Education

“A Nation At Risk”

More than forty years ago, the US Commission on Excellence in Education, published its scathing report, called “A Nation at Risk.” It concluded that “Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world.” The Commission stated that

“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.”

Most public education is controlled by states and localities, but in recent decades the federal government has tried to come up with solutions to the deteriorating educational foundation. Federal programs like No Child Left Behind, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the Race to the Top have met with limited success and plenty of criticism.

Teachers feel unappreciated and underpaid, they are faced with increased criticism and scrutiny of what they teach and how they teach. The long-standing residue of racial exclusion and discrimination continues to haunt public education programs and attempts at reform.

American higher education, boasting some of the most important facilities in the world, are under attack by the Trump administration. Declining enrollment, fewer international students, and declining support from the public have impacted many universities and colleges.

Source: “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform,” The National Commission on Excellence in Education, April 1983, https://edreform.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf

Update on Trump Education Actions

The unprecedented assault on America’s most prominent private universities

👎 Trump administration withholds $400 in federal funding from Columbia University (February 2025)

The rationale? The reason for this massive cancellation? The pro-Palestinian, anti-Jewish protests on the university campus following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Just days into her service as US secretary of education, Linda McMahon stated that the “Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campus—only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them . . . Today [March 7, 2025], we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.” Sixty universities were under investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

In March, Columbia University bowed to the pressure, stating that it would, among other things, hire 36 officers to empower student arrests, appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the Departments of Middle East, South Asian, and African studies, and commit to “greater institutional neutrality,”

Sheldon Pollock, a retired former chair of the university’s Middle Eastern studies department, said in a text message that “Columbia faculty are utterly shocked and profoundly disappointed by the trustees’ capitulation to the extortionate behavior of the federal government.”

👎 Johns Hopkins University was compelled to lay off more than 2,000 workers (February 2025)

The university had $800 million in federal grants cut by the Trump administration. Hopkins was hit hard by the slashing of USAID funds. Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania were among many universities that have frozen hiring for faculty and staff, thanks to the uncertainty of the Trump funding policies

👎 Executive Order abolishing the Department of Education (March 20, 2025).

Trump signed an Executive Order seeking to abolish the Department of Education, while acknowledging that this would require congressional action. Trump states that the E.O. would be “returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs.” There was no indication which functions or funding would be moved from federal to state control.

👎 Trump administration withholds $175 million in federal funds from University of Pennsylvania.

The reason? The university allowed a transgender athlete to participate in its women’s swimming program. Trump had earlier signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls sports.

👎 Trump administration threatens to withdraw $2 billion in federal monies from Harvard University; Harvard sues the administration; Trump threatens to withdraw tax-exempt status from the university.

👎 Trump takeover of Kennedy Center; attempted whitewashing of history at the Smithsonian (February, March 2025)

Trump appointed himself president of the Kennedy Center, Washington’s premier arts and culture center, dismissed prominent board members, and urged that the Kennedy Center feature more conservative viewpoints. Later, through an executive order, he ordered Vice President Vance to scrub “anti-American” messages and themes from the Smithsonian Institution’s displays and programs. The Smithsonian is the largest collection of museums in the world.

👎 Public school systems threatened with withholding of federal funds unless they rid themselves of DEI programs (April 2025)

State public education programs will be required to verify that they have eliminated all programs that promote DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) that the Trump administration deems unlawful. At risk was the funding from Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides funding for schools that have high percentages of minority students.