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May 27, 2025 10:00-10:42 - CSPAN

41:52

Washington Journal Open Phones

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john mcardle

cspan 07:44

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donald j trump

admin 01:19

linda mcmahon

03:35

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Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		Donald Trump looks to divert cash from Harvard to trade schools.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		That news coming in the form of a Memorial Day truth post from Donald Trump on his social media page saying, I am considering taking $3 billion of grant money away from the very anti-Semitic Harvard and giving it to trade schools all across our land.
unidentified		What a great investment that would be for the USA and so badly needed.
		That was the president yesterday.
		No further details on that effort.
		When it comes to the president's concerns about K through 12 education, his Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, was testifying on Capitol Hill this week talking about efforts to cut the Department of Education.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		This is what she had to say.
linda mcmahon ▲ ● ▼		Thank you for having me today to represent a department on a mission, its final mission.
		To wind down the Department of Education responsibly, cut waste, and give education back to the states, parents, and educators, all in a lawful fashion.
		With your partnership, the fiscal year 26 budget will take a significant step toward that goal.
		We seek to shrink federal bureaucracy, save taxpayer money, and empower states who best know their local needs to manage education in this country.
		We have reviewed our programs and identified spending that does not fulfill the mandate of trust the American people have placed in President Trump.
		We've reduced a department that was overstaffed by thousands of positions, cut old contracts that were enriching private parties at taxpayer expense, suspended grants for illegal DEI programs, and now we're putting forward a budget request that reduces department funding by more than 15%.
		At the same time, we're working to make American education great again.
		In our conversations with governors, teachers, and parents across the country, we hear calls for accountability and more local control.
		That's our goal.
		To give parents access to the quality education their kids deserve, to fix the broken higher education industry that has misled students into degrees that don't pay off, and to create safe learning environments for our students.
		We're holding institutions to account when they facilitate discriminatory or hostile environments on campus.
		A level playing field with limitless opportunity is a vision I think we all can share.
unidentified		That was Linda McMahon testifying on Capitol Hill last week.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		We'll show you more from her testimony, but we're asking you this morning whether you support or oppose the Trump administration's education policies.
unidentified		202-748-8000 for Democrats to call in.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		Independents 202-748-8002.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		And educators, especially, we would like to hear from you this Tuesday morning as we get to the end of the school year.
unidentified		202-748-8003.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Plenty of ink has been spilled on the topic of the Trump administration's education policies since the president was sworn in.
unidentified		More in today's papers.
unidentified		This is the Washington Times today.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Tim Rosenberger is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the headline of his piece: President Trump's Department of Education is right to combat racial discrimination.
unidentified		Ending DEI policies is a legal imperative, he writes.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		In both the universities and K through 12 contexts, he says the Trump administration's approach is not radical, it's restorative.
		It restores the legal meaning of non-discrimination, treating individuals as individuals without regard to race.
		It restores the Department of Education to its proper role of enforcing civil rights laws rather than facilitating political and social indoctrination posed as learning.
unidentified		That from the pages of today's Washington Times.
		Want to hear from you, want to hear your thoughts having this discussion in the first hour of the Washington Journal today.
		Lester is up first in Alabama, Republican.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Lester, good morning.
unidentified		Johnny, I'm sorry.
		I call on the wrong line.
		I'm Democratic.
		I'm sorry.
		That's okay, Lester.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		What are your thoughts on this topic?
unidentified		John, this is unbelievable.
		You have Trump, since he came in office, cutting everything.
		Education.
		I mean, America, where are we going?
		Linda McMahon, out of all people, she don't have a clue what she's talking about.
		Power education.
		I guess he wants everybody dumb like he is.
		America, we got to be very careful the slope that we are trying to go with Trump.
		Trump is taking us back 100 years.
		We would not know America after leaving office.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		That's Lester in Alabama this morning talking about the Trump administration's education policies.
unidentified		Stephen is in Ulster Park, New York.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Can you hear me?
		I can, Stephen.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		What are your thoughts on the Trump administration's education policies?
unidentified		Well, they're disastrous, and it's a great big cover to destroy all sorts of programs that help special ed students, Title IX, and other programs to benefit our children.
