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President-elect Donald Trump announced a plan today to create the "American Academy", an online university for all Americans, free of charge.
The stunning idea is pure Trump: big, daring, and full of potential. But will it work? In the announcement below, Trump offers bold strokes on how the idea would come to fruition. First, the funding: he claims his administration would pay for the Academy by "taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments".
Harvard, Univ. of Texas, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton are the largest five university endowments, ranging from $53 billion to $33 billion. Legislation designed to tax such massive institutions in order to fund a free university sounds like a a bill the common man could get behind.
Trump's best education policy, announced as part of 'Agenda 47' in November 2023, is the American Academy. This completely free, online institution, funded by taxes on woke universities' endowments, will offer full degrees, and college credits to people with incomplete degrees: pic.twitter.com/0GWnJmloWK
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) November 12, 2024
Trump promises to deliver a world-class education designed using "the full spectrum of human knowledge and skills." The skills part is noteworthy, because what he envisions isn't just an academic model, but a trade-based certification model as well. One could get a plumber's license as well as a Bachelor's degree.
"Whether you want lectures on ancient histories, or an introduction to financial accounting, or training in a skilled trade, the goal will be to deliver it, and get it done properly."
Furthermore, Trump promises a learning environment free of the political indoctrination so common today in four-year universities: "No wokeness or jihadism allowed!" he roars. The not-so-subtle nod to recent anti-Semitic campus attacks will certainly resonate with many supporters.
The Academy would be designed to compete with standard legacy universities by "granting students degree credentials that the US government and all federal contractors will henceforth recognize."
Patriotic college professors and online platform designers were quick to offer their skills:
So, to sum up: the Academy is a grand idea. Funding it will entail legal challenges. Gathering all the content and coursework models shouldn't be too tricky, as online university platforms are commonplace, so finding qualified employees is not a high hurdle.
Providing free secondary education is exactly the kind of innovative goal people expect from government, but so rarely receive. Trump's detractors will no doubt point to the failed Trump University as a "gotcha" indicator that the idea is doomed to fail, but how loudly can they shout down free education without looking ridiculous?
