Latest Education Posts

Educators who are critical of the Israeli government or the occupation, or who voice support for Palestinian statehood, are increasingly at risk of disciplinary action or even job loss.  Extremist pro-Israel groups are advocating for and winning statutory and regulatory limits on educational content critical of Israel, all under the guise of fighting rampant Antisemitism.  Even the use of pro-Palestinian slogans like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” on social media has led to teachers being placed on leave.  Educators and free speech advocates are organizing to fight back, and a recently approved law in California, ostensibly to curb antisemitism, is being challenged in federal court by the ADC.

From Harvard to Stanford, the message was unmistakable—comply or be cut off. The campaign, launched soon after Trump’s return to office in 2025, has transformed federal education funding into a weapon aimed squarely at the nation’s most prestigious campuses.

While most of the major media headlines about the Trump Administration’s education policies have focused on ideological battles with the nation’s premier universities, a quieter but more radical reshaping is taking place at the heart of the American education system itself.

Diplomatic “soft power” is related to a country’s ability to influence other nations through its core values and culture. American democratic values including a free press, the legal justice system, and foreign engagement programs are potent sources of American soft power. When public trust in these American democratic norms and institutions wanes, America stands to lose its invaluable soft power. Among President Trump’s many actions that diminish U.S. soft power—from his persistent, pernicious attacks on the American media, legal system, electoral process, universities, and allies, to his constant maligning of past U.S. presidents and his racist mocking of current U.S. politicians—it’s Trump’s attempt to terminate the nation’s long-running international exchange and aid programs that could have the most deleterious effects, making America weaker at home and abroad.

Leading up to the 2024 election, Donald Trump promised to dismantle the Department of Education, a sentiment that was supported in an executive order from the White House following Trump’s inauguration and also outlined in Project 2025. In a press release for the DOE published in March, U.S. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, reiterated this plan, stating that her “vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children.” In recent weeks, McMahon reaffirmed that the Trump administration is committed to fulfilling this promise by 2029.

As the Trump Administration carries out its crusade to reduce the size of government, one of the targets has been the Department of Education (DOE). The DOE is made up of a number of agencies and offices that have been severely impacted by these actions, one of which is the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Earlier this month, on Thursday, July 10, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that children of undocumented immigrants will no longer be allowed to attend Head Start—the free, federally funded program for low-income families that provides education, nutrition, and health services to 800,000 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Head Start is remarkable for enjoying bipartisan support for most of its 60-year existence.

Recent changes to state laws and policies reflect conservative efforts to remove what they consider “divisive concepts” regarding race and gender. South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Utah have now joined 21 other states attempting to modify or eliminate curricula considered by many on the right to promote progressive concepts they say have direct, negative impacts on students.

Although President Trump campaigned by keeping distance between himself and Project 2025, it is clear that his agenda since his inauguration has run parallel to the movement in many areas, including education.