The US Department of Education: A Much Better Way Forward

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington on July 6, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Commentary

Let’s discuss the Department of Education in a way you haven’t heard before.

Right now the department is a hot issue. People are lining up to kick it now that it’s down. There is somewhat of a mob psychology going on: lots of heat with little light. Put another way, very little critical thinking is in evidence.

We would do well to reflect on one of Eric Hoffer’s good insights: “When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows, and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the actions that follow them.”

Let’s try some logic and light to avoid the “monstrous incongruity” our headlong rush is all but guaranteed to bring about!

Point #1: I’m a supporter of President Trump. We need to be clear about his objective here, as his education communications have not been optimized. (Considering that he has a few dozen major issues on his plate, this is entirely understandable!)

His education objective is admirable and extremely important: to fix the deplorable K–12 education system. The only reason that he is advocating eliminating the department is because he has been told that this is necessary to achieve his end objective. But is it?

Trump is not an education expert, so he is relying on inputs from advisors—just like he naturally relied on others during the COVID-19 matter in his last presidency. These people may have credentials, but are they part of the problem, or part of the solution?

So who am I? I’m a scientist (physicist) and a national K–12 education expert. I proudly acknowledge that I’m an education outsider, as I have never been part of its bureaucracy. After reading this, you decide whether my perspective has merit.

Point #2: The anti-Department of Education crowd generally falls into two camps, those who advocate 1) turning over all K–12 federal education involvement to the states, or 2) getting all forms of government out of the K–12 education process (i.e., parents doing everything).

Regretfully, despite high emotions, there are enormous liabilities for each of these “solutions.” This is a very predictable outcome when logic and light are limited.

So, smartypants, what’s your answer?

Point #3: My recommendation is to transform the Department of Education, not terminate it.

But hasn’t that been done before? Absolutely not. There have been a variety of programs run by the department, but the department itself has never been transformed. Ever!

What does this mean? The Department of Education would provide competent constructive leadership to all forms of U.S. K–12 education, from state education departments to homeschoolers.

Point #4: Like what? For example, as incomprehensible as it may seem, we have never come to a national agreement as to what the objectives of our K–12 education system are! To see for yourself, please review the mission statements of each of the 50 states’ education departments. I did this, and there is zero commonality among all states. (For example, compare Georgia’s to North Carolina’s.) That makes no sense!

My suggestion is that the top national priority should be that high school graduates are: 1) proficient in the three Rs (reading, ’riting, and ’rithmatic), and 2) critical thinkers. Toward that end, the department should make clear that our K–12 emphasis should not be on teaching children what to think, but rather on how to think. (Note: For the department to publicize and promote something akin to this approach would be the most important improvement in U.S. K–12 education in some 100 years!)

Others may have even better suggestions, but in any case we need to have a national agreement on education priorities. The department would provide much-needed leadership.

Point #5: But the Department of education is a mess and is part of the problem! Agreed, that’s why it needs to be gutted and transformed. For more details, I listed 15 common complaints in a commentary on my Substack about the education department and my response to each. A major takeaway is that not a single state has an exemplary K–12 system. What point is there in turning over the education of America’s children to 50 second-rate organizations? None!

OK, that puts things in a different perspective. Please tell me more...

Point #6: There is another set of HUGE reasons why we should keep a transformed Department of Education. Since this is too much to spell out here, I outlined eight powerful examples of these on my Substack. They include: a) improving pedagogy, b) establishing national parental rights, c) neutralizing the American Library Association (and its opposition to age-appropriate books, etc.), d) reforming teacher certifications, e) redirecting wayward teacher unions, and f) opposing Social Emotional Learning and other attempts to secretly instill value systems into our children.

These are enormously important national K–12 education issues that will NOT be adequately addressed by turning over our children’s education to the states!

Point #7: By terminating the department we will have lost sight of Trump’s real education objective.

No matter which of the two post-department paths we take, we will soon be shocked with a new reality: the education of our children will be worse than it is today!

This “monstrous incongruity” outcome is 100 percent predictable. However, it is also 100 percent preventable—if we employ real critical thinking (a scarce commodity).

Point #8: Worse than disappointing, this almost certain abject failure will likely lead to the demise of the American experiment. Why? Because some 4 million students graduate from U.S. high schools every year.

What we have been recently producing—because of states’ malfeasance, and if we kill ED it will be even worse—are students steeped in progressive ideology who have been purposefully trained to be the opposite of critical thinkers (conformists).

The killer of the American experiment is that most of these students soon become voting citizens. America cannot survive with that influx of anti-American voters.

Now that you have glimpsed the likely future, hopefully we can put emotions aside and get behind genuinely transforming the Department of Education—and meaningfully reforming the failed U.S. K–12 education system.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.