Only the US Dept of Education can do this. See 15 Profoundly Important Transformations they can provide.
To understand what the Department of Education (DOEd) should do, please absorb these key facts:
a) The US K-12 education system is in deplorable condition and progressively getting worse.
b) Although there are multiple K-12 problems, the corruption of the curricula is BY FAR the most important.
c) 95%± of the blame of our failing K-12 education system is due to poor actions or inactions by the States — not DOEd.
I’ve repeatedly written (and proven) that the States are responsible for 95%± of the K-12 education failures, and that the curricula is the core issue… Jordan Peterson was interviewed by Megyn Kelly 3-26-25. Regarding K-12 he said: “Republicans have been asleep at the wheel for some four generations. Now the Trump administration is taking aim at DOEd — but that’s only a tiny proportion of the actual trouble. The REAL trouble is at the State level. I can’t see how the US K-12 school system could be set up any worse…” (Listen here for 30± seconds. What else do you need to hear?)
Another piece of empirical evidence (out of many) is that not a single State is formally teaching their K-12 children to be Critical Thinkers. Zero! How many States’ K-12 education programs exemplify leadership, competence, and creativity?
d) As such it makes zero sense to turn over our children’s education to nearly 50 second-rate bureaucracies.
e) We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to profoundly improve our K-12 education system, and
f) Trump’s real education position is: “Quickly make significant improvements to the US K-12 education system.”
g) We are in such dire straits, that we simply MUST make major national improvements within the next two years.
There are 4± Million graduates from US high schools, every year. Almost all of these students have been extensively indoctrinated with Left ideology, and have been specifically taught NOT to be a critical thinker… Most of these miseducated graduates then become voting citizens… This needs to be stopped immediately or America’s future will be determined by citizens with no Critical Thinking skills, and who have been thoroughly propagandized by Left-leaning ideology.
Solutions proposed for this have ranged from:
a) scrapping the entire K-12 public school system, to
b) eliminating DOEd (e.g., here).
Although the rationale behind these is very understandable, none of these suggestions are wise, practical, or effective resolutions to quickly and significantly improve the extremely dangerous situation we are in.
There is only one imperfect option that can accomplish this: a Transformed DOEd.
A Critical Thinking approach for those skeptical of this path would be to do an accurate and objective two-part analysis:
a) assessing the legitimacy and applicability of the claims against DOEd. (For detailed explanations concerning fifteen (15) inaccurate or inappropriate arguments against DOEd, see here.), and
b) identifying the advantages of keeping a completely transformed DOEd vs turning over our K-12 education to 50 States. That is what this commentary is about….
The Transformed Department of Education would start by making major internal changes like:
Strip down the DOEd to the bare essentials. There were over 4100 employees. How about aiming for 400 — a 90% reduction? Four hundred competent, motivated, well-directed employees can do a LOT!
For starters:
a) divide DOEd into Higher Ed and K-12 Ed, and
b) in the K-12 Ed part set up fifteen teams. Each team would have 5-10 people, entirely focused on one of the issues below.
So, for example, if the Oklahoma School Superintendent wanted advice about dealing with the challenges of AI, there would be DOEd AI specialists (group #14) who would share with him:
a) what competent and relevant scientific research (DOEd and otherwise) has been done regarding AI, plus
b) what other States have tried out and found useful.
Here is the boilerplate pablum that is DOEd’s current mission. Its objective should be upgraded to include something like: “creatively and competently assist States in producing a significantly better K-12 education product.”
Further, the Transformed DOEd would make it clear that it exists to provide leadership to States. DOEd’s primary K-12 function would be to provide unique and valuable assistance to States, so that they can do a better job at educating our children. In other words, DOEd would now be a competent service organization. States would have no obligation to take advantage of DOEd’s services — but they should be of such high quality that it would be foolish for them not to.
(BTW, this is part of the answer to those who ask “What happens if a different administration comes in and undermines DOEd?” If this means that the services are degraded, then States would just ignore DOEd and it would wither on the vine.)
