Back to School, Back to Battle

Neal McCluskeyBy early next week, after Labor Day weekend has come to a close, just about every child aged 5 to 17 in the United States —homeschoolers excepted—will be back in school. And that means, for the most part,literallyin school, unlike last year when much of the nation was racked by heated debates about buildings closed to in ‐​person instruction. But just because that particular fight is largely over does not mean the school year is starting with pep rallies ringing out “Kumbaya.”When it comes to COVID-19, conflict persists but the battleground has shifted. Thelocus is now masking, especially whether districts can mandate it. It is a conflagration fueled, it seems, as much by ideological as medical concerns: not just whether masking in schools mitigates the spread of the virus, but when should government be able to override private decisions. As Cato chairmanBob Levy has written, it is not a clear ‐​cut case: When one person can inflict harm on another against their will, government action maybe justified.But COVID-19 is hardly the only huge flashpoint in education. Debates over critical race theory, or at least concepts such as systemic racism and unconscious bias subsumed under it, haveembroiled school boards for months. The only thing that seems to be tamping that down at the moment is the masking debate, which surpassed CRT in urgency as kids had to physically return to school.The way to avoid most of the crippling acrimo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs