If Trump Were to Talk Education in SOTU
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all know that the President of the United States rarely uses the bully pulpit to focus on education issues. For every year that George W. Bush sought to ensure No Child (was) Left Behind or Barack Obama looked for a Race to the Top, we’ve heard far more addresses where education is a passing mention at best. Just look at the 2024 campaign, where other than passing mentions of student loan forgiveness and Moms for Liberty’s influence, education was all but forgotten.
It doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. And it’s a cryin’ shame that we, collectively, allow it to be this way.
While President Donald J. Trump’s team may want to dream of eliminating the U.S. Education Department (a dream many have had ever since Jimmy Carter established ED nearly a half-century ago), highlighting the potential power of education to make America great again and expressing ire over other nations beating the U.S. of A on key international benchmarks could be an educational cornerstone of Trump 2.0, particularly if the Administration seeks to move from talks of loan forgiveness to economic impact.
So what could a focus on education look like? As rare as P-12 education is in presidential rhetoric, postsecondary education discussions are far rarer. By now, we all realize that Trump is hardly a politician of convention. So maybe it isn’t too late to drop this proposed section of “Trump-speak” into this week’s Presidential Address to the Nation. But here goes …
“My victory was a sign that the American people were deeply concerned with their jobs, pocketbooks, and families. Voters rallied around the notion of ‘making America great again,’ recognizing that the strongest way we can make America great is by ensuring all of her people have well-paying jobs, both today and tomorrow.
“Despite what the previous Administration believed, Americans are not interested in forgiving those who borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to study ancient and unused languages, DEI fiction, or socialist politics. They want an entrepreneurial society, a community based on hard work, success, and achievement. They want their kids to build the next Tesla, Amazon, Facebook, or Trump Organization.
“My previous tax cuts had a direct impact on how America works, and my future policies will provide even greater results. Companies like Walmart and Disney are already dropping misguided policies to again focus on American exceptionalism. Employers are prizing hard work, loyalty and inspiration, looking for workers committed to their success and their employer’s success. As the economy grows stronger, those same employers should prioritize providing bonuses, incentives, and skills development. Those businesses that thrive will reward their workers, knowing that those that succeed have one key thing in common. As companies, they have made the necessary adjustments to meet the needs of tomorrow. They have reimagined their businesses for the digital, Information Age in which we now all operate. These employers recognize the importance of workers with the knowledge and skills to do both the jobs of today AND of tomorrow. As a result, they will have huge successes under the Trump tax code.
“It is time to bring that vision and that innovation to education, particularly to our colleges and universities. Education Secretary Linda MacMahon and her team are already grappling with issues such as skyrocketing college tuition for useless degrees and the financial operating structures of individual universities. In communities across the country, colleges are shutting down because they lack the students and the respect they once had. All of this demonstrates a higher education system that is largely broken. A system that prioritized a broken way of thinking.
“Just as my Administration is committed to ridding our bloated government of trillions of waste through the groundbreaking work of my Department of Government Efficiency, we must do the same with our wasteful, misguided colleges and universities. For every Wharton or New College doing it right, we have hundreds wasting our time, our real estate, and your dollars. You deserve better. And I want to give it to you.
“Unlike our businesses, higher education is still largely focused on process, not on outcomes. It rewards based on past achievement, not on future success. It prioritizes the needs and preferences of the provider, not the learner or customer. And it focuses on the liberal arts over entrepreneurism and the skills and knowledge needed for business.
“That is why tonight I am directing my Education Department to chart a new course for postsecondary education in the United States, a course that takes us to our next destination, not our previous stops. We need to build the schools of tomorrow, preparing the workers of tomorrow with the skills of tomorrow for the jobs of tomorrow.
“What does that mean?
“First, we need to incentivize, not discourage, innovation in higher education. Just because a program or a school wants to do things in a way that has never been done does not mean it should automatically be prevented from doing so. We must empower regulators and accreditors to encourage new models of thinking and instruction.
“Second, we need to better understand the students of today — and tomorrow — while ensuring our institutions of higher learning are meeting their collective needs. The demographics of college students today are vastly different than those from a generation ago. How we teach those learners must also be different.
“That requires a more personalized approach to college education. It is time to throw out the lecture halls and blue books. Instead, we look to advances like artificial intelligence, crypto currency, simulations, and virtual reality to help students learn in the ways that make the most sense for them. And we look for what students know and what they are able to do with that knowledge.
“And finally, we need to ensure that classroom instruction meets real-world needs. That requires equipping every young learner today with the skills needed to succeed in those jobs of tomorrow. And that requires forward-thinking classroom teachers able to teach those skills in ways that are both relevant and interesting to today’s kids. Boring textbooks, union-programmed teachers, and irrelevant content must be banished from our schools for good.
“Across this great country, families are seeking better lives for their kids. In the 1950s, hardworking Americans sought the same, determining that sending their kids to college was the best path to that better life. In recent years, we have lost that sense of trust, seeing higher education instead as a playground for dilettantes and those without life direction. No more.
“My Administration is committed to restoring American higher education to a position of greatness around the work. That is only done through competition and innovation and an embrace of what is possible. It is done by breaking the restraints of over-regulation. And it is done by recognizing the future direction of higher education belongs to the learner, not to the provider. Only then can our colleges and universities become great again.”
It’s almost enough for the Trump team to make education a priority again …
