Trump signs orders on hot-button social issues in schools
In addition to teaching changes, it also seeks to block school policies accommodating transgender students, such as by requiring teachers to use pronouns correlating with a students' gender, and limiting locker room access by gender
US President Donald Trump signed several executive orders yesterday (29 January) regarding hot-button topics in education including race, gender, and college campus protests which were frequent talking points during his campaign.
One order called "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling" seeks to limit teachings on race-related issues and gender identity, while establishing a commission to promote "patriotic education" that paints the United States in a positive light.
"Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation's children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority," the directive says.
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In addition to teaching changes, it also seeks to block school policies accommodating transgender students, such as by requiring teachers to use pronouns correlating with a students' gender, and limiting locker room access by gender.
However, with primary and secondary education mostly controlled by individual states, Trump is limited in his ability to shape school curricula and policies to his preferences.
The order nonetheless demands federal agencies produce a report within 90 days on actions he could take, such as by conditioning federal funding, to force adherence to his agenda.
Trump and other Republicans have long decried so-called critical race theory (CRT), which rose to prominence amid the mass social movement that accelerated with the 2020 police killing of George Floyd.
Initially referring to an approach that looks at US history through the lens of racism, the term has become an ill-defined catchall for race-related topics in education.
State-level bans against CRT have led to what critics say is a chilling effect around teaching anything race-related, but many Republicans maintain it is a needlessly divisive topic that makes white students feel guilty.
Another order Trump signed Wednesday, which is part of a flurry of executive actions in his first days as president, seeks to expand so-called school choice, in which students can receive public funding to attend non-public establishments. The approach is favored mostly by Republicans.
He also signed an order called "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism," which responds to the widespread protests on college campuses that erupted following the 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The document targets vandalism on campuses and discrimination against Jewish students that occurred during the months-long demonstrations.
Trump and other Republicans have bashed the pro-Palestinian protests broadly as being pro-Hamas, which is designated by the United States as a terrorist organisation.
With the federal government similarly limited in its control of university policies, the order takes the first steps in addressing the issue by requiring reports be drawn up on potential actions.
Agencies are to include "recommendations for familiarising institutions of higher education with the grounds for inadmissibility" of foreign students.
The move eyes possible deportations of students who broke the law during protests.
Trump has shaken up America in his first 10 days in office, signing executive orders almost daily on topics ranging from stemming illegal immigration to restricting gender transitions for minors.
