Inside Pete Hegseth’s push to remake the Defense Department’s schools around the world

Photo Illustration by Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images

At a time when US children are struggling with core subjects like reading and math, students from one school system have consistently scored higher than the national average on federally mandated tests.

Yet the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA – the Pentagon-run school system that educates some 66,000 children of US troops around the world – is being overhauled under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

A few weeks before students returned to classrooms this fall, a directive came down reminding school administrators they must ensure that hundreds of books the Defense Department banned remain out of the classroom and off library shelves.

Many of the prohibited titles explore race, sexism and LGBTQ+ issues, including the popular “Heartstopper” graphic novel series and “Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood.”

Some staff then received a memo warning that “all physical copies must be removed from student access and placed in a secure location,” according to a source who shared it with CNN. There would be “100% compliance required” and the Pentagon would “monitor compliance,” it said.

It was one of the latest salvos in a push to fulfill a wish list of conservative education priorities at DoDEA, even as a lawsuit over the banned books plays out in federal court.

The Pentagon has rushed to build a new curriculum around “classical education” – a movement that calls for elevating the Western canon and is promoted by Hegseth, Trump allies and conservative education groups – and to broaden “school choice,” another conservative education goal on the right, for military families.

Critics argue the Hegseth-led Pentagon is using the school system as a testing ground for controversial education approaches as part of its ongoing culture war, and have raised concerns about censorship and placing limits on what children can learn.

“The beauty of the history of DoDEA is that we provide a quality education to the children of the men and women who serve our nation,” said Tom Brady, who was director of DoDEA from 2014 to 2024.

“It didn’t matter who was the president or the administration,” he said. “So, I’m very distressed to learn, to think that they’re using DoDEA as a test bed for whatever the current administration thinks it is.”

Yet there are signs of more changes to come, sparking further uncertainty.

Starting in January, teachers must read two novels from a “Director’s Reading List” with their class, according to a memo from DoDEA officials sent to schools earlier this month. The memo, obtained by CNN, alerted staff that they are to follow lesson plans about the books provided by DoDEA headquarters in Washington. In a highly unusual move, teachers were told they cannot modify or supplement them, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“Teachers know change is coming, but they don’t know what, how, or when. At the end of the day, they just want to be the best for their students, but it’s hard to know how to do that with so many unknowns,” the person said.

A Pentagon official said the school system “remains committed to providing all of its military-connected students with the best possible education and opportunities,” describing the new emphasis on classical and civics education as an “expansion” of the curriculum that would reinforce “critical thinking and communication skills.”

DoDEA operates around 160 schools serving students from pre-K through high school across about a dozen countries and multiple states and territories.

Despite its history of high academic performance, figures on the right say that the system has become too “woke” and complain that its curriculum espouses left-leaning ideology. They also contend its administration cuts parents out of their children’s education – a complaint they level against much of the US education system.

Under Hegseth, allies have been installed to address these concerns, with some replacing career federal employees that had been at the agency for years.

Ret. Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, a controversial former Fox News contributor and former public school administrator, oversees the school system in his role as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. In that position, he has dismissed DoDEA’s high test scores as unreliable and criticized the school district as too bureaucratic.

Tiffany Hoben, a school-choice and classical education advocate, became the system’s education officer earlier this year. Hegseth described Paul Craft, a former public school official who replaced a career administrator as DoDEA director, as the “right leader” to reorient Pentagon schools “towards patriotic values and classical learning.”

And Amy Haywood, one of DoDEA’s most prominent critics, is a senior education adviser in Tata’s office. A conservative education activist and Navy spouse, she has claimed the schools have been corrupted by progressive beliefs and has called for more parental involvement and homeschooling stipends for military families.

In a statement to CNN, Haywood said: “I know firsthand the vital importance of transparent curricula, robust parental rights, and measurable academic excellence.” She also said she was “proud to support reforms that restore accountability, expand educational choice, and ensure our Service members’ children receive an education worthy of their parents’ sacrifice.”

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

In June, school system officials unveiled an ambitious set of priorities to reshape DoDEA’s curriculum, including a blueprint for how it will implement classical education throughout its schools.

One of the first steps to be enacted was offering a new online class this fall on the history of the West promoted as a “new Classical Education course.”

There is an expectation that the course will be expanded to in-person classes over the next year, Craft has said.

However, some education experts argue that Hegseth’s vision of classical education – a long existing tradition – has coopted the idea from centuries-old liberal arts principals to teach views that are exclusionary.