DOEd should focus on providing accelerants to quickly and significantly improve States’ K-12 education results, like:
a) Pay for Scientific research on education topics of national interest (e.g., see the fifteen examples below). It makes no economic or practical sense to have fifty (50) States researching these national matters individually.
b) Poll and periodically meet with every State as to what their main concerns are and how DOEd can best assist them in providing a superior K-12 education product. Along the same lines, DOEd should sponsor an exclusive blog where State education professionals can ask and answer questions posed by their counterparts in other States. Additionally, DOEd should sponsor an annual national K-12 Education convention for all State education professionals to inter-relate and personally exchange ideas.
c) Reward States for creative efforts and/or for doing a superior job in improving their K-12 education system with some of DOEd’s $80± Billion in discretionary funds [out of a $250± Billion budget].
In other words, DOEd should leverage the power and money of the federal government to effectively service States in upgrading their currently inferior K-12 education systems. DOEd would do this by providing competent leadership and guidance, paying for new research, and financially rewarding States that are making good progress in improving their K-12 education product.
Assuming that the 3Rs are properly taught, the #1 goal of every State Education System should be to produce Critically Thinking graduates. It is simply stunning that there is zero commonality among the 50 States’ Education mission statements. States should have uniform education goals, but be free to decide on how to attain them.
A related objective is that DOEd would assist in profoundly changing the education system from its current focus on teaching students WHAT to think (and a lot of that is Progressive ideology), to instead teaching them HOW to think. Again, each State can decide how they think this can be best accomplished.
Since no State is currently doing that, this would revolutionize American education. (Note: presently less than ten States even mention Critical Thinking in their Education Department Mission statements! Worse, one commonality most States do have is that they teach the opposite of Critical Thinking — e.g., see this fine piece and this 1-minute video.)
In the education business, this is called pedagogy. 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 in Alpha Schools — covering in 2 hours what traditional schools take 6 hours, and then using the remaining 4 hours to teach other valuable material (like financial management)? Or something else?
DOEd should solicit and evaluate a variety of teaching 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 seriously investigating this.)
There is no question that American K-12 education simply MUST produce graduates who are Critical Thinkers. The question is: what is the most effective way to teach this invaluable skill? There are different viewpoints here — and that is one likely reason that States are not formally doing this. DOEd should research this pivotal matter and then provide guidance to the States.
Common Core is a disaster (e.g., see here). Briefly, it was a States’ initiative to “modernize” the teaching of subject areas like math and reading. Although not a DOEd-initiated program, it did receive federal support. Currently, many States are looking for the best way to unwind from this failed experiment. A Transformed DOEd can provide helpful guidance based on the latest research.
Since 49 States have now officially adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) all or in part, it has effectively become a national standard. The NGSS was a joint effort by States and progressives. For example, Bill Gates’s organization Achieve was a major player in the NGSS (as it was in Common Core). DOEd had relatively little to do with the NGSS.
Although the NGSS has multiple major flaws (e.g., see ten listed here). Separately the highly regarded Fordham Institute gave the NGSS only a “C” rating, clearly indicating that it is not worthy to become any State’s Science standards — as recent test scores continue to verify. Additionally, NGSS was trashed in this powerful Report. Despite these and more, the NGSS has not received anywhere near the negative publicity it deserves, or what Common Core received.
That said, States are gradually waking up to the major deficiencies of the NGSS, and are looking for what to do now. Again, this is an invaluable guidance role that DOEd could fill, providing the latest independent research, etc.
Due to the magnitude of the adverse effects caused by Common Core and the NGSS, other K-12 subject area standards have not received the attention they warrant. Probably the best example is what is happening in K-12 History classes. Progressives have infiltrated this subject, particularly regarding American History — converting it into Woke propaganda. Clearly, States need assistance in resisting these political distortions, and DOEd should be set up to provide help based on objective research.
The safety of students and teachers on K-12 school grounds has become a very serious issue. For example, in North Carolina (generally considered one of the better education States) the latest annual records indicate that there were over 11,000 reports of violence in NC K-12 schools, the highest on record!
An integral part of this crisis is classroom discipline. To get an indication of the scope of this issue, searching “classroom discipline” brings up hundreds of articles, reports, and studies. These sample articles list five ways, six ways, seven ways, nine ways, ten ways, .… up to twenty-five ways of improving K-12 school discipline. This is so out-of-hand that some states are passing legislation specifically about getting classroom discipline under control (e.g., here).
