Indoctrination Nation
Within a flurry of executive orders, two key actions mark the start of this administration's dismantling of American education.
To say the absolute least, the first couple of weeks of Trump II have been busy. The onslaught of executive orders, memos, retractions of memos, and tariff wars has accelerated the news cycle in a way that’s rendered morning stories outdated by the time evening rolls around. This is, of course, all by design. The Trump administration is trying to wear down both the public and the court systems in a conscious effort to cultivate an apathetic opposition. With slim congressional majorities, it may just be the only way Republicans can hope to enact their most substantial policy goals. This shock and awe campaign has also entered the realm of education, with the president signing two executive orders that highlight key agenda items.
First is the EO “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” This is essentially an order mandating that public schools abide by a set of conservative educational principles or risk having their funding pulled. The other focuses on “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” with the goal of emboldening school voucher programs and their accessibility. Among other roadblocks, it’s possible these EOs become entangled in court battles that prevent their immediate wholesale implementation, but their existence alone offers a glimpse at Project 2025’s education priorities in action.
The Republican assault on education in America is a crucial part of their long-term strategy. It is not about encouraging the pursuit of knowledge and learning in the hope for a better tomorrow. It is about compounding the preexisting reality of education becoming increasingly unobtainable, open only to those willing to pay for it. The spirit of these EOs works well in tandem as one aims to sow distrust within the public school system, and the other encourages an alternative option while also siphoning public school cash. A decline in test scores over the last several years, only exacerbated by COVID, has presented an opening for the Republican narrative surrounding education to stick. The one-two punch these EOs provide marks the start of the current Trump administration’s assault on public education in America.
Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling
Republicans are afraid. What they deem as liberal indoctrination or anti-American is oftentimes just the truth, and they know the truth is convincing. The opening sentence of Section 1 of the EO puts it all into perspective:
“Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education…”
Okay, fine.
“…and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.”
Wait, what the hell?
What does a patriotic admiration for the US have to do with a rigorous education? A rhetorical question, obviously, because the answer is it doesn’t. This verbiage puts the true intentions of this EO and the continued Republican effort surrounding policy just like it front and center. Despite all the bitching and moaning from conservatives about how your kid is going to school a boy and then coming home a girl, the reality is they just want to do their own version of indoctrination.
When Republicans talk about cutting off funding for schools, they really just mean schools in deep blue states and cities. It’s the states and cities that develop the curriculum, and then it’s the teachers that execute it. The EO mentions abiding by the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, FERPA, and the PPRA while talking about how the Attorney General will coordinate with state and local AGs to enforce the law. The broad language leaves a lot on the table. Are they going to convict individual teachers or schools? Cut off funding for entire states, cities, or districts? As it is, only 10% of public schools’ funding comes from the federal government. States and cities come up with the other 90% on their own. There is a second option, though, which involves blanketly targeting the cities and states Republicans don’t like. This one seems a bit more their speed.
By reframing history within the context of American exceptionalism, conservatives palliate slavery and the broader reality of systemic racism and oppression. To them, America must be free of criticism. If this isn’t brainwashing, then I don’t know what is. The fact that this country was built on the backs of slavery, genocide, and oppression is not a liberal mindset. It’s objective truth. America is imperfect in so many ways, and to pretend otherwise is dishonest and harmful. This is the inherent paradox behind Make America Great Again. When exactly was America great? The 50s? The 60s? When the marginal tax rate was more than twice what it is now? That doesn’t seem like something Republicans would find all too great. The 80s? What’s changed since then? We are living in the fully realized version of that neoliberal order. America is what it is, and it’s not good enough. People are catching on, and Republicans know it. That’s what this is about.
Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families
Coincidentally, I talked a lot about school vouchers last week, so there’s not too much to say that hasn’t already been discussed. This EO does have a couple of highlights, though. First and foremost, the EO alludes to the “review of available mechanisms” on how federal funds can be used to support this initiative. Project 2025 has provided some insight into this in the form of block grants, federal funds given to states for a specific purpose with no actual oversight on how that money is actually spent. So even if a state was given IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) grants, a block grant makes it so the money could technically go to whatever the individual state sees fit. Given how little schools actually get from the federal government, this appears to be the most likely mechanism by which the government will help fund school voucher programs across states.
There was also this gem of a quote:
“When our public education system fails such a large segment of society, it hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities.”
They are giving the game away here. Public schools are failing, so the Republican answer is to direct money away from them in order to create a competitive alternative. Schools are failing because families and communities are being devastated, not the other way around. To them, education is just another untapped market ripe for monetization.
Something both Republicans and Democrats don’t understand is the symbiotic relationship between the schools our children attend and the communities they reside in. Fixing education is not done by addressing one individual issue. It takes broad, sweeping legislation that addresses all of the shortcomings that culminate in public schools’ most pressing issues. There is no world where privatization fixes chronic absenteeism, poverty, behavioral issues, or any number of the major problems teachers face today. That’s kind of the point, though. This EO doesn’t do much in this moment, but it is a foundational piece of the larger, destructive effort at hand.
The best-case scenario with EOs like these is that they’re just smokescreens; gestures for the Republican base of support that has absolutely no idea how government operates. Nevertheless, this is where it starts. It’s hard to say where they go from here or what comes next, though. A lot of what Project 2025 talks about would need congressional approval, and that’s unlikely with the House and Senate as they are now. Specifically, it mentions working with Congress to pass the Department of Education Reorganization Act “…to reform, eliminate, or move the department’s programs and offices to appropriate agencies.” It’s through this legislation that the bulk of the work would be done. For now, Trump must rely on the courts to uphold whatever EOs he signs off on. There will probably be some budgetary battles regarding education as well, but ultimately there’s hope. These EOs are a glimpse of the fights Republicans are willing to take on and a litmus test for what they can really get away with. Given that the administration is already rife with chaos, I’d like to think they never even get around to it.