As we all know, Donald Trump will be our 47th president of the United States. What some of us may not be aware of is the impact that Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) could have on us students. The overall purpose of Project 2025 is to basically change the United States federal government; into one that supports and fits ideologies of the Heritage Foundation.
They’re calling for the Department of Education to be abolished completely. The U.S. Department of Education website states, “The Department’s mission is to serve America’s students-to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” By abolishing the Department of Education, students would be impacted in so many ways. Non-U.S. citizens and undocumented students would not be able to get loans, no matter what. Any student who attends a school that provides in-state tuition to non-U.S. citizens and undocumented students would not be able to get loans as well. Loan forgiveness will not be permitted, no matter what. They believe that the education decisions should be made by families but be publicly funded. The government wouldn’t be making decisions for education but the families. So personal beliefs and such could be shared in the classroom.
Any diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at schools would be shut down. In general Project 2025 would basically erase inclusivity as a whole. Students will be told they can’t be transgender, we should be a color-conscious society once again, and that America is not systematically racist. They’d like to bring traditionally conservative values and beliefs into schools. So it’s safe to assume that the curriculum schools are using will drastically change.
Schools in lower income districts funding will go to the Department of Health and Human Services instead. Schools who already don’t get a lot of funds, will have less funds. Which is just terrible, as millions of kids’ quality of education is put to jeopardy. Many students will receive low quality education, which could change the path of their life.
Those are just a few examples of how education could change if Project 2025 is put through. There’s still a lot more, as it is over 900 pages. This is just a very small portion of how it could affect us students. This is something that could very well be our future. Project 2025 will affect the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, undocumented people, low income families, and many more, and there’s students in all those categories. It is just for us to wait for the impact it will have on us.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c977njnvq2do
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
