After having given it some thought, I've decided to put a super-mega-thread of my recommendations for the new administration's Department of Education, et cetera. Given how these things go, I expect this will make at least everybody mad, but welcome to the jungle. 🧵🧵🧵
1) The Department of Education must be abolished before Trump's term ends, but there's a functional contradiction in this first priority. A department that doesn't exist cannot actually do anything, so it's unclear what any of the Trump Administration's ambitions in education would even mean.
The primary power over education the federal government has is monetary, but if the Department of Education shuts down, the executive apparatus for directing federal moneys in education disappears as does the executive power base for influencing education. Some decisions have to be made, then: federal or state control of education, and when?
Simply shutting the Department of Education down on Day 1 would be a serious mistake. The string-tied federal money in education is all authorized by legislation in Congress's purview, and the legislation authorizing that money and enabling its strings would not end just because the Department of Education ended. That all has to be dealt with.
If the Department ends with money (and strings) still authorized, other departments (like Treasury, and?) would have to pick up the slack, scattering the education functions around, across, and through the executive branch, making it harder to fix. The Department is also ideally poised to facilitate the process of Congress undoing much of this legislation.
In the meantime, the Department can use what power it has, even as it sunsets itself, to repair many of the most outrageous issues in education as it currently exists, which are numerous. This would allow a transition period in which states are pulled into better educational priorities and commitments before they're given full educational autonomy.
The only practical solution, then, is that the Department of Education must be wound down, not simply abolished. Its eventual abolition should be a priority it communicates to the American people and to Congress, who should have a bill prepared for it at the right time.
I would in theory recommend a two-year timeline to establish and accomplish its mission and close its own doors, but the midterms are a concern, meaning a three-year timeline might be smarter and more politically viable.
This approach cannot become an excuse to perpetuate the Department and "use the One Ring." A clear shutdown timeline with benchmarks should be planned and communicated from the start, and Department actions should only be taken such that they are consistent with the overall agenda of closing the Department down completely by the planned deadline.
Fwiw, I have recommended that Tiffany Justice from Moms four Liberty serve in the role of Secretary of Education as described above. She should have the patriotic honor of terminating the awful department in her tenure. She understands the assignment and represents the largest coalition of parents and their interests this country has ever known. That's big outsider energy of exactly the right kind.
The primary power over education the federal government has is monetary, but if the Department of Education shuts down, the executive apparatus for directing federal moneys in education disappears as does the executive power base for influencing education. Some decisions have to be made, then: federal or state control of education, and when?
Simply shutting the Department of Education down on Day 1 would be a serious mistake. The string-tied federal money in education is all authorized by legislation in Congress's purview, and the legislation authorizing that money and enabling its strings would not end just because the Department of Education ended. That all has to be dealt with.
If the Department ends with money (and strings) still authorized, other departments (like Treasury, and?) would have to pick up the slack, scattering the education functions around, across, and through the executive branch, making it harder to fix. The Department is also ideally poised to facilitate the process of Congress undoing much of this legislation.
In the meantime, the Department can use what power it has, even as it sunsets itself, to repair many of the most outrageous issues in education as it currently exists, which are numerous. This would allow a transition period in which states are pulled into better educational priorities and commitments before they're given full educational autonomy.
The only practical solution, then, is that the Department of Education must be wound down, not simply abolished. Its eventual abolition should be a priority it communicates to the American people and to Congress, who should have a bill prepared for it at the right time.
I would in theory recommend a two-year timeline to establish and accomplish its mission and close its own doors, but the midterms are a concern, meaning a three-year timeline might be smarter and more politically viable.
This approach cannot become an excuse to perpetuate the Department and "use the One Ring." A clear shutdown timeline with benchmarks should be planned and communicated from the start, and Department actions should only be taken such that they are consistent with the overall agenda of closing the Department down completely by the planned deadline.
Fwiw, I have recommended that Tiffany Justice from Moms four Liberty serve in the role of Secretary of Education as described above. She should have the patriotic honor of terminating the awful department in her tenure. She understands the assignment and represents the largest coalition of parents and their interests this country has ever known. That's big outsider energy of exactly the right kind.
