AMERIKA
Jonathan Zimmerman, opinion contributor
THE HILL
Fri, January 31, 2025
President Trump this week issued an order barring federal funding of “the indoctrination of children.” And in its first sentence, he declared that schools should “instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation.”
Got that? He said he would ban indoctrination, and then he called for more of it.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Trump and education, where nothing is quite as it seems. On the one hand, Trump wants to eliminate the federal Department of Education on the grounds that schooling should be a state and local concern. At the same time, though, he is imposing new federal doctrines about what schools should teach.
Witness Trump’s ban on Critical Race Theory, which he called “an inherently racist policy.” That’s one view of it. But Trump wants to impose his view, all in the guise of fighting indoctrination.
Fri, January 31, 2025
President Trump this week issued an order barring federal funding of “the indoctrination of children.” And in its first sentence, he declared that schools should “instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation.”
Got that? He said he would ban indoctrination, and then he called for more of it.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Trump and education, where nothing is quite as it seems. On the one hand, Trump wants to eliminate the federal Department of Education on the grounds that schooling should be a state and local concern. At the same time, though, he is imposing new federal doctrines about what schools should teach.
Witness Trump’s ban on Critical Race Theory, which he called “an inherently racist policy.” That’s one view of it. But Trump wants to impose his view, all in the guise of fighting indoctrination.
Or consider the 1776 Project, which Trump created during his first term in office to counter the New York Times’ 1619 Project. As per its name, which refers to the year that the first enslaved Africans arrived on our shores, the 1619 Project roots American history in slavery and racism.
By contrast, the 1776 Project highlights America’s timeless virtues: freedom, liberty, opportunity, and so on. President Joe Biden revoked it when he took office, but Trump re-established it this week “to promote patriotic education.”
It’s Trump’s story. And, again, he wants to impose it on everyone else.
Let’s be clear: In the classroom, indoctrination is always a danger. We have all had teachers who presented their own political biases as the gospel truth; in the worst cases, they insisted that students echo them to get a good grade.
In a recent survey of 850 high school students published by Education Next, 36 percent reported being taught “often” or “almost daily” that “America is a fundamentally racist nation.” And 34 percent said that teachers told them often or almost daily that “police officers are inherently racist against Black Americans.”
Does that mean they’re being indoctrinated into the canons of Critical Race Theory, which holds that racist practices and beliefs are baked into American institutions? Not necessarily.
Over half of the students also said they were taught often or almost daily that “the U.S. has made a lot of progress toward racial equality in the last 50 years,” and 42 percent said they were taught that “the U.S. is a global leader when it comes to ensuring equal rights for all citizens.”
We can’t tell how the teachers are instructing these ideas from the student survey. If teachers are presenting them as fact — and requiring students to repeat them — then they’re indeed guilty of indoctrination. But if they present these matters as questions — and challenge students on their answers — the teachers are doing exactly what they should.
If students say America is a racist country, their teacher should ask why it elected a Black president. And if they say it’s a beacon of racial equality, they should be asked why Black Americans are more likely to be poor or incarcerated.
That’s education, not indoctrination. But it could be prohibited by Trump, who charged that schools are teaching “radical, anti-American ideologies” that make white children feel ashamed of themselves. Would an honest dialogue about race run afoul of Trump’s order? We don’t know, which is why teachers might simply avoid the subject.
Trump also threatened to pull funding from schools teaching “gender ideology,” especially the idea that a person’s gender identity can differ from their assigned sex at birth. To be sure, Americans are deeply divided on that question. And again, Trump wants to indoctrinate his own answer: Gender is binary and immutable.
Finally, Trump’s order said that the federal government would “investigate and punish” antisemitism on America’s college campuses. Does that mean professors and students who protest Israel’s war in Gaza would face penalties?
Again, we don’t know. All we know is that the Trump’s administration would get to define antisemitism and impose its will on everyone else. And if that’s not indoctrination, I don’t know what is.
The best teachers I had made me think for myself. And the best way to fight Trump’s order is to rededicate ourselves to that ideal. We should present the 1619 Project and the 1776 Project to our students, and let them sort out the differences. And we should ask them questions, instead of giving them answers.
You can’t fight indoctrination if you’re doing it yourself. Just ask Donald Trump.
Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the advisory board of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Education Department employees placed on paid leave as part of Trump administration’s DEI purge
Alayna Treene, Rene Marsh and Veronica Stracqualursi,
The Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, as seen on September 9, 2019.
Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, two sources familiar with the move told CNN.
The department sent letters to employees informing them that their email accounts were being suspended but that they would continue to receive paychecks for an indefinite period, the sources said.
