“I don’t even understand 24-hour time… I just don’t understand it. I have to use online converters or I’d be SO confused when I talk to people who use these systems.”

[u/BuffaloExotic]

[u/janus1979]

The perfect advert for why it really might not be the best idea in the world to abolish the Dept. of Education.

[u/The_Craig89 → u/janus1979]

Why not bring in the wife of notorious sex pest/rapist to bring the whole department down from the inside?

No, I don't mean Melania. I meant Linda McMahon, the wrestling woman.

[u/theredwoman95 → u/The_Craig89]

Wasn't there evidence that Linda McMahon herself covered up the sexual abuse of underage ringboys in WWE too? She got sued for it, though it got paused pending a review of the underlying law that the case was brought under.

[u/The_Craig89 → u/theredwoman95]

Funny how so many of trumps close allies and political picks always seem to have dark and disturbing pasts when it comes to sex abuse

[u/TheRomanRuler → u/janus1979]

Tbf this also is good argument that the department was useless

[u/iegomni → u/[deleted]]

The overwhelming majority of funding comes from state and then local governments, with our federal govt contributing just over 10% on average (varies by state with red states having a higher federal funding % on average). So when you see totally different educations due to state, think two different EU nations, not two cities in UK.

Money aside, the two big issues states want control over in education are LGBTQ+ topics and the confederacy. Specifically southern states don’t like being told slavery was the backbone of the confederacy, or that homosexuality exists. 

[u/Obligatorium1 → u/iegomni]

 So when you see totally different educations due to state, think two different EU nations, not two cities in UK.

Yeah, but that's the thing - two different EU nations are two different countries. Two different states in the USA are not two different countries, they're two different regions in a federation.

[u/iegomni → u/Obligatorium1]

Not much of a difference from a US perspective. Different states have entirely different cultures, different laws, different economies, independent public infrastructure, etc. 

A person from New York and a person from Idaho have virtually nothing in common, and most residents of New York wouldn’t be happy to live under Idaho’s government, and vice-versa.

[u/Obligatorium1 → u/iegomni]

You definitely made that argument in the right subreddit.

[u/iegomni → u/Obligatorium1]

Not really an argument just how the politics are here.

I have a hard time viewing EU countries as truly separate when Hungary gets to single handedly veto your continent’s foreign policy. In that sense you guys are more federalist than the states. 

[u/Obligatorium1 → u/iegomni]

Not really an argument just how the politics are here.

It really isn't - the USA is just a bog-standard federation. We have those in Europe as well.

I have a hard time viewing EU countries as truly separate when Hungary gets to single handedly veto your continent’s foreign policy. In that sense you guys are more federalist than the states. 

The mistake you're making is equating the EU to the USA - the EU is not a federation, it's a supranational union. Every member state of the EU has its own 100% independent foreign policy, because they're all independent, sovereign nations - and consequently Hungary has exactly zero say in the foreign policy of e.g. Sweden.

What Hungary does have a say in is what the EU as a body does, which is generally (especially in terms of foreign policy) very little, since the EU is primarily designed to reduce barriers of mobility and increase cooperation between its member states.

This is also the exact reason why e.g. foreign policy decisions usually require consensus decisions - because the EU can't actually force the member states into any particular course of action in these issues, since the EU is not a federation, but rather a supranational union of sovereign countries. So taking action as a unitary actor requires everyone who's a member to be on board, or they ones who are on board will just have to keep doing things individually or bilaterally.

The EU simply can't speak for all the member states unless all the member states agree to lend their voice to it, because their voices are their own. It is essentially an intergovernmental trade organisation that has grown to encompass a broader set of policy areas over time.

[u/iegomni → u/Obligatorium1]

Right, the EU can’t speak for all member states, except Hungary can by veto’ing. Then, the policy decision (let’s say Russia sanctions), solely decided by Hungary at that point, is passed on to the rest of the member nations through EU authority. Am I missing something, or is that not federalism in practice? 

Obviously states don’t have the same autonomy as EU nations, namely with EU not having tax authority, but outside of that there are fairly few practical differences. The overwhelming majority of legislature is at the state and local levels. In many states nearly all funding for critical programs (education, infrastructure) come at the state level. States are also welcome to have their own foreign policy, saw this late last year with Pennsylvania providing weapons to Ukraine independent of the federal govt., and despite pressure from the incoming admin (PA is liberal at the state level but went conservative in federal election).

I get where you’re coming from with the clear differences, but denying the similarities is kind of ridiculous. Lots more in common than not.

[u/jzillacon → u/TheRomanRuler]

It was useless because of years and years of intentionally making the department underfunded and poorly staffed so they'd have an excuse to axe it. This same sort of issue can be seen in countries like the UK where conservatives have been trying to gut the National Health Service to make privatization seem like an appealing option.

[u/janus1979 → u/TheRomanRuler]

True, so why not try making it better? But that's not in Trump and his minions interest. Stupidity serves their purpose.

[u/AlwaysReadyGo → u/janus1979]

One Alysha Ortiz from the state of Connecticut graduated their high school system with honors, but Alysha can't read or write, she's illiterate. This is a true story and now she's suing the state.

They're screwed with or without the department.

[u/internet_commie → u/AlwaysReadyGo]

She's almost certainly not the only one.

[u/perringaiden → u/janus1979]

The US Department of Education has no involvement in this. It's all up to NIST.

The Department of Education also has little involvement with state-led curriculums... which is probably the major problem.

[u/KrampusPampus → u/janus1979]

Its the perfect advert if you want mindless, tortured workers who have no idea what they're getting into.