After only a few short days in power, Donald Trump has thrown what is left of the American education system into complete chaos.
That description has not come from me, nor, indeed, has it come from front line teachers. It has rather come from educational leaders at the upper levels of the system who have been left scrambling since Trump took office.
The first real-world-real-time complication that educational leaders faced was related to Trump’s promise to crack down on illegal immigrants. Not satisfied with ramping up deportations, the Trump administration reversed a long standing policy that prevented immigration officials from making arrests at places like churches and schools.
I can only remotely imagine the abject fear undocumented parents must be experiencing in this political climate, let alone the added terror of their children being seized while at school. Whether such seizures actually occur remains, of course, to be seen. The optimist in me assumes that the American public is not quite ready for that level of enforcement. However, educational district leaders in the US are actively racing to develop policy and protocols for the likely eventuality of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arriving at schools. They are also having to deal with the fear and concern that eventuality is causing among the children and their teachers.
Beyond the practical implications, there are several legal ones school leaders must consider. All children in America, including undocumented students, are, by law entitled to a public education, a decision that goes back to 1982. A further complexity comes from another law; the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which lays out very specific conditions under which student’s personal information can be disclosed without parental consent. In short, the children have a legal right to be at school, and the school has a legal obligation to protect their privacy.
These laws have come under attack by conservative politicians and will likely be reversed under Trump’s tenure. If so, this would mean that hundreds, if not thousands of undocumented children will, for all intents and purposes, be kicked out of school. Humanitarian crises aside, district leaders in some areas will undoubtedly be facing legal challenges, as well as potentially significant reductions in student populations.
As educational leaders were sorting through this dilemma, another executive order was signed on Monday, January 27th declaring a temporary pause to the “disbursement of all Federal financial assistance”. This was done to ensure that government money was not being given to any governmental organization not aligned with Trump’s agenda.
This announcement created wide spread confusion and, indeed, panic, as everyone from non-profit organizations to government departments sought clarification on what specific funding was being frozen. Educational sites in the US rely on these funds to run everything from special education to school lunch programs. Without these funds, district leaders were at a loss as to how they were going to keep the lights on. Thankfully, that particular order was placed in a holding pattern on Tuesday, January 28th.
Just as that crisis seemed averted, Trump signed the January 29th “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 schooling” order, accusing America’s schools of indoctrinating children into “radical, anti-American ideologies”. The document criticized schools for “demanding” that students acknowledge such things as “White privilege” and “unconscious bias,”, and stated that such thinking, rather than being a catalyst for positive change, “promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity.”
Further issue was taken with current gender based ideologies which it also sees as anti-American. These include such practices as allowing a student to use a gender identity that differs from their sex, the modifying of student names from their birth name, and the use of preferred pronouns.
Finally, the document raises questions about the lack of patriotism it sees in modern schooling. It defines a patriotic education as one that “provides an honest and inspiring characterization of America’s foundational principles”. This honesty includes a declaration that these principles are not only noble, but that the aspiration to achieving them has been justified, and that America’s greatness should be widely celebrated, without question or examination.
To solve these problems, the Trump administration has demanded that the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General come up with a strategy within 90 days of how these “indoctrinations” will be halted in schools.
This strategy will look at everything from curriculum development to teacher training and licencing, all with an eye to pulling funding from any educational entity, school or district that is determined to be promoting an ideology that does not align with the President’s.
Once again putting the human toll aside, school leaders are being told that within 90 days they will receive a document that will require them to foundationally adjust their entire systems; systems that have been decades in the making, to this new world order.
When it comes to Donald Trump, I don’t suppose it’s a surprise to anyone that I am not a huge fan. Indeed, I find a great many of the declarations I have just written about personally and professionally repugnant. Regardless, at the moment, there are a huge number of Americans (and not an insignificant number of Canadians) who disagree with me.
However, even the most rabid “Make Amerinada Great Again!” fans should realize a relatively simple truism.
Even before Trump began to raze the American school system it was struggling to attract educators. This “Comply with my vision or face the consequences!” approach will do little to entice young Americans into the profession, let alone entice them to seek leadership positions within the system. This level of educational upheaval, although perhaps politically popular, places an inordinate amount of stress not only on frontline educators, but on those charged with actually ensuring the functioning of the system.
Perhaps this is the end goal. Maybe America is looking to end its long standing tradition of educating its tired and humble masses yearning to breathe free.
If that is the case, it seems the Trump administration has created a nicely dotted road map for the country to follow.
frostededucation 