this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Summary

Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act, aiming to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, a long-time Republican goal aligned with Trump’s agenda.

The bill proposes redistributing the department’s $200 billion budget and responsibilities to other federal agencies and states, such as shifting federal student loans to the Treasury.

Critics warn this could undermine protections for students with disabilities and marginalized groups.

While the bill faces significant political hurdles, it reflects broader GOP efforts to reduce federal influence over education policy.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 minutes ago

That guy looks like he always beats his wife for enjoying sex.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 hours ago

So he probably "thinks": "school did not work for me, why waste money on other having a chance?"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 hours ago

Taliban has made their country shittier than republicans have made america and god dammit they're not losing that battle anymore.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Republicans, pro-stupid since 1980!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago

It is what keeps them in power, after all.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Fine, just murder it already. Sorry we wanted society to have enlightenment. Sorry that got in the way of your insatiable greed.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 hours ago

And religious indoctrination.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

~~Ignorance is Bliss!~~

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Thomas Gray [TIL]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Pros/Cons:

-No more student loans

-No more endless IEP reports

-No more standardized education criteria

Thoughts?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

No (white, straight, christian, able bodied) child left behind.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I think you already know people thoughts on these.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

I thought so, then they voted for Trump. Did they actually want this or did they not know?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF, SOUTH DAKOTA.

You're a deadbeat state.

The federal share of South Dakota's state budget has been above 40% since 2021, when it spiked to 56%

The federal government provides aid to states and local governments in the form of grants for programs like education, transportation, and Medicaid. 

[–] [email protected] 4 points 39 minutes ago (1 children)

If the feds ever pays more than half of a states budget that state should immediately have all standing politicians removed and replaced with a temp government while the Fed undoes whatever garbage policies caused that

In the meantime that state and it's citizens don't get representation, they didn't fucking pay the membership dues to the union

No taxation without representation works the other way

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 minutes ago

100% agreed

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Any bets on how far US will fall in global rankings? I am guessing maybe two or three places in the next five years

https://www.cee.org/newsevents/press-releases/index-excellence-stem-education-compares-us-students-global-competition

Why do some people think that smart immigrants would want to come to the US if the general population is hard to deal with? What part of quality of life do they not understand?

Okay, let’s take some prosaic examples.

— H1-B visa man goes to a restaurant. Restaurant staff are racists, QOL degrades, H1-B visa man rethinks staying long term in the U.S.

— H1-B visa man enrolls children in private school. Private school staff is religious fundies, and education at a public level would be cheaper and better in another country. QOL degrades, H1-B visa man decides to move from the U.S.

For most skilled immigrants the calculus is based around money and what they get out of it, you shouldn’t expect there’s any intrinsic worth to staying in the U.S. if standards are shit and qualify of life degrades.

So in simple terms, you’ll have dumber people on average in house and smarter people on average in other countries.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 17 hours ago

Hell, who is going to want to come study in the US on a visa if we have mass deportations going on? It’s a pretty safe bet that many of those visa holders will get stopped and challenged multiple times by roaming gangs of thugs looking for illegal immigrants to haul away. And it’s also a pretty safe bet that some of them will simply claim the visas are fake or otherwise invalid and make those students lives miserable as they try to sort things out.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Critics warn this could undermine protections for students with disabilities and marginalized groups.

Meanwhile Republicans:

[–] [email protected] 8 points 19 hours ago

At first I thought, "ok they've got their mind made up no matter what, nothing can convince them" Then I realized it meant they were enjoying marginalized students being at a bigger disadvantage. Clever panel.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Trump (and Republicans) love the poorly educated. This is all part of their plan to keep people stupid so they're easily manipulated, thus keeping the GOP in power.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 20 hours ago

This is all part of their plan to keep people stupid

and poor from unplanned pregnancies they don't want and can't abort, and future unplanned pregnancies due to lack of contraceptives.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is the chance for one underpaid government tech worker to delete the wrong folder in the transfer and erase the debt

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago

It makes for a good movie plot, but there are likely backups, etc. that could be recovered fairly easily.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

well, duh. it's the natural progression of the gops war on education theyve been waging since the 60s. turns out it's way easier to get people to vote for you if you master propaganda and refuse to teach people critical thought.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 23 hours ago

They done great job too. Not only does my mega family now believe that moon landing was faked, but that the earth is flat. Seriously they are getting dumber by the second. All based on where they get their information.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I know it has an potential to cause great harm, but maybe we should get back to intelligence (or even basic reality) tests, and then weight votes proportional to the score.