2) The United Nations, UNESCO, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and other global NGOs need to have no influence on American education whatsoever. If you don't understand that the Woke education in Alaska looks just like the Woke education in New Jersey looks just like the Woke education in Kenya, you need to get with the program: this is a global initiative in education, not an American one. That needs to end from the first possible day.
I recommend full withdrawal from all these global(ist) education initiatives—including Education for Global Citizenship, SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) in education, Education for Sustainable Development, and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), not to mention any vestiges of Common Core–derived from the UNESCO World Core curriculum.
To effect this, not only should there be a deliberate withdrawal, etc., from official relationships with these organizations, all school districts in their own relationships with these organizations should have to disclose that information clearly and publicly.
I recommend full withdrawal from all these global(ist) education initiatives—including Education for Global Citizenship, SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) in education, Education for Sustainable Development, and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), not to mention any vestiges of Common Core–derived from the UNESCO World Core curriculum.
To effect this, not only should there be a deliberate withdrawal, etc., from official relationships with these organizations, all school districts in their own relationships with these organizations should have to disclose that information clearly and publicly.
3) Various pieces of federal educational legislation need attention. This is not the Department's job, specifically, but it can produce the relevant reports and urge Congress to act correctly on these matters. This list is not exhaustive but lists a few key priorities.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 needs to be repealed. Similarly, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) should be repealed or heavily revised. On the other hand, FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) need to be revised and strengthened for greater protections for parents and families.
Mechanisms for relief funding need to be reconsidered overwhelmingly: ARPA, CARES, ESSER need to fail reauthorization, for example. This would likely also require repealing or revising the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) of 1994 and revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accordingly.
Similarly, the Education Science Reform Act (ESRA) should be considered as a mechanism for knocking out the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems as was recently amended by the 2023 Advancing Research in Education Act.
Repealing ESSA is the #1 priority here, though, and in particular its requirement for reporting “non-academic competencies,” which authorizes and creates the institutional mechanisms for the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programming that has taken over our education and which should not be there.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 needs to be repealed. Similarly, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) should be repealed or heavily revised. On the other hand, FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) need to be revised and strengthened for greater protections for parents and families.
Mechanisms for relief funding need to be reconsidered overwhelmingly: ARPA, CARES, ESSER need to fail reauthorization, for example. This would likely also require repealing or revising the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) of 1994 and revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) accordingly.
Similarly, the Education Science Reform Act (ESRA) should be considered as a mechanism for knocking out the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems as was recently amended by the 2023 Advancing Research in Education Act.
Repealing ESSA is the #1 priority here, though, and in particular its requirement for reporting “non-academic competencies,” which authorizes and creates the institutional mechanisms for the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programming that has taken over our education and which should not be there.
4) Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programming should not be regarded as a priority or requirement for educational institutions in the United States and, ideally, it should not be included in education at all. In fact, the Department should do everything in its power to disincentivize or remove Social-Emotional Learning programming from our schools, as it is not appropriate to American education whatsoever.
To add clarity, the social and emotional circumstances children face should ultimately be under their parents’ direction. There is every reason to believe that SEL is crypto-religious instruction that the state cannot be involved in endorsing, but even if that were to fail scrutiny, it is still values-based education that should be exclusively reserved to parents. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) should be excluded from as much educational access as possible.
Incidentally, the idea that all education is “values-based” education is a trap to justify Woke education priorities. The stance taken is that the only values American schools have any business promoting are basic American civic values and behavioral norms and expectations. Certainly values rooted in “transformation” and the various global agendas (ESG, SDGs, DEI, etc.) are inappropriate and should be removed.
To add clarity, the social and emotional circumstances children face should ultimately be under their parents’ direction. There is every reason to believe that SEL is crypto-religious instruction that the state cannot be involved in endorsing, but even if that were to fail scrutiny, it is still values-based education that should be exclusively reserved to parents. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) should be excluded from as much educational access as possible.
Incidentally, the idea that all education is “values-based” education is a trap to justify Woke education priorities. The stance taken is that the only values American schools have any business promoting are basic American civic values and behavioral norms and expectations. Certainly values rooted in “transformation” and the various global agendas (ESG, SDGs, DEI, etc.) are inappropriate and should be removed.
