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The value of education and the Department of Education
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Anonymous
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This is a really good article and interview. Focusing on getting rid of the Department of Education and moving school loans to the SBA or the Treasury or wherever is missing the point. Reading and math scores are still going down. Education is incredibly important to all Americans, Republican and Democrat. Dismantling the Department of Education is the wrong way to address it.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/07/trump-education-department-margaret-spellings-00269596 |
Anonymous
| Can you please tell me whether there is a good argument that retaining this department would reverse this overall decline? I do understand the department has/had other goals (eg related to disability etc) but I’m specifically interested in the overall rates of reading and math achievement. |
Anonymous
Yes. Trump and republicans are doing away with white collar jobs. Only manufacturing jobs will be allowed now. So no need for an educated populace. JOSEPH J. SCHATZ Needs to be fired. He can get one of the new jobs screwing tiny screws in to iPhones that he can no longer afford to buy. |
Anonymous
There's no good argument because the Department of Education is out of gas. They pushed down on the pedal too hard. 
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Anonymous
WTF? Can you at least try? I see Piece mill work in you immediately future. Good luck at your new factory job. |
Anonymous
| But tech has been telling the govt that the US doesn’t have talent to do white collar jobs for decades now. So, what is really going on??? Not to mention that binging kids up to standards has not been a focus as much as lowering the standards to meet the poorest performers. |
Anonymous
The problem is low IQ kids and parents that don’t care about parenting, let alone educating, their kids. What exactly is any government department supposed to do about those things? They’ve already done all they can, and by now it’s time to call a spade a spade. It’s better to teach those kids basic life skills and a trade. That goes against the stated objectives of the department (“college for all!”, “no kid left behind!”) so we need to give power back to the states and the schools to do what’s actually right for the kids there rather than trying to meet some lofty goal that are completely unattainable and just end up with even worse outcomes for all students. |
Anonymous
The Department of Education is perhaps one of the only ways Americans know that their schools aren't doing well at the national level. Both NAEP and international assessments allow for apples to apples comparisons. With those going by the wayside, we lose meaningful student performance data. I am also including a gift link to a NY times that describes the troubling process by which states are dumbing down their own standardized tests (which generally cannot be used for cross-state comparisons). Without NAEP to hold states accountable, more and more of our students will be residents of Lake Woebegone "where all the children are above average." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/florida-standardized-tests.html?unlocked_article_code=1.904.kzcU.Vpw_x_LKPunw&smid=url-share |
Anonymous
NP here. I'd argue it's a move back towards a slavery-driven economy or at least indentured servitude. Make property ownership too expensive or impossible for 90% of the population so they have to rely on the "nobility" to provide food, clothing and shelter. If you don't have enough savings-- and back to education, enough smarts-- to accrue wealth and be free, the only other option is to submit to an owner who keeps you alive. |
Anonymous
Trump and the republicans outlawing capitalism. |
Anonymous
| I like how since the Dept of ED was created, everyone went to college and now we can't produce domestically because we lack skilled workers. At least we got student loan debt as part of the deal. |
Anonymous
Look, all the better for children to have these jobs while their fingers are still small. |
Anonymous
| I would argue that a lot of Americans actually don’t value education. |
Anonymous
US factories have a lot of unfilled jobs. Why don’t you put your a$$ where your mouth is and go get a factory job? |
Anonymous
That already happened pre-Trump. You will own nothing and like it. The enserfment started with the tech boom. We’ve been importing and outsourcing serfdom too. Now it is visible. We reap what we’ve sown. If we keep expecting the current parties to improve the situation, we will be sorely disappointed. |