What Can Americans Expect From Trump’s Education Department?
On the campaign trail, Trump promised big things when it came to American education. From dismantling the national Common Core “education” standards imposed by Obama and ending the “indoctrination” of children by “progressives,” to possibly even abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, Trump hit all the important conservative talking points. He also made expanding “school choice” a key focus of his education agenda, drawing mixed reactions among conservatives and libertarians — and fury from the teachers’ unions, the government-school lobbies, and the largely Democrat politicians they bankroll.
Now that Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a razor-thin margin, Americans can likely expect some changes on education — possibly even some significant ones. How much of that will be positive or even constitutionally authorized, though, remains to be seen. Unfortunately for American children, after a century of “progressive” government-controlled education, even if Trump were to do everything in his power to make education great again, it would only represent a baby step in the right direction. But considering what is known so far, even those baby steps are not guaranteed. And there is a chance that, counter-intuitively, perhaps, the situation could get even worse if Americans do not remain involved and vigilant.
Common Core and the Every Student Succeeds Act
One of Trump’s most frequent pledges on the campaign trail was to crush Common Core, a federally funded set of establishment-developed national K-12 school standards. The controversial plot, which critics and experts say dumbs down students, was quietly imposed on the states by the Obama administration using illegal bribes and threats. The promise of ending the politically toxic standards, which have been exposed by critics from across the political spectrum, energized many of Trump’s supporters as very few other issues could. Indeed, millions of parents and teachers had been doing everything they could to stop the scheme, only to be confronted with out-of-touch politicians and bureaucrats willing to do anything for continued federal funding. So when Trump spoke clearly and frequently against Common Core on the campaign trail, it was music to his supporters’ ears.
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