The Attack on Public Education and What We Must Do

We are deep, deep into the war on public education and it's past time we look at history and begin to fight

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On Thursday scores of college students in Florida walked out in protest of Governor Ron DeSantis’s increasingly aggressive attacks on public education. As part of the “Stand For Freedom” action, the students and organizers spotlit the governor’s relentless assaults, including the erasure of gay and trans people, the censoring of accurate depictions of white supremacy, and a slate of bills and legislation that would continue to erode academic freedom and a whole host of programs.

As Sarah Kendzior and I discussed in our recent event at Left Bank Books, trends in Florida have been especially worrisome as DeSantis and his administration have used the power of the state to leverage cultural war talking points in order to push an agenda formulated, planned, and funded by billionaire donors. The end point is, and has always been, the destruction of public education in totality. This is for a variety of reasons, including the neverending battle that was begun with white supremacist segregation, continued domination by the wealth class, a pursuit of winding back progress and reinstituting a permanent labor underclass with children, and the creation of a privatized educational system, one of the last remaining mega-profit industries that has been lusted after for decades.

DeSantis is an incredible danger. Separated from the more repulsive and undeniably ridiculous elements of Trumpism, he has granted the Far Right’s agenda the sheen of respectability that has enabled some “liberals” to at least tacitly accept his actions. This comes after years of the aforementioned culture wars, when we are all incredibly tired of the sniping and fighting over every last possible issue, but also when some are just ready to throw up their hands and “return to normal.”

The battlefield of public education, however, is hardly one to simply give up. Let’s be clear. It isn’t particularly interesting for people outside of its circles. This isn’t insurrectionists fighting their way into the Capitol. This isn’t fascinating stuff that drives headlines or segments on cable news. It’s something that most people would just rather not think about.

Not to mention, since the failed social revolution of the 1960’s/1970’s, the wealth class behind this current attack has spent unbelievable amounts of money and influence in separating the majority of Americans from education in general. As the attack on capitalism in that era originated in part in the universities, they have ceaselessly attacked experts and academics, creating a perception - sometimes earned - of sheltered, pampered professors who have been given everything while pursuing a comfortable “life of the mind.”

The corporatization of higher education, which has contributed to intentional inequality and a worsening rift between the “haves” and “have-nots,” especially as neoliberalism created a requirement for a college education to enter the workforce even as attendance was rooted in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars of debt. This issue, again, is not particularly interesting to a lot of people, but sits fundamentally at the political divide we are currently suffering.

In other words, this is a perfect storm that DeSantis and his backers are taking advantage of, and it is an existential crisis that inhabits the center of a whole host of other crises. Education is where the future is determined, where classes are formed and cemented, where authoritarianism grows and grows and grows.

As I chronicle in THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM: A HISTORY OF POWER, PARANOIA, AND THE COMING CRISIS, every authoritarian regime has began by attacking education and, in turn, crafting a reality in which they can control citizens and the machinery of the state. As we will discuss in the rest of this article, the results have been catastrophic, so much so that it should us all pause when considering this issue and what we should do in order to stem the tide before it is too late.

Because the students who walked out on Thursday were right. And we should learn from this. Citizens, parents, students, and academics alike.

The time to stop this is now. And that time is already running short.