		But I have a request for C-SPAN and the media.
		Stop saying DEI.
		That's what they want you to say.
		Say diversity, equity, and inclusion.
		Who is against diversity?
		Who is against equity?
		Who is against inclusion?
		They use the acronym DEI to hide the fact that they're destroying all these programs to address the needs of all of these different types of children, faculty, and staff.
		There are no people who are monolithic.
		Everybody, if education is going to work, it's going to have to address children, who they are, and where they are.
		And that means employing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
		Stop saying DEI.
		Thank you.
		It's Stephen in Ulster Park, New York.
		We're talking about education policies, both on the K through 12 level, but also when it comes to higher education.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Playing to talk about on both levels, including, again, yesterday, Donald Trump targeting Harvard for its grant funding, saying that he's considering moving that funding to trade schools in this country.
unidentified		It's just the latest attack on Harvard, as the Washington Post puts it in their headline.
unidentified		Their column looks at the history of Donald Trump and Harvard.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		The battle between Harvard and the administration escalated dramatically back on April 14th.
		They write when the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard after the school said it would not yield to demands to change its admissions and hiring and governance practices.
		International students targeted last week on Thursday.
		The Department of Homeland Security terminated Harvard's student and exchange visitor program certification for allegedly allowing anti-American pro-terrorist foreigners to harass and physically assault individuals on campus.
		The administrator of the Department of Homeland Security, Christy Noam, accused the university of working with the Chinese Communist Party by hosting and training members of the parliamentary group, a federal judge stepping in and blocking that as of right now.
unidentified		But the focus on Harvard continues, and Donald Trump continued it on his Truth Social page yesterday, in addition to the announcement about trade schools and funding.
unidentified		This was his other post yesterday.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		We're still waiting for the foreign student lists from Harvard so we can determine after a ridiculous expenditure of billions of dollars how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers, all should not be back in our country.
		Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents and probably for good reason, he said.
		The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best judge for them, but have no fear the government in the end will win.
		Donald Trump yesterday, one of two posts focusing on Harvard University.
		Last week, when she was testifying on Capitol Hill, Linda McMahon was asked about the administration's crackdown on Harvard and other Ivy League institutions.
		This is what she had to say in that exchange.
linda mcmahon ▲ ● ▼		We've seen it, religious, we've seen it across our college campuses, some of the most elite in the country.
		And we took very strong and very decisive action against those universities who clearly were not protecting Jewish students against anti-Semitism, against some anti-Semitism, when they were anti-Semitic, those that were attacking them.
		When you've seen students barricaded in the library and others pounding on the glass, going, death to Jews, death to Israel, death to the United States, that is unacceptable in our college campuses.
		And we reacted.
		We reacted to Columbia.
		First did not, that happened, this incident happened at Columbia.
		And I met with the President of Columbia.
		I've had two conversations now with the current President of Columbia.
		We've talked about things that we need to do at those universities.
		We want to be able to be supportive.
		But those universities, albeit they're private, do receive federal funding.
		We have leverage to withhold some of that federal funding or to cancel some of the grants.
		And we will do that unless it can be proven that these colleges and universities are going to respect all rights and set their policy in place and enforce them.
		And I was complimentary to President, the acting president now at Columbia, Claire Shipman, when I talked to her last week and I said, you reacted just as you said you would to the recent uprising on campus.
		You're looking at whether or not you've expended students, suspended students, are you going to expel them?
		And that's still what she's looking at.
		So we've seen that that kind of action can deliver results.
unidentified		Linda McMahon testifying on Capitol Hill last week.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		If you want to watch that testimony in its entirety, you can do so, of course, on our website at c-span.org.
		Just type Linda McMahon in the search bar at the top of the page.
		Hope you'll join our conversation this morning as we ask in this first hour of the Washington Journal whether you support or oppose the Trump administration's education policies.
		The phone numbers are on your screen, a special line for educators, and we'll go to that line.
unidentified		Kyle Buffalo, New York.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Hey, good morning, John.
		How are you doing today?
		Doing well, Kyle.
		Go ahead.
		Yeah, so, you know, a lot of these cuts have already started.
