COVID procedures negatively impacted schooling, it follows that removing COVID restrictions and procedures will positively impact schooling. That's all fine and

COVID procedures negatively impacted schooling, it follows that removing COVID restrictions and procedures will positively impact schooling. That's all fine and good so far... Let's posit going back to 2018-era schooling will provide 4 Units of School Improvement. 4 USI sounds great, right? What if there was 40 USI just sitting on the shelf waiting to be picked up? But it's in a blind spot. It was there waiting in 2018 and never touched. The 4 USI can be achieved by getting rid of the things we never wanted in the first place. Achieving that 40 USI will mean ruthlessly tearing into the status quo. So, let's circle back and remind ourselves that this is an article using big words and statistics to state the obvious: schooling under covid sucks. No shit, that's not news, but it's in The Times. So let's look more carefully at what it does say. They're not learning enough, and the institutional socialization is producing people less well-adjusted than ever. OK, technically true. But those were the most visible problems with schools before COVID too. So, why is this specific article - written this way - in The Times? What purpose(es) - deliberate or not - does it serve?