Six Strategies for Trump to Make Education Great Again and Woo Back Suburban Voters

From American Thinker.com (Sept. 28):

America stands in crisis today with urban rioting and political division.  The crisis in America is at root a crisis in our educational system.  As President Abraham Lincoln once said, "the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."  Taking Lincoln's quote forward 150 years, the theories of structural racism, critical race theory, Marxism, gender theory, revisionist history, queer theory, etc., are rapidly coming to bear in America's streets and the halls of government.

The crisis in education has two facets: a crisis in civics and a crisis in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  Each is rooted in the postmodern denial of objectivity and truth and the postmodern obsession with identities, which are together corrupting our education.  These obsessions are bringing down civics and STEM with it.  When our students are taught that America is fundamentally flawed, they are often done so at the expense of learning about our system of government or history.  For example, half of students do not know when the Civil War was fought.  When educators start talking nonsense about "white math," then some students are in essence being told they are not capable of learning it.  The less time spent on real civics and math, the more time may be spent building grievances.

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While respecting federalism and local control, Republicans especially should begin to confront our education crisis by proposing the following:

First, we ought to remove education licensure requirements for STEM.  To teach in public schools, teachers are almost always required to be licensed, having taken numerous educational courses and continuing education courses.  We cannot afford this luxury when students are not learning civics or math.  Selected retired military veterans should be given the opportunity to teach civics at public schools without a professional license.  Schools should be able to hire or bring in as adjuncts engineers and other professionals who are highly skilled in math to teach approved STEM curricula in the schools.  This should be a critical emergency priority, with the federal government playing a coordinating and facilitating role.

Second, we ought to mandate civics proficiency in order for students to graduate high school.  In our Country, thanks to the 26th Amendment, to the Constitution, adults can vote at age 18 on the rationale that they are old enough to fight and die in wars.  This is also the age of most high school graduates.  But with this right comes a responsibility to know and understand our system of government.  They ought to be able to take and pass the same citizenship test as is required for immigrants.  They should understand the separation of powers, federalism, our bicameral legislature, the expansion of the franchise, the Electoral College, and other functions of government.  If they cannot, they should not be awarded a high school diploma.  Our schools may fail them, but having a mandatory test can serve as a backstop for the failure.

Third, we ought to create a special visa for STEM teachers from other countries to teach at U.S. schools, with even a path to citizenship for those who are a successful teachers.  We desperately need all the talent we can obtain.  A similar program can be extended for critical language instructors, including those proficient in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. [read more]