		Probably about a month ago, I got an email from one of our local colleges.
		We usually have Law Day for our inner city kids, funded through whatever type of programs, and the funding got cut.
		And they emailed me.
		They said it was due to the DEI cuts for a lot of these programs.
		And so in my career technical education department, we were told that our funding for next school year, some of that fell into the DEI.
		That's going to be cut.
		So I'm a Republican, but I definitely am against some of these education cuts coming from an area of poverty.
		People had made it seem like that these DEI programs were strictly for African Americans, and that's not true.
		If you did the research, people, it covered a vast variety of areas, not just people of color, handicapped, different opportunities for low-income people.
		And it just seems like we're just going to be cutting programs that are designed to help people up, especially the youth.
		You know, now I can understand some of the other cuts for the adults, but I mean, we can't be cutting for our youth.
		They're already vulnerable, especially coming from poverty.
		Buffalo is one of the poorest city in the nation.
		And college.
		You've called in before, correct?
		I have.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		It's high school and I think history teacher, is that correct?
unidentified		Business.
unidentified		I actually have a business and legal teacher.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		So what is, you talk about Law Day and that the program was cut because of DEI components.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Do you know what that meant?
unidentified		What was the diversity, equity, and inclusion component?
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		And what is a Law Day program?
unidentified		So Law Day's program is they invite some of the public schools to the university here and to show off their law program.
		It's basically University of Buffalo Law School.
		And since I'm a legal teacher in other areas, they try to promote the students and encourage them to come to law school, basically.
		And they show off the program and they'll have students talking and then they'll have a big spread at the end.
		And I'm assuming the spread that's usually financed through whatever and the people who put it on.
		I didn't ask questions, but it was told to me that it was due to DEI cuts.
		And I said, that's a shame because the students look forward to every year.
		They get the chance to go out and experience a university type setting.
		Some of the students have never seen that type of setting before.
		And some of their parents don't come from that type of environment.
		So it's always nice to get the kids out to kind of give them a different perspective on how certain segment of society lives, especially when we're trying to promote education.
		And I just feel like when I hear about these cuts, it seems like these cuts are going to the very low people who really don't deserve that type of cutting for the programs.
		I mean, I understand we got to make cuts, but when you mess with education, you're messing with the kids.
		And I come from a heart where the kids matter.
		So I don't support.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		When you say that the cuts are targeting the very lowest, so then how do you interpret Donald Trump yesterday saying, I'm going to cut $3 billion that goes to Harvard, and I'm not sure what specific programs he's referring to, and moving that money to trade schools.
unidentified		That's what he's considering doing.
		Yeah, you know, I think the problem is, is because Harvard, the protesting, you know, there was a black president, female, you know, it just makes it look as if some might, almost as if, like, you know, if it has something to do with people of color, it's going to be cut, you know, but they don't realize that it just doesn't service people of color.
		You know, I mean, they'll probably go after Columbia and some other colleges that didn't really respond to those type of, you know, student protesting.
		You know, I think that's what gets people in trouble if you protest against the system, especially if the system doesn't agree with your agenda or idea, ideology, you're going to get cut.
		You know, it's almost like you can't say anything right now because you're afraid that there's going to be some repetition due to the freedom of speech.
		But, you know, that's who we got in office right now.
		And I do realize cuts need to be made, but trade school programs, that's great.
		You know, put that money into the high school trade.
		They have the trade school programs in high school.
		Let's encourage that.
		Let's not, you know, I don't know.
		It's just, you know, I mean, put it some type of grant for your local community colleges, too.
		That's who should be getting the money, not these endowed schools.
		You know, they got alumni who are filthy rich.
		So I can sort of see that, but you got to be even across the board.
		Kyle.
		That's what I think.
		Always appreciate talking to you.
		Before you go, you say you're a Republican.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Did you vote for Donald Trump any of the three times that he ran for president?
unidentified		I did the first two.
		Last time I actually voted for Cornell West.
		Kyle, we'll talk to you down the road.
		I couldn't trust both sides this time around.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Always appreciate talking to you, Kyle.
unidentified		Thank you.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Richard, Minneapolis, Republican.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Yes, good morning.
		I got two things.
