% at private schools, which have largely reopened.

At the start of the pandemic, the closures were understandable. They no longer are, with even the oh-so-careful Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying there is scant evidence of significant virus transmission among grade-school-age children.

There’s more at the original.

A lady named Phyllis tweeted:

If all the teachers in the country had the courage of a Kroger, Meijer, or Wal-Mart employee, our children would.not be in the shape they are in today with school. And what does that say about the difference in unions in this country.

— Phyllis (@Phyllis94584953) February 7, 2021

The employees of Kroger, Meijer and WalMart all had ‘essential’ jobs to which to go, and if they refused, they’d lose their jobs. Losing jobs due to refusing to work is not the kind of thing which makes you eligible for unemployment. I would guess that the vast majority of the people who worked at those stores worked there because they needed to work.

The public school teachers? They never missed a single paycheck, and as long as they could teach ‘remotely,’ why not? After all, who cares if ‘remote learning’ does not produce good results? The teachers get to avoid unruly classrooms, and many of them get to teach from their own homes. No commute, no nasty winter weather, just a nice, toasty computer session, perhaps with the fireplace going.

The private and parochial schools fought to reopen, sometimes having to sue authoritarian state decrees, because the parents wanted them open, and the schools have to stay open to stay open; private schools don’t have the government pot of money to remain open, and they need the tuition.

But Phyllis got it wrong: it has nothing to do with the “courage” of various employees. Rather, it has to do with the selfishness of the teachers’ unions. Already blessed with 180-day work years, rather than the 240 — and often more — that most people have, they find that they like not having to get out of bed earlier, not having to drive to work. A Keurig and they can easily skip the stop at Turkey Hill for a morning cup of coffee, and, depending on their set-up, can even stay in their pajama bottoms and slippers. Great, huh?

Just remember what they’re doing the next time teachers try to play the “we care about your children” card as they are seeking more money.