Trump has promised to eliminate the Department of Education.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a colleague about public education: “NO OTHER SURE FOUNDATION CAN BE DEVISED FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FREEDOM, AND HAPPINESS…. PREACH, MY DEAR SIR, A CRUSADE AGAINST IGNORANCE; ESTABLISH AND IMPROVE THE LAW FOR EDUCATING THE COMMON PEOPLE. LET OUR COUNTRYMEN KNOW THAT THE PEOPLE ALONE CAN PROTECT US AGAINST THE EVILS OF “KINGS, NOBLES AND PRIESTS”, AND THAT THE TAX WHICH WILL BE PAID FOR THIS PURPOSE IS NOT MORE THAN THE THOUSANDTH PART OF WHAT WILL BE PAID TO KINGS, PRIESTS AND NOBLES WHO WILL RISE UP AMONG US IF WE LEAVE THE PEOPLE IN IGNORANCE.” As Thomas Jefferson recognized, education is fundamental to democracy, because only educated people can accurately evaluate the governmental policies that will truly benefit them.
This blog is taken from an article by Heather Cox-Richardson.
One of President-elect Trump’s campaign pledges was to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. He claimed that the department pushes “woke” ideology on America’s school children and that its employees “hate our children.” He promised to “return” education to the states. In fact, the Department of Education does not set curriculum; states and local governments do.
Personally, I think this is one of the BIGGEST factors in inequality in the U.S., when the worst high school in New York City easily out-performs the best high school in Mississippi. How can a supposedly civilized democracy allow such inequities in the education of its citizens, and expect to thrive as a nation? School Board control of curriculum in public schools should be abolished and determined at the federal level if equal opportunity is to be realized!
The Department of Education collects statistics about schools to monitor student performance and promote practices based on evidence. It provides about 10% of funding for K–12 schools through federal grants of about $19.1 billion to high-poverty schools and of $15.5 billion to help cover the cost of educating students with disabilities. It also oversees the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program, including setting the rules under which colleges and universities can participate.
Since its creation, the Department of Education has been subjected to continuous abuse by republicans, particularly southern republicans, who see it as promoting values they themselves do not hold, such as the elimination of school segregation, separation of church and state, academic equality across the nation, gender equality, and many other factors that, in my opinion, do no credit to a civilized society.
During the 2024 political campaign, Trump brought the longstanding theme of public schools as dangerous sites of indoctrination to a ridiculous conclusion, repeatedly insisting that public schools were performing gender-transition surgery on students. But that cartoonish exaggeration spoke to voters who had come to see the equal rights protected by the Department of Education as an assault on their own identity. That position leads directly to the idea of eliminating the Department of Education.
It is ironic that, for all that Republicans embrace the attacks on public education, Republican-dominated states receive significantly more federal money for education than Democratic-dominated states do, although the Democratic states contribute significantly more tax dollars.
Allowing the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education will increase significantly the erosion of academic standards, particularly in states that can ill-afford a less-educated population, as they struggle to improve their economies. It will inevitably erode the academic performance of the nation as a whole when the U.S. is already falling behind other developed nations and, in many states, will allow radical evangelicals to determine curriculum, further weakening the nation’s ability to compete in the world economy. Regressive is hardly strong-enough a word to describe this myopic and dangerous movement. Trump’s ridiculous claims that the nation is going-to-the-dogs may well become a reality if he really does eliminate the Department of Education.
Time to requote Thomas Jefferson. “NO OTHER SURE FOUNDATION CAN BE DEVISED FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FREEDOM, AND HAPPINESS…. PREACH, MY DEAR SIR, A CRUSADE AGAINST IGNORANCE; ESTABLISH AND IMPROVE THE LAW FOR EDUCATING THE COMMON PEOPLE. LET OUR COUNTRYMEN KNOW THAT THE PEOPLE ALONE CAN PROTECT US AGAINST THE EVILS OF “KINGS, NOBLES AND PRIESTS”, AND THAT THE TAX WHICH WILL BE PAID FOR THIS PURPOSE IS NOT MORE THAN THE THOUSANDTH PART OF WHAT WILL BE PAID TO KINGS, PRIESTS AND NOBLES WHO WILL RISE UP AMONG US IF WE LEAVE THE PEOPLE IN IGNORANCE.”