		You know, if Trump wants to do something or the Congress wants to do something, they should repeal that law that says the students cannot file bankruptcy.
		Bankruptcy should be a fundamental right of everybody.
		Everybody else in the country can file bankruptcy when they're deeply in debt.
		They're going to be penalized with seven years of bad credit.
		Isn't that punishment enough?
		And then the other thing, Trump is banning foreign students from Harvard or other schools.
		That's kind of idiotic to me.
		If we want to influence the world, there's no better way than having foreign students come here and get indoctrinated into our culture.
		So that's what I think.
		Richard, on cost, where are you on student loan forgiveness?
		Well, the people should be able to file bankruptcy.
		Everybody else can, and I think that would force some of the higher education to lower their fees and lower their tuition.
		People would probably go to a cheaper college or smaller college.
		I mean, what's the big deal about Harvard having a Harvard grade?
		There's a lot of people smarter than that.
		Richard, thanks for the call from Minneapolis.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Ramesh Pomeru writing in the pages of the Washington Post today about student loan forgiveness.
		This is what he writes: COVID is over.
		It's no longer a mass social phenomenon that can justify emergency measures.
		We've acted on that logic in almost every area of American life, and it's time that the COVID era ends for student loans, too.
		That's what the Trump administration is doing by resuming efforts to collect from delinquent borrowers on May 5th over Democratic objections.
		It began a process that will lead to the garnishing of wages and redirecting tax refunds to loan service.
		He says forgiving much or all of the debt, an idea that's popular among progressives and the borrowers themselves, is an alternative to reviving loan payments.
		But the extended pause on student loans has already cost taxpayers more than $238 billion.
		That number would rise even more if the government forgave more of the debt.
		Though progressives say that collecting on loans amounts to punishing the working poor, the best evidence suggests that student loan forgiveness tends to benefit people who are doing better than other Americans.
		Ramesh Poneru, if you want to read the entirety of his column today, the headline, Trump is right, those student loans need to be repaid.
unidentified		Spence, Clarksburg, West Virginia, Democrat, good morning.
		Yeah, how are you doing this morning?
		I just find it ironic that a man who had a fake university that had to pay $25 million has any room to speak about any university with high education.
		I guess Brandon wasn't good enough for Harvard, so he's holding that thing out there.
		He said he was going to take $3 billion and give us something other funds.
		He's gone to Congress.
		So Congress gives the money.
		And the Republicans that say they want to stay out of the business.
		Why does he carry on like other Americans are enemies of this country?
		There's only one enemy, and that's the person that doesn't want to unite behind everybody and make things better.
		I can't think of one thing that he's done that's helped this country out with this attitude.
		Have a wonderful day, and God bless you.
		That's Spence in the Mountaineer State.
		We will head to the Old Dominion, Mike in Loudoun County, an educator.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Mike, what grade do you teach?
unidentified		Hello, good morning.
unidentified		High school.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		What subject?
unidentified		Biology.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		And what are your thoughts on what's happening with Education Department and funding?
unidentified		Yeah, thank you.
		So it's, I think, before I kind of wrote down notes so I didn't go all over the place, but here I am.
		It's important for everybody to understand that, you know, we're all, everyone's indoctrinated.
		Everyone is involved and integrated into a culture.
		You can't spell culture without cult.
		And everybody is given information that we then use to communicate with each other.
		You know, you didn't invent the English language.
		It was given to us.
		It was given to me.
		All of it.
		We're programmed.
		We're conditioned to have certain ways of communicating and thinking.
		So when people are going around saying we have to stop indoctrinating our children, well, the people who are people that say that are indoctrinated to say that.
		So I just wanted to make sure that we had this clear understanding that everything is culturation.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		So, Mike, in what you teach, what's the indoctrination that you see?
unidentified		Well, okay, okay.
		Well, that's a great question.
		Now, I'm going outside of what I had written down to talk to you about.
		So in public schools, the children are indoctrinated to accept each other.
		There is a tremendous amount of anti-bullying that has been given to this generation of kids since they were in kindergarten, right?
		And that's something that is very different from how the teachers who are teaching the children right now, like, you know, probably teachers that are, you know, maybe 25 and above, right?
