Trump Education Official Roasted for Steering Little Kids Away From Academics

CNN Former WWE executive Linda McMahon has laid out her vision for American education—and it apparently involves fitting grade-school children with work boots.

McMahon, 77, appeared on State of the Union Sunday, and was asked whether putting elementary school students on a trade skills track was “too early.” “I don’t think so, because I think what we can do is look at students,” the education secretary began.

“What are their interests? How do we direct them down a pathway that they’re going to have an interest...

I believe that children need a well-rounded education.” Trump’s education nominee then suggested that academia is oversold, and that children can display an aptitude for trade work at a very early age.

“I think we have focused too long on just that; on that path to a four-year university.

And sometimes we ignore what the actual skill sets of those students are,” she said.

McMahon also celebrated plans to offer middle schoolers dual-credit community college courses in skilled trades, saying, “We are really making great advances to get our skilled workforce ready to go.” Host Dana Bash, while visibly confounded, questioned again: “But I mean, middle school, you know, that’s maybe debatable.

But elementary school, should there just be a focus on basic critical thinking? And perhaps some of the of the specific training and the path should be later in a child’s schooling?” According to McMahon, some children still in the single digits could learn to dot their i’s and cross their t’s between carpentry lessons.

“I don‘t think they’re mutually exclusive,” she said.

“I think you can have some introduction of skilled, you know, skilled trades in elementary school, but, you know, everything is—you can’t direct it from Washington, D.C.” Suggesting that some areas or communities may be more vocational than others, McMahon mused: “How does each school work? What are the needs of that community? How are parents interacting with teachers? “And I think that is so critical as to what community needs.

And that’s why we really want to return education to the states,” she concluded.

Unsurprisingly, viewers were astounded by the idea of putting children who have only just learned to read and write on a predetermined academic or vocational path.

“No exaggeration.

Hands down the worst, the most under-qualified, the dumbest administration that ever existed.