Limited Time Only! Take Away a Child’s Crayon to Give a Billionaire Their Next Employee
“I don’t want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of workers.” John D. Rockefeller, America’s first millionaire, made this statement in concomitance with his efforts in the 1930s to channel his industrial agenda into young school children. By suppressing alternative education methods that encouraged individualism and critical thinking, Rockefeller had created his obedient horde of employees, brainwashed and unable to challenge the status quo. Rockefeller’s words ring even more tangible as a bold authoritarian, sectarian, capitalist, far-right Conservative political party tries to dismantle the public education system and privatize quality education. Cutting funds within public education will prove calamitous to the future of children’s education by alienating already underfunded art programs that prove more important for child development than the Trump administration fathoms. However, ostensibly, they are very much versed in the ramifications cuts will have (on their wallets). All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall.
Similar to Rockefeller’s approach, Trump is disabling the futures of millions of kids whose low-income schools rely on federal funding, threatening the closure of many programs, and disadvantaging public schools, which will further the educational gap between socioeconomic groups. By eliminating the Department of Education, Trump is taking away the right to equal education opportunities, further disadvantaging low-income areas whose allocated taxes for education are already not sufficient to keep kids in school. The rationale is that schools are funded primarily by state and local governments, which is accurate. Still, tax dollars (especially in low-income areas) can only provide so much, and federal funding has been the lifeboat where local and state taxes fall short. The Trump Administration believes that, with students scoring below basic proficiency in math and reading at a record low unseen in decades, the Department of Education was failing public schools. If states had more control over educational standards, they could potentially isolate and improve these historic lows that the federal government has failed to remedy with federal money. However, the cutting off of this resource affects many art programs that communities (not just the lower class) are unable to afford without this funding and is a blatant abandonment of children and parents in this dire period of low-quality education.
While on the surface, the Trump administration is claiming that the federal government has done all it can to help children, and is deciding to allocate federal spending elsewhere on more ‘dire’ things (the military-industrial complex, which they would never defund since they’re heavily invested in it), a darker truth is being orchestrated. By privatizing quality education and reallocating public money into private education that millionaires and billionaires can afford, there is a further deficit in public schools, not just at the federal level, but at the state and even local levels as well. This corruption limits opportunities for children who can’t afford school and benefits the wealthy by creating a further wealth and education gap between different socioeconomic backgrounds, in which all children are being deprived of equal education. It’s giving elitist or aristocratic vibes with how billionaires are using their money and power to further disadvantage lower and middle-class citizens, further creating a society that depends on capitalistic corporations that control our wallets and our lives.
I’m just going to say what the government is so plainly showing us, but billionaire society is transparently reaping the benefits of having friends in high places, especially when that ‘friend’ (more like partner in crime) is the President of the United States. Heinously, the U.S. News reports, “The total net worth of the billionaires in the Trump administration, as of April 30, equals at least $428.3 billion, which is more than the GDP of 174 different countries.”(Mannweiler) This immoderate concentration of wealthy “1 percenters” within the government means only one thing: handouts for more capital and clout. Why else would they be so heavily involved in the government? To help others? Pft. Please. Based on their actions and attacks towards disadvantaged and marginalized communities by supporting privatized education and promoting the elimination of public education, this is the message we are recieving.
With decreased state funding to public schools, arts programs will be the first expenditure to be cut at a national level. Even with monetary sacrifices from passionate teachers for supplies, states will have a hard time funding programs and see deterioration in programs such as theatre, photography, yearbook, graphic design, band, orchestra, choir, and dance. These cuts will have a lasting effect on future generations in a way that would disable them compared to previous generations. With already increased levels of anxiety in children, now we’re going to take away the one thing about school that was half fun. How would they benefit from its removal? Not at all; they would only suffer. As of right now, there is no protection for our youth, and their futures seem bleak as more and more opportunities are being stripped away. The removal of the arts would create a new generation of adult workers who will not have the skills to speak up for their ideas or use creative thinking to question what they are told, which, if we follow the money, would only benefit those who monetarily gain from this lack of expression. Just like Rockefeller, taking away educational programs that promote independent thinking will take away this ability entirely, especially for children, if it’s not a skill that is developed. Making them more vulnerable to capitalism and work extortion, which is the goal of this new billionaire oligarchic government takeover. Taking these programs away purely disadvantages the already disadvantaged; keeping the poor more poor; hoarding more wealth with other wealthy folk; and keeping the poor dependent on billionaire corporations that control their children’s education, entertainment, food sources, etc. Overall, making America the most capitalistic society for the benefit of stray billionaires (aka: Trump’s buddies) no matter the expense, and this is no conspiracy; it’s happening in real time.
“Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.” – Sonia Sotomayor
Works Cited
Mannweiler, Laura. “All the President’s Billionaires: The Extraordinary Wealth in Trump’s Proposed Administration.” US News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 2025, www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/how-many-billionaires-are-in-trumps-administration-and-what-is-their-worth. Accessed 1 May 2025.