5) No “mental health” initiatives should be allowed to utilize schools as clinics or to blur the lines between schools and clinics. Our schools are not clinics, and a bright line should be maintained on this to protect children and their parents' rights.
No medical services should be provided by schools, including mental health services, beyond basic first aid. Again, they are not clinics.
There should be absolutely no expansion of the CDC's jurisdiction (supposing it survives) or Medicaid financing into education.
There should be absolutely no school-based telemedicine and prescriptions for minors in schools, especially not without parental permission.
This will have to include reviewing and either revising or repealing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022 which expanded the mental health agenda in schools.
Note: Many conservatives are already very positive about the “mental health” agenda in schools, and this is a serious mistake. Many brand it under the term “Resilience,” which should be approached with serious care as that’s a central buzzword of the UN and WEF agendas and thus a clear terminological backdoor to their globalist programming (see point #2 above).
President Trump has indicated that he intends to tackle youth mental health somehow. It absolutely shouldn’t be through incorporating medical services into the schools. #MAHA
No medical services should be provided by schools, including mental health services, beyond basic first aid. Again, they are not clinics.
There should be absolutely no expansion of the CDC's jurisdiction (supposing it survives) or Medicaid financing into education.
There should be absolutely no school-based telemedicine and prescriptions for minors in schools, especially not without parental permission.
This will have to include reviewing and either revising or repealing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022 which expanded the mental health agenda in schools.
Note: Many conservatives are already very positive about the “mental health” agenda in schools, and this is a serious mistake. Many brand it under the term “Resilience,” which should be approached with serious care as that’s a central buzzword of the UN and WEF agendas and thus a clear terminological backdoor to their globalist programming (see point #2 above).
President Trump has indicated that he intends to tackle youth mental health somehow. It absolutely shouldn’t be through incorporating medical services into the schools. #MAHA
6) Critical pedagogy (a Critical Theory and approach to education) needs to be removed and blocked to the greatest degree possible from K-12 education in the United States in all its forms, including “Culturally Relevant/Responsive” and “education for critical consciousness” teaching methodologies. Critical pedagogy is brainwashing, directly harmful/traumatizing even in its own descriptions of itself, and fails any positive educational purpose. It also hijacks academic instructional time for the purposes of emotional manipulation, political radicalization, and inappropriate activist training.
Other “transformative” methodologies should also be excluded from American education. This would also negate teaching CRT, Queer Theory, gender ideology, anti-American critical history, etc., all of which are downstream from critical pedagogy.
Colleges of education that prioritize critical pedagogy should be actively demerited in terms of their status as a pathway to licensure and opportunities for alternatives should be opened and incentivized. Federal monies should be withheld from schools whose colleges of education fail to offer full alternative programming aside from critical pedagogy.
The Department should investigate ways in which the existing de facto monopoly on teacher and administrator licensure being done through critical pedagogy-filled programs in colleges of education constitutes an unjust political and even religious/worldview requirement for public-sector employee in public schools.
Other “transformative” methodologies should also be excluded from American education. This would also negate teaching CRT, Queer Theory, gender ideology, anti-American critical history, etc., all of which are downstream from critical pedagogy.
Colleges of education that prioritize critical pedagogy should be actively demerited in terms of their status as a pathway to licensure and opportunities for alternatives should be opened and incentivized. Federal monies should be withheld from schools whose colleges of education fail to offer full alternative programming aside from critical pedagogy.
The Department should investigate ways in which the existing de facto monopoly on teacher and administrator licensure being done through critical pedagogy-filled programs in colleges of education constitutes an unjust political and even religious/worldview requirement for public-sector employee in public schools.
7) School choice. Tricky issue. I'll be uncharacteristically politic here.
First, federal school choice programs would have to be coordinated somehow through the federal executive apparatus, so abolishing the Department of Education presents a partial functional contradiction to promises of federal universal school choice.
Second, federal school choice programs don't make any sense at all in the context of cutting federal funding in education because the federal government won’t have any authority or money with which to enact it. Thus, school choice initiatives should be thrust to the states, not made a federal issue, though the department can recommend them for whatever reasons.
Now, I am personally extremely wary of school choice and believe conservatives are making a huge mistake adopting this blatantly neoliberal education policy that would require maintaining a federal apparatus in education and thus moneys and accountability (strings). I have sincere concerns about the long-term outcomes of these programs.