“The classical education movement started out as a way to address how industrial education had taken us away from kids just learning how to read, write, and do math,” said Anika Prather, an assistant professor at Catholic University, who is a proponent of the pedagogy. But the views supported by Hegseth, she says, have turned it into “this Eurocentric educational philosophy that is now being supported by one of the major leaders of our country.”

“They’ve hijacked it,” she said.

The curriculum changes come amid a larger Hegseth-directed push to cut programs or initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, throughout the military, including its public schools.

Events and materials marking Women’s History Month or Black History Month have been prohibited for over a year.

The Trump administration’s efforts to limit transgender rights across government have also extended to the school system. DoDEA students haven’t been allowed to use “visual depictions or written content” that would promote “gender ideology,” such as transgender pride flags or poems or quotes in their yearbook entries, according to court documents.

In a 2022 book, “Battle for the American Mind,” Hegseth argued that a classical educational movement rooted in Christianity was the only way to give children a “fighting chance to save America.”

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

He co-wrote the book with David Goodwin, a conservative intellectual who leads an organization that advocates for classical Christian schools.

The book also called for expanded voucher programs to fund families placing their children into these kinds of schools and implementing the Classical Learning Test, a college entrance exam popular among Christian schools. The test is owned by a private company, Classic Learning Initiatives, which says it promotes “traditional education.” Goodwin also serves as an adviser for the test.

Beginning in the 2027 academic year, it will be accepted for admissions at the three major US service academies, which are operated by the Pentagon but are not part of DoDEA.

This month, the admissions office of the US Naval Academy sent information on the CLT to dozens of congressional staffers, including a flyer from the exam’s company comparing the test to the ACT and SAT and a PowerPoint explaining the exam.

One of the documents, reviewed by CNN, says the CLT provides “[c]learer distinction among top-performing candidates,” and referred students to an official guide with practice exams that students could purchase for $45. Another document included a quote from Hegseth promoting the test as the “gold standard,” and offered a 50% discount for service academy candidates.

One congressional staffer familiar with the documents said they couldn’t recall any similar recent effort advertising the ACT or SAT. And while they said it could make sense to need more information, the emailed pamphlets and information seemed like more of a promotional effort.

“I have never seen anything this extensive, created by the testing company, and directly distributed by a service academy,” the staffer said.

A US Naval Academy spokesperson told CNN that the institution “treats all accepted standardized tests equally and does not endorse one test over another.”

DoDEA schools also began offering the exam to 11th and 12th graders this year and announced last week that it will give out 100 vouchers to students to take the test for free.

Some critics say the changes are not aimed at improving learning but attempts to promote a specific ideology.

“The changes they’re making, none of it is based on data. It is just basically a philosophical change that the secretary wants to make because it aligns with his way of thinking,” Rep. Gil Cisneros, a Democrat who served as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness during the Biden administration, told CNN.

图片由 Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images 提供

在美国儿童在阅读和数学等核心科目上苦苦挣扎之际，一个学校系统的学生在联邦政府规定的考试中一直取得高于全国平均水平的成绩。

然而，国防部教育活动署（DoDEA）——由五角大楼运营的学校系统，为世界各地约 66,000 名美军子女提供教育——正在国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯的领导下进行改革。

今年秋季学生重返课堂前几周，一份指令下达，提醒学校管理人员，他们必须确保国防部禁售的数百本书籍留在教室外，图书馆书架上也不再摆放这些书籍。

许多被禁书籍探讨了种族、性别歧视和 LGBTQ+ 问题，包括广受欢迎的“Heartstopper”图像小说系列和“Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood”。

据一位向CNN透露消息人士称，一些工作人员随后收到一份备忘录，警告称“所有纸质副本必须从学生手中移除，并存放在安全地点”。备忘录还指出，“必须100%遵守规定”，五角大楼将“监督执行情况”。

这是为实现美国国防部教育活动署 (DoDEA) 保守派教育优先事项清单而采取的最新举措之一，与此同时，有关禁书的诉讼仍在联邦法院进行。

五角大楼急于围绕“古典教育”建立新的课程体系——这一运动呼吁提升西方经典，并由赫格塞斯、特朗普的盟友和保守派教育团体推动——并扩大军人家庭的“择校权”，这是右翼保守派教育的另一个目标。

批评人士认为，由赫格塞斯领导的五角大楼正在利用学校系统作为其持续进行的文化战争中备受争议的教育方法的试验场，并对审查制度和限制儿童学习内容表示担忧。

“DoDEA（美国国防部教育活动署）历史的美好之处在于，我们为那些为国家服务的男男女女的子女提供优质教育，”汤姆·布雷迪说道，他于 2014 年至 2024 年担任 DoDEA 署长。