Just some agree/disagree statements...

The earth is shaped more like a sphere than a disc.

The human beings have never landed on the moon.

The 2020 general election was fair, and without meaningful fraud.

The efficacy of vaccines are well documented, going back over 100 years.

I'm sure we can come up with a lot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

America has a long history of trying to figure out how to make the votes of certain groups fractional of "true" Americans, the whole 3/5ths compromise and all that.

I don't think we should be trying to introduce modern day versions of that. I'd much rather see voting day be made a federal holiday, and voting become mandatory.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 34 minutes ago* (last edited 34 minutes ago) (1 children)

Agreed, but a country half populated by idiot conspiracy nuts and neonazis with disporpotionately large representation is shaping up to be a bad idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 31 minutes ago

I agree, but it's up to those in charge to deem who are the conspiracy nuts and neonazis, right? And that quickly becomes a slippery slope.

The solution isn't taking votes away, it's getting more people to vote.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 day ago (14 children)

Ok yes I’m concerned about marginalized and disabled students, but I’m mostly concerned about Americans being too damn dumb already

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[–] [email protected] 123 points 1 day ago (9 children)

fuck every republican who voted for this.

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[–] [email protected] 92 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Let's think this through... The US Department of Education's functions are primarily:

  1. Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.
  2. Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research.
  3. Focusing national attention on key educational issues.
  4. Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Education)

Regarding #1, blue states don't receive nearly as much in financial aid for schools as red states. So abolishing the DOE will reduce the tax burden on citizens living in blue states, at the expense of schools in red states.

Regarding #2, without the DOE compiling this information, it will be up to schools themselves and private research organizations. Badly-performing, severely under-funded schools in red states will, of course, not be able to. Not that they would want to anyway, because without federal assistance, these schools will be in a state of collapse.

Regarding #3, blue states will just focus attention on key educational issues for themselves, while red states focus on fixing their problems by getting bibles into classrooms.

Regarding #4, red states will rapidly descend into systematic discrimination again.

End result: No one will want to hire "graduates" from red states.

This is a self-own of astonishing proportions. The blue states that don't heavily depend on the DOE will manage, while the educational infrastructure in the red states completely falls apart. And businesses in need of skilled employees who can, y'know, read will recruit primarily in blue states.

And the leopards will roam freely through the streets of MAGA-America, feasting on faces in unprecedented numbers.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Why would you believe taxes will be reduced? We gave fascists power, they don't have to negotiate anymore.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 15 hours ago

Fair point, but since they're planning to basically obliterate the IRS, who is going to check that you've paid your federal taxes?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (3 children)

As a teacher, I have a really strong aversion to framing this as a simple battle between states.

What you're talking about may well come to pass, but in reality what it means is that an entire generation of children in poor states -- through no fault of their own, but solely because of the geography of their birth -- will be woefully undereducated and therefore not competitive in the university admissions process or the job market.

Whatever face-feasting-leopard karma we think the adults who voted for Republicans might deserve, their children should have the right to a proper education rather than be saddled with a legacy of poverty and ignorance. And in your scenario it's apparently going to be up to the blue states to care enough about these kids to help ensure their rights.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

Believe me, I'm not happy about this. It's a very fatalistic view of times to come. I just don't see how we stop it at this point. The people voted for this.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago

We gave power to someone who has explicitly stated that he wants to be a dictator. We don't have political power anymore, and we never will again. It's not about relishing in failure, it's about accepting reality.

Good luck in either the revolution or the collapse, I don't think we have more than a decade until then.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 day ago

These people are just such pieces of shit. They truly want to destroy this country and give a decisive lead to the likes of China.

Letting states like Texas run rampant with teaching total bullshit like creationism without any restraint whatsoever is going to further down this country and we might as well cede all advances to other countries.

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