A Hegseth-led DOD Engages in a Fight Against Public School Education
The Department of Defense Education Activity agency serves as a prominent case of a federally managed education program that has attracted attention from conservative critics.
TroibNews 
Pete Hegseth has advocated for years to embed patriotic values and Christian doctrine into American education, and if confirmed as the head of the Defense Department, he could put that vision into practice for many military families.
Within the Pentagon’s extensive $900 billion-per-year bureaucracy lies a network of 161 schools spanning 11 countries, seven states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) serves approximately 67,000 children of active-duty military personnel and civilian workers. Unlike public school systems influenced by state and local policies, the DODEA represents a federally managed education initiative that conservatives have long sought to reshape.
Should Hegseth navigate allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking and secure confirmation, he would have the chance to mold a significant aspect of the education system to reflect his ideals. This move could also revive the "patriotic education" framework championed by Trump during his first term, potentially serving as a blueprint for Republican-led states.
“The federal government does have control over one major school district’s curriculum — that can be a model for our nation,” noted Max Eden, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute influential in conservative education advocacy aiming to reform the Defense Department’s schools.
“It could be huge. It could change the character of American education beyond DODEA, but for half the country.”
For Hegseth, Defense Department schools present a new battleground in his longstanding campaign regarding American education. In his 2022 book, “Battle for the American Mind,” he and co-author David Goodwin, president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, critique the nation’s educational models.
Hegseth declined to comment through a representative, and Goodwin also refrained from commenting. “I believe he’s a good man. I believe God will use him,” Goodwin wrote earlier this month in a Substack post responding to allegations against Hegseth.
Hegseth has characterized the public and private education systems in the country as tainted by leftist ideology, asserting that the government should eradicate critical race theory from military academies.
He has also encouraged families to move away from traditional schooling systems in favor of classical education, which emphasizes classic literature, the study of Greek and Latin, and Christian principles intertwined with American history.
“Get your kids out of government school systems right now if you can,” Hegseth said in November during an interview with Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL and conservative media figure. “Save money. Move. Get a second job. Don’t take the vacation. Sell the boat. Whatever. Drive for Uber. ... Because it’s about saving your kid right now.”
A new defense secretary would have the authority to establish a new leadership structure for the military school system and utilize federal contracts to engage consultants to develop new curricula, testing, and teacher training standards.
As an Army veteran who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth could push forward the principles of the 1776 Commission, initiated by Trump four years ago to promote “patriotic education” and challenge narratives that he believes divide Americans around issues of race and slavery.
In his 2022 book, Hegseth articulates the political and policy considerations behind the conservative push against public education and advocates for more instruction on the fundamentals of Christian theology.
“Marxist teachers colleges pump out ideological teachers, left-wing teachers unions reign supreme, PTAs are neutered, school boards scared fully ‘woke.’ Almost no school — public or private — seems safe. Conservatives and Christians are surrounded,” Hegseth and Goodwin wrote.
They argue that political progressives and Marxists have conspired since the introduction of the Pledge of Allegiance to expunge Christianity from public education, claiming that a pervasive “wokeism” has infiltrated Ivy League institutions and public universities. They contend that the curriculum, teacher training, and certification processes for most K-12 schools are heavily influenced by a leftist agenda.
In targeting DODEA, however, Hegseth would be addressing a highly regarded educational system that consistently sees its students outperform their peers nationally on federal standardized tests.
Earlier this year, one education think tank described the system as “The Relentless Improver” in a report that highlighted its deep historical foundations and praised its “extraordinarily disciplined, patient, and systematic approach to school improvement.”
The DODEA has also served as a federal testing ground for universal pre-kindergarten programs advocated by the Biden administration but has frequently been a target of conservative critiques.
Recent legislation passed by the House, a $895 billion defense bill, prohibits the Pentagon from endorsing critical race theory in any DOD-controlled academic institutions. Previous congressional attempts have sought to ban the use of funding to enforce Covid-19 mask mandates or vaccination requirements for attendance at Defense Department schools.
Conservative legislators and think tanks, such as the Claremont Institute, have accused the agency of disseminating "left-wing" ideologies among students.
“At the end of the day, regardless of anything that happens externally to our schools, we will continue to remain focused on providing a world-class education and supporting our military families,” said DODEA spokesperson Will Griffin.
“We continue to remain focused on serving military-connected students and their families. Military-connected students are at the heart of everything we do,” he added.
The agency did not provide comments regarding potential cabinet positions, policy adjustments, or the implications of conservative politics.
“If I were advising Hegseth, I would say let’s transform DODEA into a classical school network and let’s get away from the DEI, get away from the gender stuff,” Eden stated. “And let’s give our military service members a world-class education that American parents are scrambling to get into but they can’t because we’re not there yet as a country.”
These concepts could then propagate nationwide.
