The dying Department of Education

Although Trump and his agents have repeatedly stated they intended to get rid of the US Department of Education (DEd), his executive order (and bills filed in Congress) seem to have taken many people by surprise. And shocked them.

We here at TPOL strongly believe that the destruction of the DEd is both a good thing and only the first step towards not just improving the education of Americans, but also correcting much of the corruption visited upon our society in the past half-century.

But we warn, it is a single step in the right direction: much much more must be done away with. We have only just begun.

The pushing of, and creation of, the DEd stans as a significant indictment of the Congress back in the 1970s. And of the late POTUS, Jimmy Carter. (Nor the only one, of course. They will all answer for their actions on Judgment Day.) Perhaps Massa Jimmy had good intentions. And we all know what they pave. But his advisors (and probably puppetmasters) and Congress saw the opportunity to steal more and more authority. Not just from the States but from the people.

The results? Four – maybe five – generations consisting largely of poorly uneducated and increasingly brainwashed Americans. My parents were still teaching in public schools at that time – I had fortunately gone on to a vocational (trade) school which was little impacted by the dictums of DC by the time I graduated in 1979. My parents saw and feared the results of taking power away by DC. Unfortunately, their fellow teachers, the administrators, the school board, and the State legislators were blinded by greed. The fedgov largess was a powerful bait. And they took it hook, line, and sinker.

The results of massive federal funding – with strings attached, of course – and the legislation taking control away from parents, elected school boards, town and county councils, and State legislatures? Devestating, to put it mildly. Not only have educational standards and achievements here in the States declined relative to the entire rest of the developed world, but the the knowledge and skills of products (that is, PEOPLE) of the American system have deterioriated.

Except for matters of technology (such as computer use), the average high school graduate of 2024 is less knowledgable and skilled in the fundamental skills demanded of an American resident. Let alone a citizen. Fundamental skills? Reading, writing, arithmatic, civic affairs, and finance. Instead, they are fed (and mostly absorb) a steady diet of politically correct, environist and economic myths, promotion of all types of sociopathic ideas, and a bizarre mix of submission to the state and irrational rebellion against any sort of authority. But especially those of parents.

Oddly, the results are as disappointing to the most totalitarian statist: the product of the schools are as worthless to tyrants as to a functioning and free society. Leaving for a moment the frustrations of lovers of liberty and lovers of Christ Jesus aside, public schools are far less capable of preparing people to enter the workforce and be “good citizens” as defined by conservatives or liberals. (The exception apparently being the Regressives who call themselves Progressives, who clearly want to have the vast majority of humans to be not just untrained, but untrainable.)

So why do we say, this is only the first step? For the fedgov to surrender the control over education to the States means that we are still leaving that control in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats – and multiple generations of educrats. People who have grown up with the idea that more government control and more and more money are their right as the elite that moulds the body politic. A State like Utah or Wyoming, or perhaps Idaho or Oklahoma might use that power to truly reform or replace the current system into something that will produce freedom-loving, stable, peaceful, productive members of society that at least respect one another and accept responsibility for their actions.

But don’t expect that to be the case in States like California, or Massachusetts. Or even some conservative States. Including “conservative” States like Texas or Florida. The educracy is too deeply embedded and continues to control the teaching colleges and universities, the states’ education departments and (of course) the teacher’s unions. As we have already seen, every State has large numbers of people who are protesting the very idea of even this limited, first step.

To be frank, the politicians and bureaucrats in Cheyenne or Topeka or Nashville are no more to be trusted than their counterparts in DC. So the next step is also to end the power of the State governments over education. This requires more than just transferring the power downward still more to local counties or boards of education. It means dealing with financial and other issues which have been more and more controlled at the State level. The task is daunting.

Whatever steps are necessary, from the point of view of lovers of liberty, the ultimate solution is clear. And one advocated by many in past decades and today. The complete separation of school and state. Precisely the same measure taken by the Founding Fathers regarding government and religion.

Accepting (and encouraging and supporting) the fact that parents are responsible for educating their children, and that education is not a legitimate function of government. The state (even the States or local government) has no more business meddling with educating children (or for that matter, adults beyond the training of government employees to do the jobs they were hired to do) than they do meddling with the running and teaching of religious congregations.

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Source: https://freedombunker.com/2025/03/23/the-dying-department-of-education/