He’s vowed quite loudly to dismantle the Department of Education. Now some of the reasons are ridiculous, like altering the curriculum to tamper with less than desirable historical moments in our country’s history. Well that one I don’t at all support. Those unpleasant moments are part of learning and growing. Maybe by tracing mistakes. Maybe by analyzing all the viewpoints an incident encouraged.
Can we really take an eraser to our country’s history. No, you don’t get to do that Mister President. And you don’t get to force religion into the classroom. Posting the Ten Commandments. That’s not going to improve grammatical skills. Some of them ain’t grammatically correct, but almost all of them are not reasonable.
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. Well, just last Sunday millions of us ate crap and drank to excess while watching two football teams clobber the crap out of each other. Now they do sing the National Anthem as the opening act, but Ave Maria never hit the charts. Then halftime exhibits pretty questionable views of our culture. The whole event is not keeping the Lord’s Day all that holy, but it sells a hell of a lot of stuff. Definitely more than most other Sundays. Well except Easter when candy is dinner and Christmas when cutting down trees is tolerated.
But let’s get back on track.
The Department’s mission is to serve America’s students to promote student achievement
and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence
I worked in higher education for many years. Does the DOE make good on its promise? I would say it does not. Here’s why. The flow of federal funding is sporadic, easy to manipulate by both an applicant and especially by a school. Pell Grants and Stafford Loans are part of Title IV funding (federal funding) and while they do randomly select applications for accuracy, anyone skilled in numbers crunching (like the President) can cheat the system. Institutions constantly disrupt the natural flow of funds that should do directly to a student for non-tuition related expenses that they are entitled to. Finally, admissions departments waive federal funds like shiny objects to entice applicants. They may call something a scholarship to entice an applicant into believing they are gifted, but the scholarship is merely a front to some federal money they were entitled to regardless of their brilliance.
So, while there is some validity to Trump’s dismantling of the department, there is also a severe risk in turning over the governing of education to the individual states. Just imagine the difference between someone educated in. New York verses someone educated in Mississippi. Many of the red states that voted in the orange dumpling will be the first to produce horrible outcomes data. That includes graduation rates and job placement rates.
If you voted for the dude, be aware that yet again he doesn’t have your back on this one.
If you want more documentation, pick up my book – Occupational Studies – and see what’s going on behind the curtain of higher ed. In Trump’s world your kid will get to meet God whether or not you want them to and in Trump’s world they’ll likely be holed up in your basement for a long winter’s nap.