		Or maybe 30 years old and above.
		We weren't given this level of, you know, social-emotional learning.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		So, Mike, if that's indoctrination, is it a good thing?
unidentified		Right.
		Yeah, sure, exactly.
		So it's like it's very similar to how money is neutral, right?
		Money itself is a neutral entity.
		And then you can either use it to plant a tree or you can use it to chop down a rainforest.
		So indoctrination within itself Can be used to program because people are programmable.
		It can be used to program people to be focused on ensuring that no harm is done to others.
		That you're an upstander.
		Or it can be used to say people that stand up for others.
		And Mike, you're going in and out a little bit.
		So speak a little bit more into your phone.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		And then I didn't mean to hijack your argument.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		So wrap it up for me, just because I've got some other folks waiting.
unidentified		Yeah, yeah, yeah.
		No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.
		Well, we did, hold on, I'm going under a bridge.
		We did kind of go off from what I was originally saying, but I think it was originally planning on saying, I just think it's important for everybody to understand that what is happening in public schools right now is going a little bit beyond the acquisition of knowledge because of the existence of the internet.
		What's happening in schools is that students are, teachers are being trained to ensure that students feel safe, feel that there are trusted adults in the building that the students can come to if they ever need anything, right?
		So it's more along the lines of preparing the next generation of Americans and world members to be open and understanding and accepting of others.
		And that's what's overall collectively happening outside of understanding algebra too, right?
		And Mike, you're saying if that's all indoctrination, you're good with it.
		Well, everything, you know what I mean?
		You can't go into, if I'm trying to learn a language, I'm being indoctrinated for that language, right?
		A doctrine is a document, right?
		So we can't use that word to say that it's negative because when people go into it, when people go into a religious institution, they're being indoctrinated with the religion.
		When people go into anything, they're being given information to be programmed in order to think a certain way and to use a specific type of language in order to communicate in that methodology.
		So if indoctrination is what it is, which is what it is, then what's happening in schools is a positive form of indoctrination to teach as many American, future American voters, that history is both bloody and bold, and we need to understand it so that we can better prepare ourselves for the constantly evolving future.
		Mike, thanks for the call from Loudon County, Drive Safe out there.
		David is in Denison, Texas, Republican.
		David, go ahead.
		I couldn't pick up my phone fast enough after listening to that gentleman talk about SEL social educational learning.
		It's based on the works of Paulo Freira, a Marxist who glorified Che Guevara and Castro.
		He wrote the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
		Please, everybody, look it up.
		You'll have a hard time reading the introduction.
		It's a third of the book, which tells you how obtuse and abstract the topic will be.
		And prayer that we get into talking about the direct directioning his communist ties until about halfway through his part of the book.
		But his work is an outcrop.
		Let me catch my breath a moment.
		His book is a direct outcrop.
		It's downstream from what's called the Frankfurt School, which was created in 1923 by a group of German Jewish Marxists.
		The Jewish part doesn't have any relevance, except that it caused the school to move to Columbia University in 1934 to escape Hiller.
		Columbia University had already had a relationship with this institution in Germany.
		They were going to call it the Institute of Marxism, but as a part of marketing, they decided, especially with the conflict between communists and fascists in Germany where they were, it would not be a good idea.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		So, David, I assume you are okay with trying to dismantle, shut down whatever word you use, the Department of Education.
unidentified		Yes?
unidentified		Absolutely, totally.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Are you confident that if the indoctrination is the word that we've been using here for a little bit, are you confident that if that control of programs is shifted more to states and localities, if parents have more choice, that less indoctrination will happen.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		You're confident that that's true.
unidentified		Yes, if please let me make this a couple of small points.
		The Frankfurt School, in 1937, Max Horkheimer, I didn't realize they had actually moved to Columbia University in 1934.
		They had a relationship with Columbia University since before that.
		They were actually at Columbia.
		This is a Marxist school.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		And David, I got your point, but bring me to 2025 here just because we're running short on time.
unidentified		All right, SEL, by the way, they've got a fringe out there that talks about helping kids deal with personal relationships.
		Their major goal is to instill a state of consciousness, revolutionary consciousness is what it's all about.
		This is a program.