My recommendation is to abandon school choice entirely while we still have the chance and to push instead for federal open enrollment policies as an alternative to school choice. The difference is money. What we usually call "school choice" implies a government education subsidy/entitlement, while open enrollment provides the access to any public school parents would like to enroll their kids in.
This is all a political lead zeppelin right now, though, so I won't go on about it.
First, federal school choice programs would have to be coordinated somehow through the federal executive apparatus, so abolishing the Department of Education presents a partial functional contradiction to promises of federal universal school choice.
Second, federal school choice programs don't make any sense at all in the context of cutting federal funding in education because the federal government won’t have any authority or money with which to enact it. Thus, school choice initiatives should be thrust to the states, not made a federal issue, though the department can recommend them for whatever reasons.
Now, I am personally extremely wary of school choice and believe conservatives are making a huge mistake adopting this blatantly neoliberal education policy that would require maintaining a federal apparatus in education and thus moneys and accountability (strings). I have sincere concerns about the long-term outcomes of these programs.
My recommendation is to abandon school choice entirely while we still have the chance and to push instead for federal open enrollment policies as an alternative to school choice. The difference is money. What we usually call "school choice" implies a government education subsidy/entitlement, while open enrollment provides the access to any public school parents would like to enroll their kids in.
This is all a political lead zeppelin right now, though, so I won't go on about it.
8) Restorative Justice and Inclusive Classroom policies must be investigated for their roles in increasing the violence in our schools, including in increasing school shootings. Ideally, these programs should be heavily revised or ended as a result of these investigations.
Alternative disciplinary models are needed with "restorative" models being no more than an adjunct. Schools should be strongly disincentivized from failing to properly discipline disorderly and dangerous students.
Inclusive classroom policies need to be heavily revised so that "inclusion" does not include the deliberate inclusion of dangerous or disturbed individuals in our schools and classrooms.
Alternative disciplinary models are needed with "restorative" models being no more than an adjunct. Schools should be strongly disincentivized from failing to properly discipline disorderly and dangerous students.
Inclusive classroom policies need to be heavily revised so that "inclusion" does not include the deliberate inclusion of dangerous or disturbed individuals in our schools and classrooms.
9) Education on basic academic skills should be prioritized by the department, including in policy and in public campaigns about education.
Literacy, numeracy, scientific and historical literacy, etc., should all be at the forefront of education (#MALA), including in textbook publication and adoption and prioritization on teacher licensure and continuing education.
These genuine academic skills should not fall into the trap of “competency-based assessment” either. Education shouldn’t be about collecting academic merit badges tracked by government or even corporate entities.
Literacy, numeracy, scientific and historical literacy, etc., should all be at the forefront of education (#MALA), including in textbook publication and adoption and prioritization on teacher licensure and continuing education.
These genuine academic skills should not fall into the trap of “competency-based assessment” either. Education shouldn’t be about collecting academic merit badges tracked by government or even corporate entities.
10) The Department should encourage or mandate a grade-appropriate survey of the history and activity of Communism including its unending reign of destruction everywhere it gets adopted. Ideally these programs will teach our children not just why Communism is dangerous and bad but also how they can recognize Communist themes appearing in new forms (e.g., DEI).
This anti-Communist curriculum should be paired with pro-American liberty and civics curriculum, as well as a more robust, comparable anti-Fascist educational program. Liberty versus collectivism/tyranny should be the primary theme, plus the relevant history.
This anti-Communist curriculum should be paired with pro-American liberty and civics curriculum, as well as a more robust, comparable anti-Fascist educational program. Liberty versus collectivism/tyranny should be the primary theme, plus the relevant history.
11) A generalized “FCC Rule” should be applied across K-12 education.
If the FCC would require censorship of certain content during daytime or prime-time on TV or radio, it is not appropriate for a classroom, library, etc., in any school and must be removed. This should be extended to include drag queens and other cultural provocateurs being prohibited from doing performances in our schools and their libraries.
If the FCC would require censorship of certain content during daytime or prime-time on TV or radio, it is not appropriate for a classroom, library, etc., in any school and must be removed. This should be extended to include drag queens and other cultural provocateurs being prohibited from doing performances in our schools and their libraries.
