(WASHINGTON)—The Trump Administration’s Executive Order, ‘Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling’, claims to undo indoctrination, but in fact enforces its own ideological conformity on public education and poses a serious threat to free expression in education, PEN America warned in a statement today.
Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director of US Free Expression Programs, said: “This executive order will incite a climate of fear in public schools across the country and risks pushing diverse viewpoints, identities, and histories out of the classroom. We know, because we have already seen how similar policies at the district and state level chill what educators can teach. As PEN America warned of in its analysis of proposals made in Project 2025, this elevates these chilling attacks on the freedom to learn to the federal level. This order provides the blueprint and mandate to impose ideological conformity, stripping curricula of key concepts, intimidating schools and teachers, using the language of “parents’ rights” while privileging the rights of some parents over others; and establishing an amorphous mandate for “patriotic” education. In short, this order claims to undo indoctrination, but in fact enforces its own ideological conformity on public schools.”
A similar executive order signed by Trump in 2020 that banned so-called “divisive concepts” in federal employee trainings became a blueprint for destructive state laws across the country. These educational gag orders for K-12 schools have paved the way for what PEN America has called the “Ed Scare,” a wave of educational censorship and book bans with devastating impacts on free expression and education nationwide. The trend since 2021 is the worst censorship documented in public schools since the McCarthyism Red Scare period of the 1950s.
PEN America has reported on the harmful impacts and chilling effect of similar policies at the state level: Prohibitions on content and materials that discuss gender and sexual orientation, as well as “critical race theory” and “divisive concepts” are already in play in at least 21 states, including Iowa, Missouri, Utah, and Arkansas. These policies have resulted in the removal of beloved classics like ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison as well as picture books like “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell from classes and school libraries, the suspension of courses like AP African American Studies, and the dismissal of educators for teaching about race and racism or reading LGBTQ+ friendly books. Federal courts have already recognized these tactics as unconstitutional, enjoining statutes in Florida, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire.
Public schools in the U.S. receive a relatively small portion of federal funding— about 14 %. Despite this there is fear that the government would use those funds to exert ideological control over what students can be taught, which PEN America has previously raised.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], (201) 247-5057