US presidential election 2024: What role does education play?
Elections will soon be held again in the USA - the exact date is 5 November 2024. This day will decide whether the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris or the Republican candidate Donald Trump will lead the USA for the next four years. Polls predict a neck-and-neck race between the two candidates for the presidency. In the American education sector, the candidates' positions on various education issues are being closely monitored and analysed. Our web dossier provides an insight into Harris' and Trump's positions and offers comparisons of their plans on issues such as teacher salaries, gun bans in schools and censorship of textbooks. We also take a look at the media and let voices from the education sector have their say.
Short on time? Our top 3!
- 2024 Election: Compare the candidates
by Education Votes, a website run by the National Education Association (NEA)
https://educationvotes.nea.org/candidate-comparison/ - Hechinger Report - Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education
- Articles with the keyword "Trump"
http://hechingerreport.org/index.php?s=trump - Articles with the keyword "Harris"
https://hechingerreport.org/?s=harris
- Articles with the keyword "Trump"
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Project 2025: ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’
by Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT, 15.09.24
https://www.aft.org/column/project-2025-institutionalizing-trumpism
The topic of education in the candidates' election programmes
Kamala Harris
Issues >> Provide a Pathway to the Middle Class Through Quality, Affordable Education
https://kamalaharris.com/issues/
The individual topics cannot be linked directly. Please search for the topic mentioned on the website.
- Issues >> Protect Parents’ Rights
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/issues
The individual topics cannot be linked directly. Please search for the topic mentioned on the website. - Agenda47: The American Academy
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-the-american-academy - Agenda 47: Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-protecting-students-from-...
Trump vs Harris: How do they compare on education?
The largest education union in the United States, the National Education Association (NEA), offers a comparison between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump on their positions on education issues. The issues being compared are:
- School meals
- Funding + educator pay
- Mental health
- Gun violence prevention
- Student loan forgiveness
- Union support
- Book bans / censorship
- Economic opportunity
- Title IX (federal civil rights law in the US that prohibits gender discrimination in a school or other educational program funded by the federal government)
2024 Election: Compare the candidates
by Education Votes, a website run by the National Education Association (NEA)
https://educationvotes.nea.org/candidate-comparison/
2024 presidential candidates on education
by Ballotpedia – The Encyclopedia of American Politics
https://ballotpedia.org/2024_presidential_candidates_on_education
- on charter schools and voucher programs
https://ballotpedia.org/...on_charter_schools_and_voucher_programs - on school curriculums and parental involvement
https://ballotpedia.org/....on_school_curriculums_and_parental_involvement - on college affordability
https://ballotpedia.org/....on_college_affordability
What Harris & Trump Could Mean for Student Financial Aid
by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)
- Harris
https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/34753/What_a_Harris_Administration_Could... - Trump
https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/34788/What_a_Second_Trump_Term_Could_...
Here’s where Trump and Harris stand on 6 education issues
by Cory Turner, NPR (National Public Radio), 08.09.2024
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/08/nx-s1-5103698/trump-harris-election-platforms-education-views
Education: Where do Harris and Trump stand?
by Shauneen Miranda, Maryland Matters (Part of States Newsroom), 05.10.2024
https://marylandmatters.org/2024/10/05/education-where-do-harris-and-trump-stand/
How do Biden and Trump Compare on Public Education?
by Amanda Litvinov, NEA Today (National Education Association), 01.08.2024
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/biden-vs-trump-public-education
In the media: education & elections in the USA
‘DEI’ stands for “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion”. In their article, the Education Writers Association describes how efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion at colleges and universities are being torpedoed under Republican influence. The article also provides tips on how best to write about this as an education journalist.
ewa – education writers association
How to Cover Political Threats to DEI, 17.09.2024
https://ewa.org/how-to-cover-the-story/how-a-republican-campaign-transformed...
University World News 01.01.- 31.12.24
- Articles with the keyword "Trump"
https://www.universityworldnews.com/fullsearch.php?query=Trump... - Articles with the keyword "Harris"
https://www.universityworldnews.com/fullsearch.php?query=Harris... - Articles with the keyword "Biden"
https://www.universityworldnews.com/fullsearch.php?query=Biden...
Hechinger Report - Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education
- Articles with the keyword "Trump"
http://hechingerreport.org/index.php?s=trump - Articles with the keyword "Harris"
https://hechingerreport.org/?s=harris - Articles with the keyword "Biden"
http://hechingerreport.org/?s=biden
United States: The legal and political wrangles set to affect HE in 2024
by Nathan M. Greenfield, University World News, 09.01.2024
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240109084734541
Donald Trump vs. American History
He has promised to impose his harmful, erroneous claims on school curricula in a second term.
by Clint Smith, The Atlantic, 06.12.2023
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/civil-war-lost-cause-trump-...
Voices from the education sector
With the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the two largest teachers' unions in the USA are clearly positioning themselves against Trump. In her article ‘Project 2025: Institutionalising Trumpism’, AFT President Randi Weingarten paints a bleak picture of the US education landscape should Republican Donald Trump become president of the USA again.
National Education Association
Education votes NEA
https://educationvotes.nea.org
NEA Press Releases / NEA Today
- National Education Association Recommends Vice President Kamala Harris for President (23.07.24)
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/national-education-association... - NEA Thanks President Biden, Endorses Vice President Kamala Harris in General Election (24.07.24)
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/nea-thanks-president-biden-endorses.... - NEA: Educators are fired up and united behind Harris-Walz (06.08.24)
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-endorses-vp-walz - NEA President: “America saw Kamala Harris lay out a new way forward." (10.09.24)
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-president-america... - Ahead of VP Debate, Educators Detail What’s Moving Voters in Battleground States, Why Harris-Walz Ticket Matters for Students
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/ahead-vp-debate-... - NEA President: Educators excited as “Tim Walz delivered” in vice presidential debate (01.10.24)
https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-president-...
American Association of University Professors
Statement on Political Interference in Higher Education, Januar 2024
https://www.aaup.org/report/statement-political-interference-higher-education
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
- Project 2025: ‘Institutionalizing Trumpism’
by Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT, 15.09.24
https://www.aft.org/column/project-2025-institutionalizing-trumpism
- Higher Ed unions offer vision for colleges and universities, 18.09.24
https://www.aft.org/news/higher-ed-unions-offer-vision-colleges-and-universities
News about US elections 2024 & education
- Closing the US-Department of Education? - US President Trump takes the gloves off
- Trump chooses wrestling manager as Secretary of Education (Forschung & Lehre 11.12.24) [courtesy translation]
- What impact could Trump have on US education? (DW 22.11.24)
- The second Trump term: Higher education braces for impact (Uni World News 08.11.24)
- US election: What Trump's election victory means for America's schools (German School Portal) [courtesy translation]
News worldwide
- Exiled Scholars and New Organizational Strategies in Academic Humanitarianism in Europe in the Aftermath of the Syrian War.
- Cambodia: Dealing with the Khmer Rouge in the education system (DLF 17.04.25) [courtesy translation]
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Europäische Bildungssysteme zwischen Gerechtigkeit und Selektivität.
Deutschland im Vergleich zu Estland, Spanien und Finnland. - Closing the US-Department of Education? - US President Trump takes the gloves off