12) An educational materials transparency and sunshine policy should be pushed that requires any third-party material utilized by a public school (or any taking public money) to be made transparent to any relevant stakeholder upon request, especially parents, regardless of copyright status.
One of the biggest ways schools hide the Woke things they’re doing is by using third-party proprietary materials they say cannot be FOIAed because they’re covered by copyrights. The policy should be that if a public school adopts a third-party material, it loses limited copyright protections under either FOIA or a reasonable request by relevant educational stakeholders or both.
One of the biggest ways schools hide the Woke things they’re doing is by using third-party proprietary materials they say cannot be FOIAed because they’re covered by copyrights. The policy should be that if a public school adopts a third-party material, it loses limited copyright protections under either FOIA or a reasonable request by relevant educational stakeholders or both.
13) The Department, perhaps in conjunction with HHS, should conduct a full investigation and audit into the true enrollment in schools in every state that does not count children here illegally from other countries.
School systems are claiming enrollment is stable and collecting money and failing to make changes by filling vacant seats with illegal aliens and claiming the ongoing mass exodus from public schools by angry families is not happening.
School systems are claiming enrollment is stable and collecting money and failing to make changes by filling vacant seats with illegal aliens and claiming the ongoing mass exodus from public schools by angry families is not happening.
14) Regarding teachers unions: Strongly disincentivize states' use of the “Friedrichs Fix” rule in various states by mandating that schools inform teachers that they are not required to join teachers unions. Information relevant to the Janus SCOTUS ruling should be provided by the Department.
Public sector unions should not exist for a variety of reasons, so the Department should regard the teachers unions as a hostile force with little legitimacy despite its immense power.
In terms of policy, though much of this needs to happen at the states level, do what can be done to make American teachers unions have to apply for recertification every year unless their enrollment stays above 65%. Make teacher enrollment in the teachers unions be voluntary and not to be paid for by withholding from their salaries. (That is, do what Florida did.)
The Department can prepare information relevant to these priorities within its scope so teachers and state legislatures have it available, for example.
The Department should conduct a thorough investigation (in coordination with the Department of Justice) into the teachers unions regarding their role in maintaining and extending the Covid-era school closures in terms of overall damages, learning loss, mental health outcomes, and possible charges of extortative racketeering by union leadership and pursue this investigation vigorously.
Public sector unions should not exist for a variety of reasons, so the Department should regard the teachers unions as a hostile force with little legitimacy despite its immense power.
In terms of policy, though much of this needs to happen at the states level, do what can be done to make American teachers unions have to apply for recertification every year unless their enrollment stays above 65%. Make teacher enrollment in the teachers unions be voluntary and not to be paid for by withholding from their salaries. (That is, do what Florida did.)
The Department can prepare information relevant to these priorities within its scope so teachers and state legislatures have it available, for example.
The Department should conduct a thorough investigation (in coordination with the Department of Justice) into the teachers unions regarding their role in maintaining and extending the Covid-era school closures in terms of overall damages, learning loss, mental health outcomes, and possible charges of extortative racketeering by union leadership and pursue this investigation vigorously.
15) Maybe not going to be popular, but the Department should maintain a position against schools doing school-led prayers in schools. Allowing private prayer or group prayer is absolutely fine, as is daily silent time for students and faculty to use as they desire. We do not want to open the can of worms that follows from school-led prayer. Believe me.
16) Relatedly, the Department should not encourage the various programs of putting chaplains in schools. This is a backdoor to all kinds of Woke and other religion-based shenanigans and a very bad idea.
17) The Department should do everything in its power to increase protections for homeschooling parents from any state interference whatsoever.
This freedom from state interference in the education and upbringing of parents' children should be regarded by the Department as foundational to the republic itself and treated as such. The Department should work in all ways possible to secure and protect this right of parents against all encroachment in all fifty states, including by initiatives of "school choice" and other pathways to regulatory oversight.
This freedom from state interference in the education and upbringing of parents' children should be regarded by the Department as foundational to the republic itself and treated as such. The Department should work in all ways possible to secure and protect this right of parents against all encroachment in all fifty states, including by initiatives of "school choice" and other pathways to regulatory oversight.
