Donald Trump and his allies are back in the White House with their famous recipe: populist promises wrapped in “individual freedom” packaging. Both in the president’s platform and in Project 2025 (a conservative policy handbook written by several working in the Trump administration), we can find policies that could turn American public education into a field of ruins. Having read it myself, it promises to be worse than the lamentable state of some of our schools in Quebec…
Goodbye equal opportunities
For Trump, the Education Department is a sworn enemy. Its objective: to dismantle this federal agency which plays a role in the regulation and financing of public schools. This department ensures national standards for access to education and manages funds for programs for disadvantaged children and students with disabilities. The abolition of this department therefore means the end of targeted aid and the increase in the privatization of schools!
The president loves the concept of school choice. More choice for parents, more freedom for families. Here’s how it would work: school vouchers (vouchers) allow public money to be used to pay for private schools (including religious ones!). In reality, we are emptying public schools to enrich unsupervised private institutions. During his first term, Trump did everything to try to promote these school vouchers. His government even tried to put $400 million into private schools and create a $5 billion tax credit program.
Armed teachers
On the security side, Trump proposes another idea: arming teachers. In a country where school shootings are unfortunately a daily tragedy, they are being asked to transform teachers into armed guards. A measure that perfectly reflects this American logic: treating the symptoms instead of attacking the causes. We’re not perfect, but at least we keep our teachers out of the shooting range.
-Censorship and ideological standardization
Under the pretext of protecting children and guaranteeing so-called “ideological neutrality”, they want to ban books, ban subjects considered too “controversial” and limit discussions on social and historical issues. These policies will transform schools and campuses into places of ideological control, where teachers and students will self-censor for fear of reprisals, or even legal action. There are already three American states which have passed laws criminalizing certain booksellers who refuse to remove books from their libraries…
With these guidelines, the Trump government risks widening inequalities, weakening the universality of education and promoting socio-economic segregation. The Trump administration and Project 2025 embody everything education should not be: a tool of social oppression. The United States is and will erect walls; let’s continue building bridges in Quebec…
We are lucky, our system is theoretically based on principles of equality of opportunity. We must protect our public system, improve it and, above all, never take it for granted.
