Since Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, his administration has been actively attacking higher education institutions in the US, “[leveraging] the power of the federal government to threaten funding” as a means to reshape its structures and programmes, which have been “indoctrinating youth with progressive ideologies”.
This unprecedented and authoritarian abuse of power against the American education system follows an ongoing pattern of the Republican Party’s culture war against the Left, in which colleges represent a key part of the ‘woke mob’ and ‘New Elite’ — simply put, the people who they believe are detracting American society from its good old traditional (and, might I add, exclusively white) values.
Though they do tend to be more liberal institutions, the idea of universities as ‘indoctrinators of progressiveness’ is grossly exaggerated and fundamentally misunderstands the benefits of college. Universities — good universities — should, and do, broaden people’s awareness of different perspectives, encouraging them to understand and critically engage with a great variety of ideas. They are not propaganda machines forcing students to memorise Marx’s Capital and vote Democrat. At most, they’re pushing people’s minds to be capable of independently interacting with the world around them by teaching them applicable skills of thought. Though, to be fair, I don’t think the current ruling party and its most adamant supporters would mind the former scenario much if Marx’s writings were replaced with a Trump manifesto.
But, of course, Trump and his cabinet know this. I’m not writing this to tell them; I’m writing this because it’s vital that we understand how dangerous their attack on education truly is, especially amid a polarised population primed to continue accepting violently populist ideas. Education that teaches active critical thought is an act of opposition because it can make people more considerate of the greater factors at play and less susceptible to manipulation.
We can attack the Democratic Party for its faults and its failure to properly address the concerns of the American people all we want, but this shouldn’t detract our focus from the core issue: the Right’s extremely effective propaganda and exploitative manipulation tactics. In simplifying complex issues into digestible and memorable headlines, Trump’s populism provides relief to people’s systemic and individual frustrations by funneling their anger towards purposely misdirected sources of blame. It’s why his messaging is so overwhelmingly effective and appealing to working-class Americans (increasingly including ethnic minorities) despite his shamelessly nativist and elite-favouring policies. And whether it is their main aim or a happy side benefit, by disrupting open and inclusive learning processes, the administration is dismantling critical thought to the benefit of their dissemination of manipulative narratives.
College-educated Americans have become a core part of the Democratic electorate, and the Republican administration is acting to restrict it. While recognising the simultaneous issue of universities often being expensive and privileged institutions, we need to begin fostering a general culture that values openness to knowledge and critical engagement.
“File:Columbia University College Walk Court Yard 06.JPG” by Ad Meskens is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Dismantling Critical Thought: Trump’s Attack on Higher Education
Since Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, his administration has been actively attacking higher education institutions in the US, “[leveraging] the power of the federal government to threaten funding” as a means to reshape its structures and programmes, which have been “indoctrinating youth with progressive ideologies”.
This unprecedented and authoritarian abuse of power against the American education system follows an ongoing pattern of the Republican Party’s culture war against the Left, in which colleges represent a key part of the ‘woke mob’ and ‘New Elite’ — simply put, the people who they believe are detracting American society from its good old traditional (and, might I add, exclusively white) values.
Though they do tend to be more liberal institutions, the idea of universities as ‘indoctrinators of progressiveness’ is grossly exaggerated and fundamentally misunderstands the benefits of college. Universities — good universities — should, and do, broaden people’s awareness of different perspectives, encouraging them to understand and critically engage with a great variety of ideas. They are not propaganda machines forcing students to memorise Marx’s Capital and vote Democrat. At most, they’re pushing people’s minds to be capable of independently interacting with the world around them by teaching them applicable skills of thought. Though, to be fair, I don’t think the current ruling party and its most adamant supporters would mind the former scenario much if Marx’s writings were replaced with a Trump manifesto.
But, of course, Trump and his cabinet know this. I’m not writing this to tell them; I’m writing this because it’s vital that we understand how dangerous their attack on education truly is, especially amid a polarised population primed to continue accepting violently populist ideas. Education that teaches active critical thought is an act of opposition because it can make people more considerate of the greater factors at play and less susceptible to manipulation.
We can attack the Democratic Party for its faults and its failure to properly address the concerns of the American people all we want, but this shouldn’t detract our focus from the core issue: the Right’s extremely effective propaganda and exploitative manipulation tactics. In simplifying complex issues into digestible and memorable headlines, Trump’s populism provides relief to people’s systemic and individual frustrations by funneling their anger towards purposely misdirected sources of blame. It’s why his messaging is so overwhelmingly effective and appealing to working-class Americans (increasingly including ethnic minorities) despite his shamelessly nativist and elite-favouring policies. And whether it is their main aim or a happy side benefit, by disrupting open and inclusive learning processes, the administration is dismantling critical thought to the benefit of their dissemination of manipulative narratives.
College-educated Americans have become a core part of the Democratic electorate, and the Republican administration is acting to restrict it. While recognising the simultaneous issue of universities often being expensive and privileged institutions, we need to begin fostering a general culture that values openness to knowledge and critical engagement.
Revolution for Sale: How ‘Radical’ Politics Serves the Status Quo
“File:Columbia University College Walk Court Yard 06.JPG” by Ad Meskens is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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