We 'robbed' our children of academic achievement: Perino

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We have robbed our children of academic achievements: Perino

‘The Five’ panelists discuss the impact pandemic lockdowns have on children’s mental health.

Fox News host Dana Perino said Tuesday that the pandemic "robbed" children of academic achievements due to school closures and failed attempts at virtual learning.

"We have robbed them of some serious academic achievement and accomplishments," Perino said on "The Five." "These kids know that they are going to have to compete against the world and that their competitors like the Chinese, for example, are way ahead of them in terms of some of the biggest career choices that they will have to make in the future, like STEM classes."

Jandel Diaz does his school work on a laptop computer. The Reading School District has gone to all-virtual education as a precaution during the COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic. (Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)

THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC DEVIVES ON CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association, declared a "national emergency" or "crisis" in child and adolescent mental health in the United States as a result of open-ended school shutdowns and remote learning.

Still, public school districts, mostly across the Northeast and Midwest, closed this week over concerns of the omicron variant, forcing children to return to online classes.

US SCHOOLS CLOSE AGAIN AS CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH DECLARED A NATIONAL CRISIS

Christina Pagan, 7, does her school work using an iPad and a pencil with a workbook.  (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)

"This country talks such a big game about putting the children first, it’s all about the kids, how often do we hear that?" asked co-host Jesse Watters. "It’s all talk, because the minute that little Johnny could come home with something from middle school and sneeze on mom and dad, oh my god, panic, we will derail this kid's childhood for maybe the rest of his life."

"I don’t want to downplay COVID-19, but other adults in other generations went off to war in the Pacific, in Europe to save their own children from communism, totalitarianism," he added. "What did this generation do? As soon as something came along that had a 99 percent chance of survivability, they shut everything down."