Addressing the uncertain future of the U.S. Department of Education — long in the crosshairs of MAGA and a specific target for abolition in the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 document — President Donald Trump claimed that the United States has “the worst education in the world.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News star Maria Bartiromo, Trump did not stop at castigating the U.S. Department of Education, but expanded his criticism to include all of American education in general.
Asserting that his administration wants “to bring the schools back to the states,” Trump said, without citing evidence that “literally we have the worst education department and education in the world. We’re ranked at the bottom of the list and yet we’re number one when it comes to cost per pupil.”
Trump: We with want to bring the schools back to the states because we have the worst, literally, we have the worst education department and education in the world. We are ranked at the bottom pic.twitter.com/1usu4DFLTf
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 9, 2025
It is not a new assertion for the President, who claimed in February that America is “dead last” in education. Using his rhetoric to assert claims that don’t stand up to scrutiny — the U.S. is not “last” in education — strategically paves the way for drastic measures that might not be seen favorably if they weren’t done to reverse such allegedly dire circumstances.
Note: Metrics used to measure education can be subjective, but a respected U.S. News and World Report ranking places the U.S. 12th overall among developed nations in education, ahead of France, Belgium, South Korea, Austria and New Zealand, to name a few. The survey also ranks the U.S. — which Trump continually depicts as a “failing country” — as the #3 “best overall” country.]
Dude is biting more than he can chew. USA is ranked better than many countries in the developed world. https://t.co/PVci7732Hi
— İnż. Ndolo (@IngNdolo) March 9, 2025
Some Trump critics — believing the reasons for Trump’s Education Department antipathy are disingenuous — are responding by quoting his own 2016 GOP primary victory speech Nevada, in which candidate Trump famously told the crowd he loved “the poorly educated.”
Trump said: “We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”
“I love the poorly educated” – Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/yVh22Zs8Gg
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) September 3, 2024
NOTE: A FindLaw study on federal/state education cooperation explains: “The state government manages the day-to-day operations, while the federal government provides support through funding, national programs, and policy recommendations. The states also control curriculum standards and teacher certification, while federal authorities oversee educational emergencies and offer financial assistance to school districts.”
A 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the federal support totals between 6 and 13% of education budgets in states.