Education goes the same way. It will become “non-political”. And it becomes non-political by banning everything that the Republican Party Machine might disapprove of. In a plan for an online educational institute for Adults or teens, which sounds like a good idea, he says
It will be strictly non-political, and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed—none of that’s going to be allowed.
This might seem an odd use of the term ‘non-political,’ but it does try and pretend that his political views are not political, but the common sense of all Americans. He will make sure that only the right material is taught in schools, and lie about what is taught in schools now. It is perhaps too much to expect him to describe what he means by wokeness, but it usually seems to mean any realisation that not all is perfect, and recognition that some people suffer from inequalities and social bias. He is also very upset about the possibility of tolerating non-traditional gender behaviour in schools.
In another display of non-politicisation of education he says:
President Trump will get Critical Race Theory, transgender ideology, and left-wing indoctrination OUT of our schools—and he will get reading, writing, and arithmetic back IN, so that America’s young people have the knowledge, skills, and training they need to get a great job and lead a successful career.
President Trump will cut federal funding for any school pushing Critical Race Theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children—and he will pursue civil rights investigations into any school that engages in race-based discrimination.
Agenda47: President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs
“Race based discrimination” seems to be telling people that white folk have not always been perfect, but it is a bit vague. However, Critical Race Theory, tends to be a term used by the Right, to mean teaching anyone about the history of American Race Relations. The aim seems to be that people should just ignore race relations and problems will go away, or we should learn that slavery was good, and taught ignorant Africans about agriculture.
The time has come to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical Left, and we will do that
When I return to the White House, I will fire the radical Left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics.
Agenda47: Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions, July 17, 2023
We can assume that, as usual, ‘Marxist’ is a non-political term, which means person who disagrees with the Republican view of America, or who wants to teach history reasonably accurately, as it is highly unlikely that any followers of Karl Marx dominate education, given the smallness of the movement in the USA. It is so small that most people do not seem to know what Marxism is about.
He continues in his non-political manner by saying that education should
protect… free speech by removing all Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats,… [and] schools that persist in explicit unlawful discrimination under the guise of equity will not only have their endowment taxed, but through budget reconciliation, I will advance a measure to have them fined up to the entire amount of their endowment.
Presumably the aim is to halt any criticism, diversity, equity or inclusion, and that any attempts to compensate for, or recognise, inequalities etc, will result in huge fines. My guess this that the last sentence is directed at endowed universities… because stripping away property from those who dare to differ from Republican ideas does not violate Republican ideals. Another way of interpreting his statement is that he seems to want to use education to continue the class system and inequality.
However the idea that education is only about making children into workers is perfectly standard practice.
His non-political positive vision is that:
President Trump will fight for patriotic education in America’s schools…. [because] decades of poor scholarship have vilified our Founders and the principles that they championed and have taught many of our young people to hate their own country…. we will teach students to love their country, not to hate their country like they’re taught right now.
No evidence is presented, of course, as this is not about evidence. Who when talking about education would want evidence? But the point is that students have to think America has always been good, and that other views cannot be allowed.
Non-political education is also about religion:
we will support bringing back prayer to our schools.
Agenda47: President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs
President Trump will once again fiercely protect the First Amendment right to pray in public schools—and he will ensure that every American’s fundamental right to the Free Exercise of Religion does NOT end when you walk into a classroom.
In reality, no one is prevented praying in American public schools, however they are prevented from forcing others to pray to their particular God. We can guess what might happen if an Islamic teacher insisted their students prayed to Allah before engaging in football.
We can also guess that his defense of the right of parents to fire teachers is to get rid of teachers who might teach forbidden topics like evolution or climate science, so religion can be another non-political tool used to stop education and support Trump.
The key slur terms like ‘wokeness,’ ‘Marxist’ and ‘vilification’ are left undefined, precisely to get teachers to worry about whether some Republican will apply these words to them, to get them persecuted or dismissed.
The point, of this non-political free speech in education policy, seems to be to suppress free speech, real education and thinking about problems and issues, and teaching only safe Republican ideology.
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