		There's schools, universities, major universities all over the country that have programs.
		Just look up Paolo Ferreira, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, universities with programs about this.
		You'll find them all over the country.
		This is Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
		It's about teaching the teacher.
		They have these programs down to the elementary school levels.
		They teach them a level of revolutionary consciousness under the word activism.
		How many schools have you heard of over the years that the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, they let the schools out and they give the kids credit for going to these demonstrations?
		That's what they've moved this to.
		And the Frankfurt School, the Max Horkheimer in 1937, they created Critical Theory, which is a Marxist school of scholarship where they lie based on a point of view of Marxism.
		Got your point, David.
		That's David in Denison, Texas.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		It's 7:30 on the East Coast, halfway through this first hour of the Washington Journal, asking you, simply, do you support or oppose the Trump administration's education policies?
unidentified		We have a special line for educators, 202-748-8003.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Also, looking for your text as well on that number.
unidentified		This is from Stephen in Florida saying, We need tradespeople.
		Do we need more social engineering and arts?
		The trade are the graduates, or the engineering and arts are the graduates with crippling debt, no jobs, and no future, is what Stephen had to say in his text.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		This is another Steve saying, education has been on a steady decline ever since the government declared that they're here to help.
unidentified		Now it's in the toilet.
		Yes, change is needed, then thank God for common sense again.
		And Catherine saying, What education policies?
		The only thing I've seen, I've been seeing is states want to put Bibles and teach religion in school, which I oppose.
		And Lawrence saying, I support it 100%.
		It's time to change our public education.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		School choice is the way to go.
unidentified		I should be able to use my education tax dollars to make sure that they're getting the best education possible.
		Just a few of your comments on social media and via text.
		We, of course, want to hear your calls.
		Charles in Los Angeles is a Democrat.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Very good morning.
		I taught wood shop and metal shop for 30 years in a junior high school and a high school.
		And when it was done away with, the school really deteriorated.
		The kids, I don't care if they were going to college or if they just were going to graduate and go out and get a trade.
		The Department of Education did away with it.
		It took them about four months to dismantle all the shops.
		And I think a lot of people out there took these shop classes to learn skills and see what they wanted to do.
		And really, I think being in education 36 years and the last six years being in the classroom, we missed the shops.
		We started setting up tenuation schools where kids were refusing to come to high school and junior, mostly high school.
		And we tried to, and they still are in operation.
		And doing away with the shops and the education philosophy was.
		Nobody wanted a shop person around them.
		They were all going to go to college.
		Well, I don't want any, for example, lawyers.
		So let's cut out all the law schools.
		We have plenty of lawyers.
		And that was the philosophy of the Department of Education.
		We had plenty of plumbers.
		We had plenty of wood carpenters and down the line, electricians.
		We have plenty of lawyers.
		I can't even afford a lawyer, $600 an hour, so I have no use for one.
		And Charles, you need somebody to fix my bathroom.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		You say that as a Democrat, do you think, on the whole, the Department of Education has been a good or bad thing?
unidentified		Oh, the Department of Education has been a bad thing.
		Very bad.
		Very, very bad.
		Do you remember when they brought in the new math?
		Probably not, but they brought in what they called in the 60s new math.
		It destroyed the math.
		The kids didn't even understand it.
		And most of the teachers did not.
		The older teachers went back to the old books and were, in some ways, were kind of punished or looked down on because the kids understood the old math, which we all learned in the 50s.
		That puts me pretty old.
		But I feel if we went back to education about 59, these kids would be, they would love education again.
		We never had any trouble bringing kids to school.
		In the shop classes, we had six different subjects.
		They were pounding on the door to get in.
		If the teacher didn't get there on time or the next class went out, he went and got something to eat.
		They were at the door, pounding, actively pounding on the door.
		So I think it's a bad thing.
		I'm sorry.
		Thanks for the call from Los Angeles.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		I want to take viewers back to March with Donald Trump's announcement of his effort to eliminate the Department of Education.
unidentified		This is the president.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Today we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making.
		In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the Federal Department of Education once and for all.
		And it sounds strange, doesn't it?
		Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it.
		And everybody knows it's right.
		And the Democrats know it's right.
