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The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself, whether there is a God in heaven, or not.
James Baldwin
1963
We must … teach our children the magnificent truth about our country. We want our sons and daughters to know that they are the citizens of the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.
Donald Trump
I have searched everywhere for a clear statement from Donald Trump defining what he believes the purpose of education is, and I settled on the quote above. The comment was likely written by an anonymous speech writer, but after having said it at what was billed as a conference on education, Trump owns it.
His description of education’s purpose is the polar opposite of Baldwin’s. To him, education is little more than indoctrination in nationalism, so he demands we teach that this is “the most exceptional nation in history;” in other words, patriotism by way of propaganda or United States über alles.
I spent 35 years teaching American history guided by the purpose James Baldwin advocated in 1963. Since retirement I have continued to talk, write and advocate for an education that promotes equity and a revitalized democracy by creating individuals able to think for themselves.
This is precisely the kind of education now under attack, but defending it requires understanding the nature of the attacks. Trump’s assault is anything but a point-counterpoint debate. Trump and company have invented a delusional portrait of schools and universities and have mounted their attacks within the chaotic atmosphere they have also created.
Inventing an Enemy
President Trump seems to despise American education at every level. His most publicized attacks are against colleges and universities, and he has assembled a long list of complaints: universities are teaching the wrong things (i.e., what is labeled “woke”), they hire the wrong people (i.e., DEI), they harbor antisemites (i.e., people who oppose genocide), they discriminate against white students (i.e., affirmative action), and they admit too many foreign students (i.e., who take spots from U.S. citizens).
In his battle against universities, Trump and company have threatened to revoke education related tax-exempt status and to alter the accreditation system, which makes it more difficult to receive federal financial aid. They have cancelled research grants as they wish. They condemn faculty for teaching and arrest and detain students for exercising their right to free speech.
All of these attacks have serious consequences and they are made worse when establishment media reports the accusations by simply repeating them, without criticism or analysis. This cowardly (and lazy) habit can make the accusations appear reasonable, leading many to wonder if the charges have merit.
Of course, independent media often challenge the premise of Trump’s accusations, but they have a limited audience. ScheerPost, for example, has a separate section dedicated to coverage of articles and podcasts concerning attacks on Academic Freedom. Imagine the New York Times doing the same thing.
Attacks on K-12 Education
Attacks on pre-collegiate education have also been brutal, but significantly different. K-12 institutions are not usually recipients of research grants and seldom have endowments. These educators have been accused in an executive order, for example, of indoctrinating children in something purposely ill-defined as “radical, anti-American ideologies.”
The meaning of “anti-American ideologies” can be determined only by looking at what is exactly being attacked. During Trump’s first term, teaching about race and racism was a common target. Thus, teaching about racism was very likely what Trump meant by anti-American. Most of his criticism was directed at the prize-winning 1619 Project, which Trump attacked specifically in 2020. The project, which had first appeared in The New York Times Magazine, was described by the President as:
“… a crusade against American history [that] is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together. It will destroy our country.”
Of course the Trump forces continue to condemn any teaching about the history of race relations and he is supported by groups such as the Florida-based Moms for Liberty. In his executive order 14190 “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” Trump stated, without providing any evidence, that “In many cases innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color.”
Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, has repeated that delusional accusation, “[some schools] divide children by race and call Black children the victims… white children are the oppressors.” Again, no examples are provided, most likely because it never happened. Even NPR reported that they were unable to find any examples. The myth, however, continues to be repeated.
Another common target of Trump’s wrath is gender dysphoria which is a real condition that describes a disconnect between gender identity and sex assigned at birth. The condition is global and has existed for thousands of years.
Trump, who seemingly cannot resist exaggeration, even claimed that some children were undergoing gender transition-related surgery during their school day. NBC reported this Trump statement made in 2024: “Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation? Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?”
Despite these phony accusations, teachers teaching about race or gender can be subjected to discipline, including threats of dismissal or, at the very least, a “long investigation.” Examples of teachers suspended or fired for teaching about historical racism are described in the 2025 book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education.
As of June 2022, the Washington Post identified at least 160 educators (out of more than 3 million teachers, or .005%) who lost their job, or resigned, because they taught about race or LGBTQ+ issues. If publicized, that number can intimidate others. And according to the publication rethinking schools, there were also “scores more who have been pushed out of the classroom that have gone unreported.”
It is not just Trump. Significant attacks pre-date his first term. Take, for example, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006) which denied public employees First Amendment freedom of speech made in their official capacity. Disturbingly, that judgment has since been applied to public school teachers.
One example is provided by a 2017 case in New York City. The case involved a teacher who was fired for teaching about race and law enforcement related to the case of the Central Park Five.