The department cited guidance from the White House’s Office of Personnel and Management, issued on January 21, that directed government agencies to notify “all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”
The agency is the latest to face upheaval amid the White House’s efforts to weed out DEI programs within the government and reshape the federal workforce in President Donald Trump’s image.
At least 55 Education Department employees, including senior-level career workers who have served at the agency for decades, were notified Friday night that they’d been placed on paid leave, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the agency’s career officials.
“Effective January 31, 2025, you will be placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits pursuant to the President’s executive order on DEIA and further guidance from OPM,” the letter says, according to a copy obtained by CNN. “This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose.”
According to the union, these employees do not hold job titles nor official duties related to DEIA, but they included staffers such as civil rights attorneys who handle student discrimination and antisemitism complaints; an employee working in a grant office; and a member of the artificial intelligence team helping the department understand AI in education.
But Sheria Smith, union president for Department of Education career employees, told CNN the employees placed on paid leave had attended a two-day diversity training seminar in 2019 during the first Trump administration “that was required for senior-level employees and strongly encouraged for others,” as well as similar training under the Biden administration. Others affected had either participated in a one-day lunch training on DEI or had volunteered with an agency group or committee that plans programs such as Black History Month celebrations.
The diversity training for Education Department employees was encouraged during the first Trump administration under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose goal was for 400 employees to attend the sessions, according to the union.
Because of the large participation in the 2019 training seminar, the union is worried that hundreds more Department of Education staffers could be affected.
“We’ve filed several requests for information with the agency to get a clear understanding of what’s happening and how many employees overall will be impacted,” Smith told CNN, but the union has not received any additional information.
CNN reached out to the Department of Education for comment but did not receive a response.
The New York Times first reported on the letters sent to Education Department employees informing them that they were being put on paid administrative leave.
The White House last month ordered government DEI employees to be placed on administrative leave and ended the use of DEI in hiring and federal contracting.
“The mission of the agency is stalled because this administration has forced these people to stop performing work for the American people,” Smith told CNN.
Agency leaders were also instructed to ask employees to report any efforts to “disguise these programs” in federal jobs and contract descriptions since the November election.
Alayna Treene, Rene Marsh and Veronica Stracqualursi,
CNN
Sun, February 2, 2025
Sun, February 2, 2025
The Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, as seen on September 9, 2019.
Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, two sources familiar with the move told CNN.
The department sent letters to employees informing them that their email accounts were being suspended but that they would continue to receive paychecks for an indefinite period, the sources said.
The department cited guidance from the White House’s Office of Personnel and Management, issued on January 21, that directed government agencies to notify “all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”
The agency is the latest to face upheaval amid the White House’s efforts to weed out DEI programs within the government and reshape the federal workforce in President Donald Trump’s image.
At least 55 Education Department employees, including senior-level career workers who have served at the agency for decades, were notified Friday night that they’d been placed on paid leave, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the agency’s career officials.
“Effective January 31, 2025, you will be placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits pursuant to the President’s executive order on DEIA and further guidance from OPM,” the letter says, according to a copy obtained by CNN. “This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose.”
According to the union, these employees do not hold job titles nor official duties related to DEIA, but they included staffers such as civil rights attorneys who handle student discrimination and antisemitism complaints; an employee working in a grant office; and a member of the artificial intelligence team helping the department understand AI in education.
But Sheria Smith, union president for Department of Education career employees, told CNN the employees placed on paid leave had attended a two-day diversity training seminar in 2019 during the first Trump administration “that was required for senior-level employees and strongly encouraged for others,” as well as similar training under the Biden administration. Others affected had either participated in a one-day lunch training on DEI or had volunteered with an agency group or committee that plans programs such as Black History Month celebrations.
The diversity training for Education Department employees was encouraged during the first Trump administration under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose goal was for 400 employees to attend the sessions, according to the union.
Because of the large participation in the 2019 training seminar, the union is worried that hundreds more Department of Education staffers could be affected.
“We’ve filed several requests for information with the agency to get a clear understanding of what’s happening and how many employees overall will be impacted,” Smith told CNN, but the union has not received any additional information.
CNN reached out to the Department of Education for comment but did not receive a response.
The New York Times first reported on the letters sent to Education Department employees informing them that they were being put on paid administrative leave.
The White House last month ordered government DEI employees to be placed on administrative leave and ended the use of DEI in hiring and federal contracting.
“The mission of the agency is stalled because this administration has forced these people to stop performing work for the American people,” Smith told CNN.
Agency leaders were also instructed to ask employees to report any efforts to “disguise these programs” in federal jobs and contract descriptions since the November election.