Closely related to this is DOEd guidance to States regarding student mental health issues. Here is a good discussion: 12 Eye-Opening Statistics on Mental Health in Schools.
There is simply no way that there will be good education outcomes if either students or teachers feel unsafe. This is a national issue and it makes little sense to have fifty (50) States spending time and money to figure out how to minimize this problem. DOEd to the rescue!
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. DOEd can easily research this issue and recommend a national standard for this very important matter.
What’s going on regarding materials being in K-12 school classes and libraries (see here and here) is extremely disturbing.
The fundamental problem is that the powerful American Library Association (ALA) does not recognize the issue of age-appropriateness! DOEd 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 regarding this critical matter, DOEd should specify that they will not provide certain DOEd discretionary funds to schools that do not have an enforced, appropriate official written policy regarding the age-appropriateness of materials associated with their K-12 schools.
Towards that same end, DOEd should aggressively oppose federal legislation that undermines the concept of age-appropriateness — like this.
Although there is some State-related activity on this matter, much of it is coming from outraged parents, rather than the State Departments of Education. Further, the ALA is a powerful national organization, so DOEd would be a much more effective opponent.
Currently, the education mills are generally producing progressive graduates (e.g., see here) who have few Critical Thinking skills. How can such people be optimum teachers? No State can fix this on its own, but DOEd has the leverage and national influence to likely be able to.
Please carefully listen to Jordan Peterson’s recent comments on the corruptness of our teacher certification institutions, and how Republicans have been asleep at the switch for some 60 years, allowing this to happen. (Watch for 1+ minute starting here.)
Regretfully, some teacher unions have become more about prioritizing their own existence rather than seeing that the education of students is maximized. No State has the power — and few have shown the interest — to stand up to this negative influence on our K-12 education system. A Transformed DOEd is our best chance (by far) to redirect teacher’s unions to be an education ally.
For some time now the public school system has been in a conflicting situation regarding religion. On the one hand, public 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 seem to feel obligated to convey morality and ethics (e.g., “discrimination is wrong.”) However, what is right or wrong is a religious [moral] position. Aggressively stepping into this gap are atheism and relativism — which are effectively religions (e.g., see here).
Directly related to this issue is that DOEd should take an official stand against the scourge of SEL that has infested public schools nationwide. SEL is effectively trying to replace Judeo-Christian standards with its own value system. DOEd’s position should be along the lines of this.
So, despite their professed concerns about not advocating for any religion, that is exactly what public schools are doing. DOEd should research and take a position on this exceptionally important issue, as (again) no States are doing that.
What should be the rules and regulations for students having phones in class is a very important and contentious issue. To leave this up to 50 States (and/or thousands of school districts) to figure out is an absurd plan. DOEd has the money to pay for competent research, and can then publish guidelines. Schools and districts would have less resistance and legal exposure by setting rules based on federal guidelines.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is bearing down on us like a tsunami. There are extremely complex and significant decisions that need to be made about how we optimize AI to improve the education of our K-12 students. AI could be a helpful tool or an extremely bad influence. To leave this complicated topic to be worked out by 50 states and/or thousands of school districts is insane. As before, DOEd has the money to pay for competent research, and can then set helpful guidelines for States and districts.
Even though this is a long list, there are other K-12 education-related issues that States will have. DOEd should be carefully listening, and (where practical) provide the help asked for by States (e.g., by paying for new research, adding personnel, etc.).
All of the current US 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.
Yes, the above issues are a HUGE ask for any federal agency to properly handle. However, whether DOEd exists or not, these major problems exist anyway. If DOEd is terminated, who will provide the leadership and guidance to States regarding how to best resolve these issues? The empirical evidence is overwhelming that leaving these serious challenges up to 50 States to resolve is non-sensical.
Leaving our children’s education up to 50 different States to figure out will simply NEVER WORK!
A Transformed DOEd should step into this void and provide constructive and effective K-12 education leadership and assistance. Now is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do exactly that!
©2025 John Droz, Jr. All rights reserved.
Note: The best chance we have for substantially transforming DOEd, is to have a quality collection of “outsiders” (outside 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 the most creative improvements.
Here is other information from this scientist that you might find interesting:
I am now offering incentives for you to sign up new 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 2025 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?
