On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order dismantling the Department of Education (DOE). He would need congressional approval for this, but the order has already caused mass layoffs in the department to aid in his end goal of giving education up to the states.
“My administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good,” the president said in a statement at the signing ceremony of the executive order.
According to his administration, the DOE spends more money than what America would be “getting back,” according to our literacy rates and test scores. A 2019 report by the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education says America ranks 125th for literacy among all countries, significantly lower than most other world powers.
Three programs, such as the $18.4 billion Title I program that provides funding to high-poverty K-12 schools, the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program and the $15.5 billion Idea program that helps cover the education costs for students with disabilities would not be affected by the order, according to The Guardian.
It would be hard, however, to make any real cuts to the department without touching these programs.
But this isn’t the first time this term that there’s been an attack on education.
Three academics from Columbia University, Brown University and Georgetown University are being detained and kicked out of the United States based on a law dating back to the Cold War. This allows the deportation of non-naturalized citizens based on what they say or write.
During the Cold War, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act and it intended to keep Communism out of America. It hasn’t been spoken about too much since. But this wave of attacks on education from our current president is using the act to deport educators who have not been born in the United States.
Gabriel J. Chin, a professor at UC Davis, wrote about this recent move:
“There is no question that this is an attempt by Trump and his administration to chill the speech of academics, particularly those who are not U.S. citizens, that he does not agree with.”
These deportations have less to do with protest and speech and more about the threat academics pose to the MAGA agenda.
These attacks on education reveal what the Trump administration refuses to admit, education is power. It gives people knowledge of our congressional system and in turn the ability to use it.
Cutting programs for children and college students and deporting educators and protestors who are teaching young people about the reality of our current world is not a show of strength, it’s weakness.
Continue educating yourself. Read books and articles on our government, because the Trump administration is showing that that’s exactly what they don’t want you to do.
