I’ve always been puzzled by President Trump and many of his followers wanting to dismantle the Department of Education.

Can the Department of Education be streamlined? Can they find programs that are outdated or ineffective and eliminate them? I have no doubt they can.

But that doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater and get rid of any of the good programs they provide.

At a rally in Nevada during the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said that he loves the poorly educated. Among voters, he’s done very well with those who have a high school education or less.

I’ve often said we don’t need voter ID, we need voter IQ. The Trump administration needs to show us how getting rid of the Department of Education will make our kids smarter.

We need to be doing a better job teaching the children and, for that matter, many adults about civics and history.

We need to teach about the Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe during WWII. Hitler formed these councils called Judenraete in the Jewish ghettos whose job it was, in part, to round up fellow Jews for deportation. Many complied with the Nazi demands hoping to be able to save themselves and some of the community from the concentration camps.

Others defied the Nazi’s. Some even committed suicide rather than comply or die at the hands of German soldiers.

We need to teach more about the book burnings that went on during the Nazi era and how Hitler and his followers feared an educated population. Teach about why banning books is a bad idea.

We need to teach the significance of the poem by German pastor Martin Niemoller, who wrote…

First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Socialists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up, because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

We need to look deeper into what this administration is doing when they take down the Spanish language versions of the government websites. Is there any significance when the National Parks Service removes the Q and T from LGBTQ when telling the history of the Stonewall riots? The Stonewall riots in 1969 propelled the movement for equal rights for the LGBTQ community. What is the message they are sending when they do these things? Do they think that by not acknowledging these minorities, they will cease to exist?

We need to do a better job of teaching kids and many adults about civics. We should teach about how the Revolutionary War was fought to free us from the demands of a king and that we have three separate but equal branches of government, and all three need to work together if we’re going to make this great experiment of democracy work.

And while we’re teaching about our founding fathers, we should mention how George Washington, in his farewell address to the nation, warned us of the dangers of political parties and the problems they would cause. We need to teach that we are all Americans first. We are not Republicans or Democrats. We are Americans.

Before we disband the Department of Education, show us how it will make America smarter. Show us how we can guarantee that former slave states will teach that the Civil War was not the “War of Northern Aggression” but a war so that all could live as free men and women regardless of their skin color.

We need to teach people that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

The Department of Education can be improved, but is getting rid of it outright the answer? We should be doing more to promote an educated population. Lately the trend seems to be going in the opposite direction. Not everyone can be a brain surgeon, but everyone can have a basic grasp of history, civics, and math. If we don’t reverse this trend soon, Donald Trump will have a lot more poorly educated people to love.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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