TRUMP’S EDUCATION POLICY
The Trump administration is trying to disband the US Dept. of Education, established by Congress in 1979. This department distributes grant and loan money to college students, supports K-12 schools in programs to help low-income and disabled students, enforces anti-discrimination laws, and does educational research. Half of the department’s staff has already been dismissed, but the department cannot be closed without Congressional approval.
Trump is also going after universities. The government’s message here is “Teach what you must, defend ‘the American tradition and Western civilization,’ prepare people for the work force and limit protests and research.” Free inquiry, unconventional ideas, critical approaches in history and literature are out. US universities, now among the world’s best, will not flourish under such a meager diet, and will have to eliminate many positions. Federal funds are to be reduced in any case and cut entirely if universities don’t conform to the Trump dictates.
As Trump said in 2016, “I love the poorly educated.” If he has his way, there will be a lot of love going around.
Sources: The New York Times, 3/16 and 3/ 21/ 2025