Education Is Key to America's Future

It’s that time of year when students across the country head back to school, and the sight of those little kids trundling up the steps of their yellow school buses is one that strikes a chord for many of us – and makes this week’s horrific school shooting in Minnesota all the more harrowing. We remember our own school days, filled with possibility, and recall our own children progressing on their path to adulthood. I know that the memories I have of my son Nick on his first days of school are among my most precious, and I can’t wait to see my grandson Jack follow in his footsteps.

But for far too many young Americans, school is no longer the gateway to opportunity that it once was. Instead of being a haven of learning that will equip our nation’s children with the skills they need to thrive, our educational system has become corrupted by a combination of radical, anti-American Leftism and unethical teachers’ unions with little interest in actually educating the students they purport to serve.

The statistics are grim. According to the 2024 “Nation’s Report Card,” student proficiency levels in reading and math have stagnated or declined since the early 1990s, and the steep downturn that began during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been reversed. Students in China now outscore our children across the board, and nations that spend a fraction of our per-pupil costs outpace the United States in educational attainment. And the understanding of basic civics is atrocious: Today, only 1 in 3 Americans can pass the citizenship test.

Despite what union leaders like Randi Weingarten and the Democratic establishment will tell you, increased funding has not made a difference: In fact, cities with some of the highest spending per pupil have some of the lowest proficiency levels. And instead of drilling down on the core skills lost during the remote learning debacle of the COVID-era, we’ve seen all too many schools double down on indoctrinating kids in pernicious woke ideology.

Join our petition: Stop the indoctrination of our kids.

Some may view this as an issue that’s only of concern to parents, but the decline in educational standards is a threat to the future of this country. If American education remains on this downward trajectory, how will we ever be able to prevail over China, which seeks to supplant us as a global superpower? Where will the next generation of scientists, tech experts, and engineers come from? Who will pass the understanding of the great thinkers and of history to the next generation, so we can preserve our cultural inheritance and learn the hard-won lessons of history?

The danger this presents to our nation exceeds that of all the bad guys I battled during my four years as Secretary of State and CIA Director. President Trump has shown that he is more than capable of taking on the bad guys that Biden shied away from; but if our schools continue on the present course, America will be at risk of crumbling from within.

Given the poor state of our public schools, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen a historic increase in the number of families opting to pursue homeschooling, private, or charter schools. But for many students of low-income families, these alternatives just aren’t an option.

We need a revolution in education that empowers all of our nation’s children to fulfill their potential. We’ve seen an increasing number of examples showing that students thrive when conservative policies like school choice are put into place – for example, in Florida, which now ranks number one nationwide in education. Indeed, the genius of our federal system is that it allows for the kind of experimentation necessary to find alternatives to the failing status quo.

Thankfully, President Trump recognizes this and is pursuing education policies that are set to unleash that potential. He knows that the sea change we need won’t come without rethinking our top-down approach to education; disempowering unions and empowering parents to seek the excellence that comes from competition and choice; and ensuring that good teachers are rewarded and supported, and time-servers and activists are shown the door. His bold initiative to dismantle and reform the Department of Education – a primary driver of failure in our schools – is crucial to that effort. 

America’s children deserve the opportunity to succeed regardless of their background, and the way in which they’ve been used as political pawns by union bosses is nothing short of malevolent. As our kids begin this new school year, we owe it to them to advocate for policies that will give them the best possible chance to build a better future for themselves and keep America strong and free for years to come.