The Department of Education Must Cease to Exist

To hear the Democrats talk about the Department of Education, you would think that this particular brick in the bureaucratic wall goes back to the time of Washington and Jefferson. In fact, it only formed in late 1979. So while the Department of Education is older than the Macarena, it is younger than the first Rocky movie.

Not only was this bloated Federal department non-existent at the time of our nation's founding, but from our founding, well into the 20th century, the United States was among the most literate nations in the world. Beyond this, our homes, churches and schools produced some of the finest minds in the history of humanity. Most of the truly important inventions of modernity were not just made in the USA, they were thought up by American minds and crafted by highly skilled American hands.

Although I am opposed to the centralization of education through a costly Federal department on Constitutional grounds, there are many practical reasons to oppose the Department of Education.

In the year we first elected President Reagan, our national literacy rate among the adult population was over 83%. Today, 21% of adults are illiterate while 54% of adults have literacy skills below a 6th-grade level.

This is equally bad for the economy as it is for our society and cultural development. The Department of Education’s record is bad. It has objectively failed in its supposed mission. I give it an F.

While attempts to standardize education nationwide have failed, the reality that Washington and Jefferson realized at the time of our nation’s founding still holds true today - local matters should be handled by local people. This is why it is no surprise that while New Hampshire is our most literate state, California is the least.

In the years since 1980, our schools have also transitioned away from teaching young people practical skills, such as in automotive repair, wood and metal working, and personal finance. Instead, they teach young people the supposed benefits of "transitioning" their gender, often via mutilating surgeries. Madness!

This too is the legacy of the Department of Education.

Just as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will help President Trump to Make America Healthy Again, we also need to focus on Making America Intelligent Again. The first step towards doing this is by expelling the Department of Education from the curriculum of our schools.

We need a flexible education system that prepares young Americans for a world in which practical skills are desperately needed, whether in advanced computer science, construction, automotive repair or civil engineering.

We also need our schools to stop sexualizing our children and instead, schools need to instill important lessons about who we are as a nation.

Without any help from the corrupt Department of Education, I have, for nearly a decade, played my part in helping to restore American values to our American schools. I have done so with my non-profit Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness® - FLAG.

At FLAG, we produce wholesome educational materials that teach young people the workings of our Constitution, the heroic revolution that led to our nation's founding, and the exceptional triumphs of the great American story.

The Department of Education could produce and distribute such materials, but they don’t. Their culture is one that has been captured by a far-left agenda. Our taxpayer money is consequently poured into far-left indoctrination that undermines the rights of the states and of parents, while producing results that have led us to lag far behind multiple Asian countries, particularly China.

Getting rid of the Department of Education would be good for children in public school and would also allow us to focus our national attention on helping rather than hindering parents who pursue homeschooling or schooling in a private or religious institution. Homeschooling and private schooling were common when we were among the most literate nations in the world. The results of this era in education vs. the era of the Department of Education speak for themselves.

If you want your children to learn about our founding fathers rather than learn that your father and mother can be the same person, if you want your children to learn skills that will help them prosper, rather than learn to hate American exceptionalism in technology and innovation, if you want your children to wave the American flag rather than the banners of sexuality, then we all must join together in pushing for the full demise of the Department of Education.

It is a failed department based on failed principles.