How to shield our children from Trump’s DEI rollback and preserve critical thinking in 2025
As the new administration targets DEI and the Department of Education, the fight to preserve critical thinking and diversity in schools is more urgent than ever.
As the nation turns the page on 2024, many are mentally shifting from a time of holiday celebration to a time of anticipation for what lies ahead. Although on January 6, 2025, we saw a peaceful certification of the 2024 presidential election, we are all collectively bracing for a new administration promising sweeping reforms impacting every household in America.
President-Elect Donald Trump promises to eliminate the Department of Education as part of Agenda 47, and dismantle any and all DEI programs that feature “critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.”
He has chosen Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to lead the department, or perhaps, lead its demise. She joins a chorus of conservative voices intent on eliminating the DOE. Even more troubling is a lawsuit –now paused– claiming McMahon failed to act on credible allegations of child sexual abuse connected to the WWE in the 1980s.
But the dissolution of a federal government department with the mission ”to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access” will help no one. The new administration’s rhetoric offers little explanation for what will replace the department, except to say education decisions should be made at the state, not federal level.
Why DEI Matters
It is irrefutable that the DOE goal to “supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education” is necessary for the intellectual growth of students and the future of this country. The intellectual growth of our children increasingly demands they be able to think critically. Exposure to a diversity of thought opens their minds to more options, possibilities, and potential solutions. Sameness of thought or the idea there is only one way to think, is the opposite of critical thinking.
Diversity and inclusion are so critical to the educational and economic foundations of this country that the board of directors of Costco—which employs 330,000 people nationwide– recently unanimously recommended its shareholders vote against a proposal by the National Center for Public Policy Research to dissolve Costco’s DEI goals.
Meanwhile, this week in a letter sent to franchise owners/operators, employees, and suppliers, McDonald’s leaders announced they are retiring both “setting aspirational representation goals” and “supply Chain’s Mutual Commitment to DEI pledge,” as well as “pausing external surveys,” and renaming the “diversity team which will now be the Global Inclusion Team.”
Now at the time of year when students are applying to colleges and universities they hope to attend, it is noteworthy that individuals sent more than 1.3 million applications to four-year institutions through March 1 of this year. According to the Common Application, this is up 7% from 2023, or approximately 70,000 applicants. There is also an increase in the number of students from a range of backgrounds.
The data shows that students identifying as underrepresented minorities by race and ethnicity increased 10 percent, while white applicants increased 2 percent. International applications increased 13 percent and applicants reporting below median income increased 10 percent, with first-generation student applications increasing 4 percent.
In 2022, there were more than 18.5 million college students in the U.S., with 13.5 million in public schools and 5 million attending private colleges, according to Statista. Those numbers are set to increase with a projection in 2031 of nearly 15 million college students attending public institutions, and 5.5 million enrolled in private colleges and universities.
This is what higher education is about: supporting a diversity of thought from individuals with a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Yet, tragically, this is not the direction where American education appears to be headed.
The Attack On DEI
A ballooning number of institutions have eliminated DEI efforts. The Chronicle of Higher Ed tracks these shifts, noting 207 institutions in 32 states have enforced DEI changes.
The University of Texas, in response to Senate Bill 17, which seeks to abolish DEI courses, programs or positions, sent a list of 42 terms to faculty that cannot be used on websites, in course materials or resources. They include “anti-racist, safe space, whiteness, anti-colonialism, white fragility, white privilege, ally and institutional racism.”
The group, Students For Fair Admission, recently filed suit against the U.S. Air Force Academy for promoting “race-based” admissions, which is a negative factor for those not meeting the criteria. This follows the group’s unsuccessful suit against the U.S. Naval Academy.
The movement to declare that a return to America’s “greatness” in the 1860s is a valuable reset is blatant disinformation and factually incorrect. Historically and in principle, the past was only great for some. Demanding and enforcing the notion that there is only one right way to think about diversity only reflects the views of some.
This reframing of DEI is about racism and misogyny, despite being cloaked in the idea of reverse discrimination. The point of DEI was to introduce and cultivate different mindsets and different values to invite and discover new and innovative ways for everyone to collaborate, create, and transform.
A Way Forward For Our Children
What is needed today and forever are learning environments where young scholars learn to think critically by listening to views and insights from people of various backgrounds, comparing these inputs with their own ideas, and as a result, graciously embracing a diversity of thought.
A 2024 report from the Research Journal for Societal Issues, states, “Critical thinkers can break down problems into smaller pieces; synthesize lots of data into one point; think about what was learned; ask clear questions based on evidence; see gaps in reasoning; use logical reasoning; support claims with evidence from many different sources; understand how things change over time; connect big ideas across multiple fields by identifying common themes or principles that link many concepts together.”
American educational philosopher John Dewey debuted the term, critical thinking, in his 1910 book, How We Think, defining it as an educational goal encompassing the practice of “reflective thought.”
What is counter-productive for the nation’s future is mandating a compliance environment that requires everyone to mimic how Donald Trump thinks. This is a type of non-critical thinking or sameness that destroys intellectual curiosity and discovery.
We must urgently shift the focus of educators, policymakers, administrators, students, and families away from these thinly veiled attempts to replace DEI with sameness of thought, and move toward seeing DEI as standing for actions to Differentiate, Engage, and Innovate.
Critical thinking is greatly enhanced by diversity of thought- so let’s do all we can to protect it.
Barron Witherspoon, Sr. is the author of The Black Exec and The Seven Myths, a TEDX speaker, and serves as a Second Vice Chair on Tuskegee University’s Board of Trustees.
More About:Opinion
You Might Like
