Let me start by saying that as the daughter of a 30+-year math and science teacher, I have always understood the importance of education. I attended many of my county's school board meetings... including speaking at more than just a few...and when my children were in public school...I'm a proponent of quality public education...I was part of a group of parents who succeeded in saving our city's elementary, middle, and high school's gifted and highly gifted programs...programs in danger of being cut due to budget restraints. And I helped fight to get the disaster known as “Common Core” out of our Florida schools.
So why do I tell you this...because through experience and my personal background I know that a good education is critical to not only our children's success in life, but to our nation's success as well. In fact, our striving for educational excellence should be a key component of what constitutes “American Exceptionalism,” and right now, for the most part, it's not.
So as I see it, it's not the funding or the adjudicating of said funds that is the problem Trump has with the “Department of Education,” but it's that the department has become a political entity that has turned its back on educating America's children and replaced it with their own brand of political indoctrination. Simply, the act of educating...the act of teaching...has morphed instead into indoctrination of a decidedly political one-sided nature. Basics like English, math, science, and history have been corrupted by a discourse...by a curriculum...loaded down with political ideologies based not upon proven facts and tangible realities, but upon the agendas of whichever political party is in power at any given time.
And this has been going on with every Democrat
president and every DOE...since the days of Jimmy Carter. Remember,
before Carter was president our nation's public schools were
ranked the world's best. Our teachers were actually teaching, our
kids were actually learning, and the “Department of Education”
was then but a sub-group within the “Department
of Health and Welfare. Things
were going well education wise and should have been left as is, but
Carter didn't see it that way, and
on October 17, 1979 he signed off on
creating a stand alone “U.S. Department
of Education” giving it more power than
it ever should have had. And thanks to Carter our then number one
ranked K-12 public schools began a slow decline to where they
are now as in 13th* in the world, with only five** U.S. universities
and colleges still amongst the top ten in their ranking.
The “Department of Education,” as it now stands, is actually the “smallest” of all Cabinet agencies size wise, and currently sees its responsibilities, as per its “mission statement,” being to “promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Also, the department is responsible for distributing federal financial aid for education; collecting and distributing research data relating to our public schools; and to assure there's no discrimination within our public school system...as in there being educational “equal access” to all no matter ones race, creed, or color, with the “woke” nonsense regarding “pronouns” now being added into the mix.
And the leftist agenda started with the forcing of “Critical Race Theory” into our public schools. CRT as it's more commonly known, is a no longer being veiled version of self-perceived, ongoing white racism against blacks, and is still deeply embedded in many of our public school's curriculum. And then there's the nonsense that is part of “cultural wokeism” itself, including the “pronoun” nonsense, the 57 gender nonsense, the LGBTQ+ demands, as well as the nonsense that ones sex can actually be changed...a tangible science proven DNA based impossibility.
But before I get into a few of his common sense proposals, let me say that while some still want the total dismantle of the “Department of Education” one must understand that is not a good idea. Why so? First, while education does indeed belong to the states, there still must be a blanket umbrella of sorts in regards to what's allowed and what's not allowed to be taught in our public schools not only in regards to the Democrat initiated “woke agenda,” but in regards to the all-important “separation of church and state.” Faith based education for those who desire it must always be available but on a private or parochial school level and, I believe, must not be forced into the public schools. Why so...because one student's faith might not be another student's faith, and one faith must never be deemed or taught as being better or more truthful than another faith.
Third, in my opinion “Affirmation Action,” CRT, the DEI, and all “woke” nonsense must have no place in public college or university admissions for admission to public colleges or universities must always be “merit” not race based. In the long run these four what are race/gender based initiatives have caused is more problems than they've solved, and if truth be told they're a form of racism in their own right. “Merit” not quotas is what determines success...quotas are just a veil to hide educational, procedural, or policy failures.
First, Trump wants to put in place what he calls a “Parental Bill of Rights,” which includes the call for complete curriculum transparency to be shared with the student's parents along with parents having an actual input into the curriculum itself.
Second, Trump is calling for a form of “universal school choice”...as in parents having a choice as to which school their child will attend...but that's still in the works as to its implementation.
Third, Trump proposes giving nationwide funding preferences to schools who get rid of “teacher tenure” and instead adopt a “merit pay” system...a truly great idea.
And while these are but four of Trump's proposals the bottom line is, in my opinion, that Trump really doesn't want to eliminate the “Department of Education,” but to fix its problems and issues. I also believe he knows that curriculum itself is “ground zero” of today's educational woes, and that some form of curriculum commonality must exist between the 50 states. Eliminating the “Department of Education” might then actually create more problems than it would fix.
Simply, “wokeism” and anti-Americanism must no longer be taught in our public schools nor must a partisan agenda, whether it be the agenda of the party in power or not. America's public schools must return to educating not indoctrinating, and for that we need to keep the “Department of Education” intact in one form or another...rhetoric about its demise notwithstanding. Case closed.
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* USA Education Ranking Worldwide - Assessing Criteria, Current Standing & More
** QS World University Rankings
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