18) The Department should disincentivize all DEI programming and administration and SDG-related programming in all schools P-20 in the strongest possible ways.
The Department should disincentivize “Community Schools” and the WSCC (Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child) agenda. This would include keeping the CDC, ASCD, ISTE, and other agencies out of education (HHS, HRSA, NIH, NIMH, SAMSHA).
Also, the Department should produce accurate informational materials for the public regarding the nature of these programs that is more transparent than the propaganda that has been spread about them up until now.
Relatedly, the current Department of Education's School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) and Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration (MHSP) grant programs need to end or undergo substantial revision pursuant to previous discussion in Paragraph 5.
All relationship between schools and the Trevor Project needs to end completely, re: Federal Suicide/Mental Health Hotline advertising and assistance. The Department should investigate the Trevor Project for facilitation of harms and violations of parents' rights to the degree that it is within the Department’s jurisdiction.
The Department should disincentivize “Community Schools” and the WSCC (Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child) agenda. This would include keeping the CDC, ASCD, ISTE, and other agencies out of education (HHS, HRSA, NIH, NIMH, SAMSHA).
Also, the Department should produce accurate informational materials for the public regarding the nature of these programs that is more transparent than the propaganda that has been spread about them up until now.
Relatedly, the current Department of Education's School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) and Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration (MHSP) grant programs need to end or undergo substantial revision pursuant to previous discussion in Paragraph 5.
All relationship between schools and the Trevor Project needs to end completely, re: Federal Suicide/Mental Health Hotline advertising and assistance. The Department should investigate the Trevor Project for facilitation of harms and violations of parents' rights to the degree that it is within the Department’s jurisdiction.
19) The Department should investigate colleges and universities for admissions policies and practices that lead students to believe they would be employable in fields they are not likely to become employable in and create incentives for universities to give students career and course-of-study counseling that is actually in line with the real job market.
It should incentivize colleges and universities to give realistic and responsible career counseling that creates employable students who will be able to earn enough money to pay off their student loans. It should disincentivize all admissions and career counseling activity that knowingly or neglectfully misleads students (particularly incoming students) about their future career prospects in order to increase the likelihood of student enrollment.
It should incentivize colleges and universities to give realistic and responsible career counseling that creates employable students who will be able to earn enough money to pay off their student loans. It should disincentivize all admissions and career counseling activity that knowingly or neglectfully misleads students (particularly incoming students) about their future career prospects in order to increase the likelihood of student enrollment.
20) Massive student loan reform.
The Department should do everything in its power to initiate a massive reform of the existing disastrous student loans system, including taking actions in line with Paragraph 19, just above.
The Department should do everything in its power to initiate a massive reform of the existing disastrous student loans system, including taking actions in line with Paragraph 19, just above.
21) Pursuant to President-elect Trump's educational ambitions, the Departments should incentivize and create education geared toward work and work-related skills, including giving due credit for appropriate work experience (high school and college).
22) The Department should develop and incentivize, if not require, a strong American citizenship curriculum. In a sentence, American education should produce Americans.
This should include teaching the genuine philosophical, historical, and practical civics elements of the American system at every level. It should include a presentation of American history that is fair, honest, and on balance positive about America's historical and continuing role in the world.
This doesn’t have to be “patriotic education,” as President-elect Trump has called it, but it should carry that ethos while teaching how our system works and why it is great without apology.
This should include teaching the genuine philosophical, historical, and practical civics elements of the American system at every level. It should include a presentation of American history that is fair, honest, and on balance positive about America's historical and continuing role in the world.
This doesn’t have to be “patriotic education,” as President-elect Trump has called it, but it should carry that ethos while teaching how our system works and why it is great without apology.
23) Tenure reform.
The Department should work to equip K-12 schools, colleges, and universities with the necessary tools to fire tenured faculty and administration who are abusing their positions through replacing it with activism or failing to meet basic job duties. Both of these avenues are a failure to do one’s job and should therefore be met with termination after adequate review.
The Department should work to equip K-12 schools, colleges, and universities with the necessary tools to fire tenured faculty and administration who are abusing their positions through replacing it with activism or failing to meet basic job duties. Both of these avenues are a failure to do one’s job and should therefore be met with termination after adequate review.
