Critically Thinking about the US Department of EducationWhat is the best path forward for this troubled agency?

What is the best path forward for this troubled agency?  

By John Droz jr.,Dec 02, 2024 @ Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues

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 Sisyphean 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 assistingStates 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).  
1.  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) 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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Here is other information from this scientist that you might find interesting:

I am offering incentives for you to sign up new Substack subscribers!

I also consider reader submissions on Critical Thinking on my topics of interest.

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2024 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time - but why would you?

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FEMA Workers Ordered to Ignore Trump Supporters’ Homes

The agency failed to answer nearly half of the calls asking for aid. 

By Kelli Ballard | Nov 10, 2024 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Opinion, Politics

  

 During Hurricanes Helene and Milton, those affected depended on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to come to their aid. That’s the job, after all. Instead, agents were ordered to skip houses displaying Donald Trump campaign signs, flags, or banners.

FEMA Left Trump Supporters Out to Dry

In October, Florida was hit with rain, flooding, tornadoes, and, of course, the two hurricanes that caused all that aforementioned adverse weather. Highlands County, Florida, sits in the south-central part of the state and took considerable damage, mostly from tornadoes. It’s also a deep-red county, in which about 70% of voters chose Donald Trump for president this year. FEMA agents were called out to help, as they typically are after hurricanes, and one of the agency’s tasks was to sign up affected residents for disaster relief assistance. However, a supervisor in the agency, Marn’i Washington, had instructed workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump.” This was part of a best practices instruction guide that told workers not to go “anywhere alone,” to practice “de-escalation,” stay hydrated, and “follow the rules.” Avoiding Trump supporters was the second bullet on the list of rules.

At least 20 homes were skipped due to Washington’s edict, which she delivered verbally and in a Microsoft Teams chat that relief workers used to communicate with one another. FEMA workers left messages in the agency’s tracking system such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”

“FEMA helps all survivors regardless of their political preference or affiliation and we are deeply disturbed by this employee’s actions,” an agency spokesperson told the New York Post. “The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes, and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident.”

“We are horrified that this took place and therefore have taken extreme actions to correct this situation and have ensured that the matter was addressed at all levels,” the representative said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was furious and said his administration would investigate FEMA. He posted on X:

“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days.

“At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government’s targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.

“New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”

Washington’s actions are certainly a firing offense, but there has been some confusion as to what actions FEMA has taken and when. Agency employees told the Daily Wire that she had not been punished and was instead sent to a different county in Florida. A spokesperson for FEMA told The New York Post that she is “no longer working in the state of Florida or in any FEMA operations at this moment.”

“FEMA admits this happened but doesn’t say if the bureaucrat responsible has been fired,” the House Oversight Committee wrote on X. “Democrats relentlessly defend the rules that insulate unelected bureaucrats from accountability and make it nearly impossible to fire bad employees. This is why we need President Trump’s reforms to make bureaucrats accountable.”

Ditch the Diatribe – Try This!

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, also took to X and posted: “FEMA hasn’t fired this person. … But the IRS has been trying to force IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley out for blowing the whistle! We must hold these unelected bureaucrats accountable.”

Donald Trump Jr. went on X to defend his dad and call out the agency: “This is outrageous even for the democrats in charge and should be criminal. These people should be ousted from FEMA, Government and society! A full investigation is in order!”

Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator, finally released a statement explaining what happened to Marn’i Washington. “We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again,” she explained in a statement posted on X. But here’s the kicker: That statement wasn’t published until Saturday afternoon.

So here’s the order of events, as far as can be seen in the media: Rumors spread that someone in FEMA was directing employees to skip houses advertising for Trump. FEMA admitted this happened and declared that action was taken, but didn’t clarify what that action was, sparking speculation that the agency might be trying to sweep it all under the rug. One FEMA employee told a news outlet that the person responsible had not, in fact, been fired, but was simply transferred elsewhere. Cue the backlash, including threats of investigations from Congress and Florida’s governor. Then, finally, after all this, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell took to X to explain explicitly for the first time that Marn’i Washington had been fired. So the question must be asked: Was Washington fired immediately, or did that only come after it became clear Republicans and the public weren’t simply going to let the matter – and the agency’s suspiciously vague answers – slide?

Failure to Answer Almost Half of Calls

FEMA hasn’t been looking too good lately. A recent report shows that, during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the agency failed to answer almost half of the calls requesting aid and assistance. Because the call centers were so overwhelmed, nearly half of the callers were never connected with a federal worker. Furthermore, of the calls that were answered, it usually took more than an hour before anyone responded.

Funding, or lack thereof, is being blamed. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently said that FEMA “does not have the funds” to help Americans through the rest of the hurricane season. Some people blame the agency for earmarking $640.9 million this year to aid asylum seekers. Those funds cannot be reallocated because Congress assigned that money specifically for illegal immigrants and the migrant crisis.

Government agencies are responsible for assisting all Americans in times of crisis. Trust in these institutions depends on fairness, accountability, and reliability. This situation highlights the critical need for a truly impartial approach to disaster relief, one that rises above politics and serves the people without bias. When disaster strikes, it should remind us of our shared resilience and our duty to support others, regardless of differing opinions or affiliations.

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Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

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