Critically Thinking about the US Department of Education

What is the best path forward for this troubled agency?

There is almost universal agreement — and solid evidence — that the US K-12 education system is an abject failure from multiple important perspectives. This is not good for the children (who are the victims), or for America.

The solutions proposed for this have ranged from: a) scrapping the entire K-12 public school system, to b) eliminating the federal Department of Education (e.g., here). Although the rationale behind these is understandable, neither of these suggestions are wise, practical, or effective resolutions to the dire situation we are in.

Consider, for example, the idea of eliminating the Department of Education. What we would be left with is fifty (50) State Education Departments. Radically reforming 50 State Education Departments would be an extraordinarily expensive, Herculean project that would take at least twenty years — if ever — to come to fruition. In the meantime, the US is left with 50 different education systems. How is that good for the country? Who would take on this Sisyphilan task? And who would pay for it?

My recommendation (as an education outsider) is to solve this — affordably, effectively, and relatively quickly — by fundamentally changing the Department of Education. The idea is that the Department would become a powerful game-changing force for good (which would be a radical change).

The new Department of Education would properly do major things like:

1 - Redefine its Mission. Here is the boilerplate pablum that is their current mission. Its objective should be upgraded to something like: meaningfully assisting States in producing high school graduates who are competent, productive, healthy critical thinkers (e.g., see this fine piece). In other words, the Department should leverage the power and money of the federal government to aggressively assist States in fixing the currently deplorable K-12 education system. (Note: in 2024 the Department had 80± Billion in discretionary funding (out of a $250± Billion budget) — that is a LOT of leverage!)

2 - Get rid of bureaucratic bloat. Strip down the Department to the bare essentials. Right now there are over 4100 employees. How about aiming for 400 — a 90% reduction? Four hundred competent, motivated employees can do a LOT!

3 - Clarify what should be the primary objective of K-12 education. Assuming that the 3Rs are properly taught, the #1 objective of every state education system should be to produce Critically Thinking graduates. In other words, radically change the education system from its current focus on teaching students WHAT to think, to instead teach them HOW to think. Since no State is currently doing that, this would revolutionize American education. (Note: presently there is zero uniformity among States on this foundational issue. Less than ten even mention Critical Thinking in their Mission!)

4 - Investigate what is the most effective methodology of teaching. For example, would the best way to educate our children be to have a classical education program (like here)? Or, would the best way be to adopt the state-of-the-art techniques used by MacKenzie Price? Or something else? The Department should solicit and consider a variety of ideas — and then pass on their findings to the States. What sense does it make for 50 States to do this type of investigation? (Note: almost no States are investigating this.)

5 - Take the lead in resolving the religion issue embedded in K-12 education. For some time now the public school system has been in a conflicting situation regarding religion. On the one hand, schools are bending over backward to not do anything that some activists might claim is a 1st Amendment violation (a federal matter).

On the other hand, US public schools feel obligated to convey morality and ethics (e.g., “discrimination is wrong” — which is a religious [moral] position). Aggressively stepping into this gap are atheism and relativism — which are effectively religions (e.g., see here). So, despite their concerns about not advocating for any religion, that is exactly what public schools are doing. The Department should research and take a position on this exceptionally important issue, as (again) no States are doing that.

6 - Take the lead in other national K-12 education matters.

a) A good example is what’s going on regarding extremely problematic books being in K-12 school libraries (see here and here). The fundamental problem is that the ALA does not recognize the issue of age-appropriateness! The Department should officially go on record endorsing the significance of age-appropriateness in K-12 classes, libraries, and associated matters.

This idea is already societally accepted in the US. A good example is that the rating systems for movies and also for TV, are based on age-appropriateness. The movie website says “Established in 1968, the film rating system provides parents with the information needed to determine if a film is appropriate for their children.” Exactly the same thing applies to books being considered for K-12 school classes and libraries!

To make a profound improvement in K-12 education, the Department should specify that they can not provide any money to a State that does not have an appropriate official written policy regarding the age-appropriateness of materials associated with their K-12 schools. [Towards that same end the Department should oppose legislation that undermines the concept of age-appropriateness — like this.]

b) A different example is that the Department should take an official stand against the scourge of SEL that has infested public schools nationwide. Their position should be along the lines of this.

c) A national “Parents Bill of Rights” regarding K-12 schools, could be an exceptionally helpful improvement on the country’s public school system. North Carolina has such a law that’s good, but the record in other states is spotty.

d) Yet another example (of several) is that the Department should weigh in on teacher certification. The education mills are pushing out progressive graduates (e.g., see here) who have few Critical Thinking skills. No State can fix this, but the Department may be able to.

BTW the best chance we have for substantially reforming the Department, is to have a good collection of “outsiders” (not from the education establishment) participating in the process. People who have few pre-conceived ideas of what can and can not be done, are more likely to be advancing more creative improvements (like above).

The Bottom Line —

All of the current K-12 education system’s weaknesses are being taken advantage of by anti-American, Left-leaning ideology advocates. The corruption of the K-12 Science curricula is a perfect example of how American students are being Pied Pipered to a woefully inadequate education.

Worse — MUCH WORSE — is that most of these miseducated graduates soon become voting citizens. What is our future if it is being determined by citizens who have no Critical Thinking skills, and have been thoroughly propagandized by Left-leaning ideology???

This clearly says that leaving our children’s education up to 50 different States IS NOT WORKING — and will likely NEVER WORK!

An updated Department of Education should step into this void and provide constructive and effective K-12 education leadership. Now is the time to do exactly that!

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Note 1 — I am aware that a sizeable amount of the Department of Education involves higher education (e.g., student college loans). This is not covered here as our focus is K-12. However, the same common sense (i.e., radical) review should apply.

Note 2 — Here is another reasonable take on this matter — especially ¶ 19.

Note 3 — What Does the Department of Education Do (USA Facts)

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