Staff Reports
Linda McMahon’s arrival at the Department of Education represents a welcome jolt of common sense to a federal agency that too often worships credentialism instead of results. Sworn in as Secretary of Education on March 3, 2025, McMahon brings private-sector experience and a focus on opportunity rather than bureaucracy. Her background as a job creator and advocate for career and technical education gives her real credibility when she says college shouldn’t be the only path to prosperity.
During recent visits to vocational programs, McMahon pointed out what hardworking Americans already know: students who earn industry-ready certificates walk straight into good-paying jobs. She highlighted concrete examples—students poised to enter professional positions in hospitals and an automotive class that received a donated F-150 from a local Ford dealership, with employers eager to hire graduates. That kind of partnership between schools and employers is the model that actually builds communities and pays taxes, not another workshop on woke theory.
Let’s be blunt: the elites have been pushing every child toward a four-year dormroom experience that saddles families with crushing debt and often leads to underemployment. McMahon rightly noted that one of the fastest-growing groups of millionaires today comes from skilled trades—because mastery of a real, in-demand craft creates wealth and independence. Conservatives should celebrate and expand pathways that honor work, not sneer at it; a thriving trade economy strengthens national resilience and restores dignity to honest labor.
McMahon’s “final mission” message to the Department makes clear her goal: return education to parents and states, cut the red tape, and let local communities decide what skills students need to thrive. This isn’t some libertarian fantasy; it’s a responsible handoff to the people who know students best and to employers who will actually hire them. Washington’s job is to enable opportunity, not micromanage classrooms or export one-size-fits-all curricula that ignore local labor markets.
Of course, the usual union bosses and Washington media are spinning panic—claiming that reforms are a “power grab” or will hollow out services. Labor leaderships like AFSCME and their allies are predictable: they prefer entrenched bureaucracy to accountable results and fear losing leverage more than they care about students. Their enraged press releases and op-eds reveal less concern for kids than for preserving cushy jobs for the administrative classes.
If conservatives truly want to win for working families, we should back concrete policies McMahon champions: massive expansion of career and technical education, tax credits and apprenticeships tied to employer commitments, and incentives for private-sector partnerships that place students into careers. The Pledge to America’s Workers showed how public-private initiatives can create millions of training opportunities; let’s scale that up instead of funneling more money into failing four-year factory programs. Our policy should be to turn classrooms directly into pipelines for opportunity.
Patriotic Americans who value work and thrift should rally behind this agenda and behind leaders who trust parents and employers over distant bureaucrats. Encouraging trades isn’t charity—it’s common-sense nation-building that creates higher wages, stronger families, and safer communities. Secretary McMahon is right to say college isn’t the only option; it’s time conservatives push full-throated for respect, resources, and results for the skilled men and women who keep America running.
