Mystery of the missing middle-schoolers
- Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 25
- 1 min read
Traditional public schools -- especially middle schools -- are losing enrollment to private schools and homeschooling, report Joshua Goodman and Abigail Francis on Education Next. Higher-income, Asian-American and white families are the most likely to leave.
Parents' doubts about academic rigor and worries about disorder and danger could explain the mystery of the missing middle schoolers, their research suggests.
Though leaders of all school levels blame pandemic-era disruptions for the rise in misbehavior, middle-school leaders report "the steepest growth in post-pandemic behavioral problems, particularly physical fights between students, hate crimes, bullying, rowdiness in hallways, and classroom disruptions due to misconduct and unsanctioned cell phone use," Goodman and Francis write.
It's not getting better. "The fraction of K–12 parents who said they fear for their child’s physical safety at school rose by 10 percentage points between 2019 and 2024. And in late 2024, 72 percent of surveyed teachers, principals, and district leaders reported that student behavior was worse than it had been in 2019, a higher percentage than in 2021 and 2023."
Parents who can afford alternatives are leaving. Some students will return to public high schools, seeking a wider choice of courses, extracurriculars and sports. But many are gone for good.
Enrollment in public pre-K programs also is down sharply, perhaps because more parents are homeschooling young children. That could mean fewer students in public elementary schools.
The American public has increasingly had enough of America's state school establishment. They remain well advised, wherever & whenever possible, to withdraw their children from their local teachers' union district, and enrol them in private schools of their choice for their compulsory education, after which basics many should transition into vocational education & training, while the qualified few could do well in public-authority baccalaureate schools, if their regions would support such selection.
People are having fewer children. They are investing more into those children, such as "college for all". As such, there would naturally be more consideration of what the government schools and ideological teachers are imposing on their victims. As to oppose the policies of the local school board is treated as terrorism by the FBI, the only alternative to keep your children out of the hands of your enemy.
Example: