Victimize Education & Culture
Welcome to the educational wasteland and cultural battleground these conservative zealots want to create. In this section of Project 2025, we'll watch as they take a blowtorch to the Department of Education, turn schools into armed camps, and wage a scorched-earth campaign against any notion of diversity or inclusion. Buckle the fuck up – this gets ugly fast.
Nuke the Education Department
"The Department of Education should be eliminated, with only a handful of its functions transferred to other agencies." (p. 273)
Let's be crystal clear about what this means: destroying federal oversight of educational equality. Kiss goodbye to civil rights enforcement in schools. Wave farewell to federal support for low-income districts. And don't even think about accountability for schools that fail vulnerable students. This isn't reform – it's educational arson.
Who gets burned alive by this? Poor kids in underfunded schools. Students with disabilities who depend on federal protections. Children facing discrimination or harassment. And ultimately, America's future as we abandon any national commitment to educational equity.
Why does Vought push this destructive bullshit? Because the conservative movement has been waging war on public education for decades. They don't want an educated citizenry capable of critical thinking – they want compliant workers and voters who won't question authority. It's not about improving education; it's about controlling what children learn and who gets access to quality schools.
Schools Into Concentration Camps
"The Department of Education should support arming willing and qualified school staff." (p. 281)
Jesus fucking Christ. Their solution to school shootings isn't sensible gun legislation – it's turning Miss Johnson the third-grade teacher into a reluctant sharpshooter. This isn't just stupid; it's dangerously delusional. More guns in schools means more accidents, more confusion during actual emergencies, and more opportunities for tragedy.
Who suffers? Every child who has to wonder if their math teacher is packing heat. Every parent who sends their kids to school worrying not just about education but about crossfire. Every educator forced to become a reluctant security guard instead of focusing on teaching.
Vought pushes this NRA wet dream because the conservative movement has become so captured by gun manufacturers that they'll propose any batshit crazy idea rather than admit we need reasonable limits on weapons of war. It's not about safety – it's about selling more guns while avoiding the obvious solutions staring us in the face.
IX Protections Mean Shit
"The Department of Education should issue a new Title IX rule that returns to the original understanding of 'sex'." (p. 279)
Translation: Let's pretend the last 50 years of progress in understanding gender and sexuality never happened. This isn't just regressive – it's willfully ignorant. The "original understanding" bullshit is code for stripping protections from transgender students and gutting sexual harassment enforcement in education.
Who pays the price? Girls and women facing harassment or discrimination in educational settings. LGBTQ+ students already experiencing disproportionate bullying and suicide rates. And ultimately, every student in an educational environment where equality takes a back seat to reactionary gender politics.
Vought champions this because the conservative movement has decided that transgender Americans are their new favorite punching bag. Unable to openly attack gay and lesbian people without looking like the bigots they are, they've shifted to targeting trans kids – literally the most vulnerable population they could find. It's not governance; it's cruelty as political strategy.
Destroy Public Universities
"The Department of Education should prohibit public universities from funding DEI bureaucracies." (p. 288)
Let's call this what it is: government-mandated censorship of ideas conservatives don't like. For all their whining about "free speech on campus," the moment they get power, they want to use federal authority to dictate what universities can teach and what programs they can fund. The hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a chainsaw.
Who gets silenced? Black students seeking support after racist incidents. First-generation college students navigating unfamiliar institutions. LGBTQ+ students facing harassment. And ultimately, the very concept of academic freedom as politicians dictate what ideas are acceptable on campus.
Vought pushes this censorship because the conservative movement is terrified of demographic change and the evolving understanding of America's complex history. Rather than engage with challenging ideas, they want to ban them outright and return to a sanitized version of higher education that reinforces their worldview. It's intellectual cowardice masquerading as principle.
Prayer Everywhere: By His Eye
"The Department of Education should advise schools of their obligations to protect students' religious liberty rights." (p. 291)
Don't be fooled by the reasonable-sounding language. This isn't about protecting students' right to pray privately – which is already protected. This is about forcing prayer and religious expression into public schools, regardless of the diverse beliefs of the student body. It's a Trojan horse for government-sponsored Christianity in spaces meant for all Americans.
Who gets marginalized? Jewish students. Muslim students. Hindu students. Atheist students. Anyone who doesn't conform to the dominant Christian tradition. Public schools are supposed to be for ALL Americans, not just those who share the majority religion.
Vought champions this because the conservative movement doesn't actually believe in separating church and state – they believe in privileging their particular brand of Christianity above all other beliefs. It's not about religious liberty; it's about religious dominance.
