School Is Back: What, Exactly, Are Kids Being Taught?
- Katz urges parents to consider what children are actually learning, not just the relief of quieter mornings.
- Public debate often focuses on teacher pay and budgets, while the quality of education gets overlooked.
- The back-to-school season raises the question of what kids are being taught and what they are not learning.
School Is Back: What, Exactly, Are Kids Being Taught?
Tony Katz had a blunt message for parents welcoming a quieter house as students head back to class: the relief may be real, but so is the cost of what children are missing once the school day begins.
“While your parents may be thrilled to have just a wee bit of silence, it’s all temporary,” Katz said. “And what’s permanent is the holy hell we’re putting you through with the non-education that you’re getting.”
As buses return to the roads and families reset their morning routines, Katz said the annual back-to-school rush brings more than tighter commutes. It also signals the predictable return of arguments over schools, teachers and whether students are actually getting the education taxpayers and parents expect.
The immediate practical change is simple enough: drivers need to plan for buses, more traffic and slower morning travel. Katz urged commuters to give themselves more time as students return to class.
But his sharper point was aimed at the system waiting on the other side of those bus doors.
Katz mocked the familiar rhythm of the school calendar, joking that complaints about teacher pay are nearly as seasonal as pumpkin spice products appearing earlier and earlier on store shelves. The joke had teeth. Public debate around education regularly lands on salaries, budgets and administrative fights, while the question of whether students are learning enough can get shoved to the side.
That is the part Katz refused to treat as background noise.
Parents may be happy to reclaim a little daytime calm, he said, and children should still enjoy the start of a new school year. But the bigger issue is whether schools are delivering the academic foundation students need—not merely keeping them occupied until the final bell.
“Have fun, though, truly,” Katz said. “Have a great time.”
The sarcasm was hard to miss. Back-to-school season may come with fresh supplies, new routines and the usual refrigerator-worthy artwork. It also brings a question that should not be buried beneath the annual rush: What, exactly, are kids being taught—and what are they not learning?
That question will still be there long after the buses clear the roads.
Hear Tony Katz break it down live weekday mornings on WIBC 93.1 FM, or catch the full segment on-demand.
Listen to the “School Is Back: What, Exactly, Are Kids Being Taught?” discussion in full here:
