Doing right for the wrong reasons

I'm not sure Donald Trump has a good grasp of his own educational views. He seems to want to both flip the switch from liberal propaganda to conservative propaganda, but he also wants to Dismantle the Department of Education. These ideas don't go together.

Dismantling the Department of Education is a good idea. The Department of Education has proven to be a serious obstacle to a healthy education, and they are definitely playing a role in the dumbing down of the American population. Is that why Trump wants to get rid of it? I highly doubt it.

Government-controlled schools are partisan. The Democrats have nearly total control over the process. If the federal government reduces constraints, it will be easier for conservative states to shift away from liberal propaganda. I don't think Trump is trying to improve education. I think he's fighting liberal propaganda.

This isn't the right reason to dismantle the Department of Education, but it isn't as bad as Democrats portray. Keep in mind that partisan organizations aligned with the Democrats such as the NEA and AFT have a lot of influence on the process, even in conservative states. Only states heavily entrenched in conservatism can overcome the corrupt political tactics of the NEA and AFT to create conservative schools. Most schools will remain entrenched in liberalism. The balance might shift, but this does more to diminish liberal indoctrination than allow Republicans to use the schools to mold the minds of future voters.

This is perhaps why Trump seems interested in school choice. Government-controlled schools were built on top of a blatantly anti-educational foundation. We should want school choice as a tool to allow Americans to pursue a healthy education in environments that work for them. Instead, it appears that Trump wants to make it easier for conservative families to leave liberal echo chambers in favor of conservative echo chambers. They want conservatives, including those in liberal states, to go through schools with the exact same problems but with a different slant.

I like some of the things Trump is doing regarding education, but I don't support his reasoning. He's not the only one who has done right for the wrong reasons. In recent years, Democrats have increasingly embraced bringing an end to college requirements for jobs that don't need college. I fully support that move.

The problem with this newly embraced policy from the Democrats is that it corresponds with contradictory policies. Democrats have been pushing a college-for-all mindset that is costing taxpayers a fortune. Their policies are strengthening discrimination against those who learn outside of a collegiate environment. They are even forcing people without college degrees to fund discrimination against themselves.

Democrats seem to be citing racial concerns. Since black American are less likely to have college degrees, they are being deprived of opportunity unrelated to college. There is some validity to this. Credentialism has been catastrophic to economic mobility, and black families are disproportionately disadvantaged financially. Keep in mind that this would be an enormous problem even if black Americans weren't disproportionately harmed.

The Democrats seem to be forgoing college requirements as a temporary measure until the gap in college graduates is diminished. This isn't as easy as they think because they completely overlook the impact of credential inflation. If more people, in this case black Americans, acquire college degrees, college degrees will lose value. The higher-end jobs that currently require college degrees (and previously high school diplomas) will start requiring advanced degrees. The less desirable jobs requiring degrees will find lower wages due to more people being available for those jobs.

A big part of credentialism is slamming doors shut. Not everybody fits the collegiate mold. Some of the people who don't fit the mold are highly capable. We are effectively prohibiting the Franklins and Edisons of the modern world from contributing to society. I support hiring the best people for the job over the most credentialed. This isn't a racial issue. This is a nationwide crisis.