To be sure, John Hinderaker isn’t much for facts. Hardly a lost generation. Consider:

There are just under 81 million kids 0-17 in America (not even including people without papers), as of 2021. And about 62 million of those should be in K-12 programs.

The WSJ reporting John links puts the “missing” figure at no more than 400,000, nationwide. If we accept all the inferences offered. So… that’s less than one half of one per cent of school age kids.

Disconcerting — to be sure. But the frictional / migratory labor force likely explains almost all of it — workers and their families that move, season to season — to pick citrus or apple orchards, harvest crops, or work fishing boats. They are… ever on the move. [And many of them are people John openly demonizes, elsewhere, since many do not have… papers.]

So — does he really care? Or is it just a stupid talking point? I bet the latter.

In any event, Hinderaker has no evidence to support either that the full 400,000 dropped out, or that they aren’t being “home schooled”.

Just as he cites no evidence for his nutty idea that public schools are… a bad thing.

In sum — welcome to delusional Hinderaker world. [But he imagines it… a wedge issue. Damn.]

Out.