24) Relationships between American schools, colleges, and universities and foreign influence programs, whether CCP-based (Confucius Institute, Asia Society, etc.), Islamic centers funded by hostile foreign nations, and other ideological programming funded by hostile foreign nations need to be investigated and blocked. The Department should dedicate resources to shielding American students from foreign influence.
25) The Department should Make Education Human Again (MEHA).
American education should remain a human endeavor. The uses of AI in education should be considered already and not extended to replacing teachers or the human activity of teaching.
While it is necessary to teach our students about the uses of the tools of AI, AI learning should only be done as a supplemental activity. The Department should prioritize safeguarding Americans from AI replacing human teachers.
AI ed technology incorporated into teaching should be either neutral in orientation or pro-American and not provided by foreign or global entities with un-American agendas.
A task force to explore the integration of AI into teaching should be organized with a mission of maximizing the human element of education and controlling for data harvesting.
American education should remain a human endeavor. The uses of AI in education should be considered already and not extended to replacing teachers or the human activity of teaching.
While it is necessary to teach our students about the uses of the tools of AI, AI learning should only be done as a supplemental activity. The Department should prioritize safeguarding Americans from AI replacing human teachers.
AI ed technology incorporated into teaching should be either neutral in orientation or pro-American and not provided by foreign or global entities with un-American agendas.
A task force to explore the integration of AI into teaching should be organized with a mission of maximizing the human element of education and controlling for data harvesting.
26) The Department should work to end the data mining and harvesting of our students (children and teens).
Using surveys, ed tech, and other methodologies to collect learning or psychometric data from our students should be prohibited. If these cannot be prohibited, strong data privacy protections must be implemented so those data cannot be sold or used by third parties, including the US federal government and its intelligence communities, to build psychometric profiles of American children. This would include storing “educational competencies” (including mental-health data) in “digital wallets,” which builds out a de facto foundation for a social credit system, among other things.
Our schools should not be data mines of our children; our children’s data should not be deterministic of their future opportunities in American society and its economy; and any data collected for educational purposes should be highly protected and not have easy routes to foreign adversaries, which they would have if they can be sold to private third parties. The sale of data harvested from children through education should be strictly prohibited except on very narrow purposes and made transparent.
The Department should be investigating these issues and taking strong steps, including in collaboration with Congress, to secure data privacy for our nation's children.
Using surveys, ed tech, and other methodologies to collect learning or psychometric data from our students should be prohibited. If these cannot be prohibited, strong data privacy protections must be implemented so those data cannot be sold or used by third parties, including the US federal government and its intelligence communities, to build psychometric profiles of American children. This would include storing “educational competencies” (including mental-health data) in “digital wallets,” which builds out a de facto foundation for a social credit system, among other things.
Our schools should not be data mines of our children; our children’s data should not be deterministic of their future opportunities in American society and its economy; and any data collected for educational purposes should be highly protected and not have easy routes to foreign adversaries, which they would have if they can be sold to private third parties. The sale of data harvested from children through education should be strictly prohibited except on very narrow purposes and made transparent.
The Department should be investigating these issues and taking strong steps, including in collaboration with Congress, to secure data privacy for our nation's children.
27) Finally, any protections for parents to direct and remain the sole and final arbiter of their own children’s raising, rearing, education, and medical circumstances must be strengthened. Preserving parents rights over their own children must be a high priority of the Department.
Again, the Department of Education should be working to close its own doors on a two- or three-year timeline, and all recommendations made here should be taken in light of that. Decisions made by the department must take not just an immediate (triage) view of dealing with our education system but must also act with an intention for lasting change that can survive not only future administrations and Congresses but also the demise of its own Department and powers.
Bonus 1: All Equity initiatives in education need to end. Educational attainment and mastery needs to be based on merit and competence, not equity and other forms of artificial "fairness."
Bonus 2: The Department should do everything in its power to end all misapplications of civil rights law that uphold "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" policies such as disparate impact and affirmative action. Schools, especially colleges and universities, should be investigated for their violations and continued violations of civil rights law through those policies.
Bonus #3: Accreditation reform. Bigly. Won't elaborate now, but I wanted to tag it.
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