Jeena Lee-Walker was teaching ninth-grade English at the High School for Arts, Imagination, and Inquiry. Her lesson included a discussion of the five black and Hispanic teens who had been wrongly convicted of raping a white jogger in Central Park. An assistant principal warned Ms. Lee-Walker that her lesson would “rile up Black boys in the class.” She taught the lesson, there were no riots, and she was fired.
Then a District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed her claim to her job, holding that she had not engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment, citing Garcetti v. Ceballos. In 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case on appeal.
Generally, K-12 teachers assume that they are protected by the First Amendment, but Garcetti v. Ceballos and the firing of Jeena Lee-Walker loom menacingly over that assumption. In any case, the current administration has found other ways to disregard the First Amendment. Some examples are discussed here.
Trump spreads Confusion
These attacks on K-12 education are taking place in the chaotic environment created by Trump’s rambling threats against teachers (as well as other targets) and his promotion of an endless list of poorly articulated policies in virtually every field, including at every level of schooling.
All of this is enhanced by delusional accusations and linguistic manipulation. Examples are not hard to find. Do schools really teach “children to be ashamed of themselves?” What is “transgender insanity”? Why does Trump refer to public schools as “failing government schools“? What does he mean when he links K-12 schools with “surgical and chemical mutilation“? These charges leave many confused and some teachers intimidated.
Unless all of this is challenged, it becomes normalized. Nonsensical rumors are repeated as if they are common knowledge, “We all know our schools are failing.” “I’ve heard that some teachers encourage sex reassignment surgery.”
Such accusations can dominate media reporting until a more audience-attractive story takes the spotlight, but even when a focus on nonsense is short-lived it can divert attention from the very real attempts to destroy any program meant to broaden opportunity, strengthen equality, create people with the ability to make their own decisions.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist during the first few months of his first term, described the situation perfectly when he identified the media, rather than the Democrats, as Trump’s primary adversary. The way to deal with the media he said, was, “to flood the zone with shit.”
And Trump continues “to flood the zone” with contradictory messages, deliberate disinformation, partial truths, and random facts leading to unmitigated and unnecessary violence. According to Bannon this is a strategy, according to others, it is a result of dementia. Whatever the cause, it diverts the public’s attention away from legitimate debate and attempts to destroy all programs considered progressive. (I mean “woke.”)
Real Destruction
In the first year of his second term, Trump dismantled much of the Department of Education, often transferring duties to other agencies. That got a lot of attention, but what got very little attention was worse.
According to the ACLU, as a result of dismantling the Education Department, the federal government’s ability to collect data has been eviscerated, making it very difficult to identify and address such things as educational disparities.
The importance of accurate data collection is not always apparent, but it is the only way to understand what is actually happening. Do we know, for example, how many students might be suffering from gender dysphoria? Are they harming themselves or being rejected by their families? Have there been suicides? What can be done?
Without data we don’t know the answers. Without data such issues are not likely to be featured on the news. Without data it is possible for Trump to assert that gender dysphoria does not exist. Bannon was right. Trump is “flooding the zone with shit.”
A Chaotic Atmosphere with endless Attacks on Education is Not Normal
As I mentioned earlier, I taught with a purpose, hoping to help create independent thinkers, able to promote equity and enhance democracy. As I look back, I realize that I was privileged to work with others who generally seemed to have the same goals. How significant is it that over more than three decades in the classroom I never experienced any interference with my teaching?
But I was also lucky. I taught history and government from 1977 to 2012, well after the vicious paranoia of McCarthyism and a few years before the censorious terror of Donald Trump. In retrospect I realize that neither of these anti-education/anti-progressive crusades were unique in American history.
In the years before the Civil War, Southern states enacted “anti-literacy” laws that made it illegal to teach African Americans to read or write. During the 1920s, religious fundamentalists attacked science and advocated laws banning the teaching of evolution. On Feb. 23, 2016 Donald Trump tellingly declared, “I love the poorly educated.”
In the current atmosphere, will new teachers be capable of nurturing independent thinkers by fostering a complex understanding of history? The answer depends on a lot of things. Will new teachers arrive in classrooms convinced that the job of a teacher is to help students to become independent thinkers? Will they be willing to defend that conviction?
Will new teachers have the support of their administrations? Will they know their subjects better than the approved textbooks do? Will they feel a commitment to fill in what is important but missing? Will they commit to lifelong learning?
Part two outlines my teaching in and out of the classroom. Could I do the same things today? What, if anything, would violate Trump’s current directives? I also summarize the results of a recent survey of post-graduate students preparing for a career in teaching history. My hope is to better understand if Trump’s attempts to intimidate have had much impact on the desire of new teachers to teach an honest history, even if filled with uncomfortable facts.
Part two will be available tomorrow
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