		And I hope they're going to be voting for it because ultimately it may come before them.
		But everybody knows it's right.
		And we have to get our children educated.
		We're not doing well with The world of education in this country, and we haven't for a long time.
		And we're pleased to be joined today by the woman who I chose because she's an extraordinary person.
		And hopefully, she will be our last Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon.
		Linda.
		Thank you.
		Thank you very much.
		That's another interesting statement.
		That's an interesting opening, right?
		But it's true.
		And people, it's been amazing how popular this has been.
		I tell people that this is what I'm doing today.
		And they say, oh, it's about time.
		Everybody says it.
		Republicans and Democrats have said it.
		They're all saying it.
unidentified		I was President Trump from back on March the 20th.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		It's just after 7:30 this morning on the Washington Journal.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		We're asking you if you support or oppose the Trump administration's efforts when it comes to education policies.
unidentified		Special line for educators or former educators.
		Mary is on that line in Somerset, Ohio.
		Mary, when and what did you teach?
		I taught pre-Columbian history and natural history.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		To what grades?
unidentified		For all grades.
unidentified		I worked at a very old Native American site for the parks and Ohio Historical Society.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		What are your thoughts on eliminating the Department of Education on Donald Trump and his clashes with institutions of higher education?
unidentified		I'm firmly against it.
		It leads to authoritarian control of education.
		I do agree with the gentleman who spoke earlier about indoctrination.
		There's more than one way to indoctrinate.
		We have in the past had segregation, which is another form of indoctrination, about education.
		Good education for some people, bad education for others.
		I can give you a perfect example.
		When I was at 10,000-year-old Flint quarry pit, I was describing to the school group, often it was fourth graders, about the place and how the Native American used the material to make their weapons and their sharp instruments for scraping hide and such knives and things.
		And I told them that we called the group a Hopewell culture because the first mound that was excavated was on Mordecai Cloud Hopewell's property, that that is not a proper name for the people who are here.
		And the Native American people have their own names, such as Aluigi for the ancient ones.
		And one of the little girls raised her hand and said, I know another name for Native Americans, which kind of excited me that this person was so interested.
		And I asked her to please tell me.
		And she said, Heathen, that's why we need to have some form of education that is inclusive and encourages people to want to know about other people and other times and learn from the history that has been here and laid before them.
		That's all I have to say.
		Thank you.
		Mary, before you go, what was your response to that little girl?
		I said that that was a general term and it applied to many people, probably, and that I would like to specifically speak about the Native people at this time.
		And how many years did you do that in Ohio, Mary?
		Around 10 years.
		I have a master's degree in environmental science.
		I was doing both natural science and pre-Columbian history because I'm also half Native American.
		And yes.
		Mary, thanks for telling us about it.
		Tony's next out of Brooklyn, New York, Independent.
		Tony, go ahead.
		How you doing?
		I love, I've been, I've been an avid listener, C-SPAN, for decades.
		And you do an especially great job.
		Look, I've been, because of my profession, I've got a ton of free time.
		So I've been going to college for the past 47 years, if you can believe that.
john mcardle ▲ ● ▼		What does one do in college for 47 years, Tony?
unidentified		Well, I've taken everything from A to Z. I've also lived all over this country from here.
		I'm back in Brooklyn where I started.
		I've been taking, I've lived in the deep south, in the southwest, in Northern California.
		I've taken college classes from the Ivy League from Columbia to Stanford to Phoenix Community College, where a third of the students were Native Americans, like the past woman was talking about, off the reservation.
		I learned a lot from them.
		But I take everything.
		I've taken everything from auto mechanics to philosophy and everything in between.
		Because I'm a stock trader, so it only takes me about an hour a day to work, work-like activities, I call it.
		And then it's really great.
		I've learned so much.
		And as far as the students go, the one thing that I've noticed is these young adults that I'm around now who are, you know, right now I'm going to, well, I just finished up.
		You can continue to watch this at our website, c-span.org.
		We're going to leave this here because this morning, King Charles III is opening the 45th Parliament of Canada.
		He'll outline his government's agenda as the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of Former Colonies.
		King Charles' speech begins in just a couple of moments at 11 Eastern.

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