Nuke All Libraries
"Libraries should have clear policies... restricting minors from accessing harmful material." (p. 297)
Translation: Let's ban books that acknowledge LGBTQ+ people exist, discuss America's history of racism, or contain any sexual content whatsoever – even when age-appropriate. This isn't about protecting children; it's about controlling what ideas they can access and enforcing a narrowly conservative worldview.
Who suffers? LGBTQ+ youth desperate to see themselves represented in literature. Students trying to understand America's complex history. Young adults navigating normal questions about identity and sexuality. And ultimately, our collective commitment to intellectual freedom and the right to read without government censorship.
Vought pushes this censorship because the modern conservative movement has abandoned any pretense of limited government when it comes to policing ideas they find threatening. They don't trust parents to decide what their own children can read – they want government officials determining which ideas are acceptable and which must be suppressed. It's not about protection; it's about control.
This section of Project 2025 reveals a movement that's declared all-out war on education as a path to critical thinking and independent judgment. Instead of schools that prepare young Americans for the complexities of modern life, they envision indoctrination centers where guns are welcome but diverse perspectives are not.
Russell Vought and his Heritage Foundation collaborators don't want an educational system that empowers the next generation – they want one that constrains young minds within the narrow boundaries of conservative ideology. Their vision isn't about education at all – it's about crushing the very concept of intellectual freedom under the boot of political authority.
In their ideal world, education wouldn't liberate minds – it would confine them. It wouldn't challenge students to question authority – it would train them to accept it without question. And it wouldn't prepare young Americans for a diverse, complex society – it would shelter them from diversity while teaching them to fear difference.
This isn't conservatism – it's intellectual authoritarianism wrapped in the flag and carrying a Bible. And if we allow it to take root in our educational system, we risk losing not just the next generation, but the very concept of education as a path to enlightenment rather than indoctrination.
Heritage Foundation. (2023). Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. Washington, DC.]
Vought, R. (2023). The Road to Renewal: Reclaiming America's Greatness Through
I can actually digest this part with more of my analytical brain intact. Thank you Wendy for your work and insights - all spot on, Christofascist horseshit.
with a brother, sister in law retired educators, and a mom as a professor (passed) and a dad as a math teacher (alive), I have the unique view of a lifetime spent seeing behind the scenes of the shit show that is public education. More than that, I also have a front seat to the private/religious school backstory with a family member who taught for a pittance salary for years at one.
I won’t echo what you said, because it’s true - all of it. The vast majority of teachers with experience got out as soon as the first trump admin got its hands on the dept of education through all means possible - including reduced pensions. At least in Ohio. Other states, don’t know. But Congress got in the habit starting in the 90’s of creating “unfunded mandates” - telling schools to follow laws and then not giving any money to make it happen. It tore teachers apart, and administrations had to become adverse to the unions and their members - which was everybody that worked in a public school in my state, the way the system is rigged.
This led to the 2000’s and 10’s where every fuckin’ thing came under attack, and teachers were incredibly demoralized as students started to litigate everything. They dumbed all activities down to teaching to the test. ***I want to point out that we are N-O-W seeing the generational impacts of this*** and it’s not pretty. Kids have shit educations and zero critical thinking skills UNLESS they were lucky enough to get them at home. Those kids are now PARENTS (in some cases GRANDPARENTS) who see the school as an enemy. They’re all too happy to come in with “metaphorical guns a-blazing” at administrators, who just lay blame at the teachers feet instead of remotely sticking up for them. Yes, I’m fucking biased.
My big point here, all, is that we are not seeing the “introduction” of something brand new. In lots of red states, P2025 is just the formalization of what they’ve been doing for decades. Kids are heading off into the world and making babies with little to no concept of basic skills like budget management, political awareness, how government works - it’s all rigged in favor of government being able to seize control of people who have under and undeveloped opinions. And statistically, all they need is 51% of them to be shitheads to fail another funding levy locally, or endorse Trump/P2025 agenda items. There is so much that a few hero teachers do, but it is not a sustainable model.
We will end up with dipshits in the workforce in increasing numbers as the years go by. It’s generational stupidity propagating through the system like cancer.
Good morning Wendy, I'm working on editing resumes this morning, so I'm going to have to save reading this until later after I finish work. There are some tasks I can do that are brainless and allow me to listen to podcasts and articles and that kind of thing, unfortunately today's isn't one of them. But I can tell just from skimming the first paragraph that it's a good one. I look forward to getting into it. And I'm glad I found substack, and you, and all the other good writers I'm being introduced to here.