“What I could see unfolding politically is a patriotic curriculum inspired by Trump’s 1776 Commission — when it's fully fleshed out and developed — is implemented in the DODEA schools,” Eden suggested. “And spreads state by state until half of American states, because I don't expect blue states to like this very much, have a patriotic curriculum.”
Allen M Lee for TROIB News
Within the Pentagon’s extensive $900 billion-per-year bureaucracy lies a network of 161 schools spanning 11 countries, seven states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) serves approximately 67,000 children of active-duty military personnel and civilian workers. Unlike public school systems influenced by state and local policies, the DODEA represents a federally managed education initiative that conservatives have long sought to reshape.
Should Hegseth navigate allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking and secure confirmation, he would have the chance to mold a significant aspect of the education system to reflect his ideals. This move could also revive the "patriotic education" framework championed by Trump during his first term, potentially serving as a blueprint for Republican-led states.
“The federal government does have control over one major school district’s curriculum — that can be a model for our nation,” noted Max Eden, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute influential in conservative education advocacy aiming to reform the Defense Department’s schools.
“It could be huge. It could change the character of American education beyond DODEA, but for half the country.”
For Hegseth, Defense Department schools present a new battleground in his longstanding campaign regarding American education. In his 2022 book, “Battle for the American Mind,” he and co-author David Goodwin, president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, critique the nation’s educational models.
Hegseth declined to comment through a representative, and Goodwin also refrained from commenting. “I believe he’s a good man. I believe God will use him,” Goodwin wrote earlier this month in a Substack post responding to allegations against Hegseth.
Hegseth has characterized the public and private education systems in the country as tainted by leftist ideology, asserting that the government should eradicate critical race theory from military academies.
He has also encouraged families to move away from traditional schooling systems in favor of classical education, which emphasizes classic literature, the study of Greek and Latin, and Christian principles intertwined with American history.
“Get your kids out of government school systems right now if you can,” Hegseth said in November during an interview with Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL and conservative media figure. “Save money. Move. Get a second job. Don’t take the vacation. Sell the boat. Whatever. Drive for Uber. ... Because it’s about saving your kid right now.”
A new defense secretary would have the authority to establish a new leadership structure for the military school system and utilize federal contracts to engage consultants to develop new curricula, testing, and teacher training standards.
As an Army veteran who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth could push forward the principles of the 1776 Commission, initiated by Trump four years ago to promote “patriotic education” and challenge narratives that he believes divide Americans around issues of race and slavery.
In his 2022 book, Hegseth articulates the political and policy considerations behind the conservative push against public education and advocates for more instruction on the fundamentals of Christian theology.
“Marxist teachers colleges pump out ideological teachers, left-wing teachers unions reign supreme, PTAs are neutered, school boards scared fully ‘woke.’ Almost no school — public or private — seems safe. Conservatives and Christians are surrounded,” Hegseth and Goodwin wrote.
They argue that political progressives and Marxists have conspired since the introduction of the Pledge of Allegiance to expunge Christianity from public education, claiming that a pervasive “wokeism” has infiltrated Ivy League institutions and public universities. They contend that the curriculum, teacher training, and certification processes for most K-12 schools are heavily influenced by a leftist agenda.
In targeting DODEA, however, Hegseth would be addressing a highly regarded educational system that consistently sees its students outperform their peers nationally on federal standardized tests.
Earlier this year, one education think tank described the system as “The Relentless Improver” in a report that highlighted its deep historical foundations and praised its “extraordinarily disciplined, patient, and systematic approach to school improvement.”
The DODEA has also served as a federal testing ground for universal pre-kindergarten programs advocated by the Biden administration but has frequently been a target of conservative critiques.
Recent legislation passed by the House, a $895 billion defense bill, prohibits the Pentagon from endorsing critical race theory in any DOD-controlled academic institutions. Previous congressional attempts have sought to ban the use of funding to enforce Covid-19 mask mandates or vaccination requirements for attendance at Defense Department schools.
Conservative legislators and think tanks, such as the Claremont Institute, have accused the agency of disseminating "left-wing" ideologies among students.
“At the end of the day, regardless of anything that happens externally to our schools, we will continue to remain focused on providing a world-class education and supporting our military families,” said DODEA spokesperson Will Griffin.
“We continue to remain focused on serving military-connected students and their families. Military-connected students are at the heart of everything we do,” he added.
The agency did not provide comments regarding potential cabinet positions, policy adjustments, or the implications of conservative politics.
“If I were advising Hegseth, I would say let’s transform DODEA into a classical school network and let’s get away from the DEI, get away from the gender stuff,” Eden stated. “And let’s give our military service members a world-class education that American parents are scrambling to get into but they can’t because we’re not there yet as a country.”
These concepts could then propagate nationwide.
“What I could see unfolding politically is a patriotic curriculum inspired by Trump’s 1776 Commission — when it's fully fleshed out and developed — is implemented in the DODEA schools,” Eden suggested. “And spreads state by state until half of American states, because I don't expect blue states to like this very much, have a patriotic curriculum.”
Allen M Lee for TROIB News