他说：“总统是谁、政府是哪一届都无关紧要。所以，得知他们把国防部教育活动署当作现任政府某种政策的试验场，我感到非常痛心。”

然而，种种迹象表明，未来可能还会出现更多变化，引发更大的不确定性。

据美国国防部教育活动署（DoDEA）官员本月初发给各学校的一份备忘录显示，从明年1月起，教师必须带领学生阅读“主任阅读清单”中的两本小说。CNN获得的这份备忘录提醒教职工，他们必须按照DoDEA华盛顿总部提供的书籍教学计划进行授课。一位知情人士透露，此举实属罕见，教师被告知不得对教学计划进行任何修改或补充。

“教师们知道变革即将到来，但他们不知道变革的内容、方式和时间。归根结底，他们只想为学生做到最好，但在这么多未知因素的情况下，很难知道该如何做到这一点，”该人士说道。

五角大楼一位官员表示，该校系统“仍然致力于为所有与军方有联系的学生提供最好的教育和机会”，并将对古典教育和公民教育的新重视描述为课程的“扩展”，这将加强“批判性思维和沟通能力”。

美国国防部教育活动署 (DoDEA) 在十几个国家和多个州及地区运营着大约 160 所学校，为从学前班到高中的学生提供服务。

尽管该校历来学术成绩斐然，但右翼人士认为其教育体系过于“觉醒”，并抱怨其课程宣扬左倾意识形态。他们还声称，该校的管理方式剥夺了家长参与子女教育的权利——他们对美国大部分教育体系都提出了同样的指责。

在赫格塞斯的领导下，安插了一些盟友来解决这些问题，其中一些人取代了在该机构工作多年的职业联邦雇员。

退役陆军准将安东尼·塔塔曾是福克斯新闻的撰稿人，也曾担任公立学校行政人员，颇具争议。如今，他以国防部负责人员和战备的副部长身份监管学校系统。他曾公开质疑国防部教育活动部（DoDEA）的高考试成绩，认为其不可靠，并批评学区官僚作风严重。

蒂芙尼·霍本是一位择校和古典教育倡导者，于今年早些时候成为该系统的教育官员。赫格塞斯称保罗·克拉夫特是“合适的领导者”，他曾是一名公立学校官员，接替一位职业行政人员担任国防部教育活动署署长，能够使五角大楼的学校“回归爱国主义价值观和古典学习”。

艾米·海伍德是美国国防部教育活动署（DoDEA）最著名的批评者之一，也是塔塔办公室的高级教育顾问。作为一名保守派教育活动家和海军家属，她声称学校已被进步主义思想腐蚀，并呼吁增加家长参与度，以及为军人家庭提供在家教育津贴。

海伍德在接受CNN采访时表示：“我深知透明的课程设置、健全的家长权利和可衡量的学术卓越至关重要。”她还表示，她“很荣幸能够支持这些改革，这些改革旨在恢复问责制、扩大教育选择范围，并确保我们军人的子女能够接受与其父母牺牲相匹配的教育。”

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

6 月，学校系统官员公布了一系列雄心勃勃的优先事项，旨在重塑 DoDEA 的课程，其中包括如何在其所有学校实施古典教育的蓝图。

首批实施的措施之一是在今年秋季开设一门关于西方历史的新在线课程，并将其宣传为“新古典教育课程”。

克拉夫特表示，预计该课程将在明年扩展到面授课程。

然而，一些教育专家认为，赫格塞斯对古典教育（一种由来已久的传统）的愿景，挪用了几个世纪以来博雅教育原则的思想，以教授排他性的观点。

“古典教育运动最初是为了解决工业教育使孩子们偏离了单纯学习读写算术的初衷，”天主教大学助理教授阿妮卡·普拉瑟说道，她是这种教育理念的支持者。但她表示，赫格塞斯所支持的观点已经将其变成了“一种以欧洲为中心的教育哲学，而这种哲学现在正得到我们国家一位主要领导人的支持。”

“他们劫持了它，”她说。

此次课程改革正值赫格塞斯领导的大规模削减军队（包括公立学校）中与多样性、公平性和包容性（DEI）相关的项目或举措之际。

一年多以来，所有纪念妇女历史月或黑人历史月的活动和材料都被禁止。

特朗普政府限制跨性别者权利的举措也延伸到了学校系统。法庭文件显示，美国国防部教育活动署（DoDEA）的学生被禁止在年鉴中使用任何宣扬“性别意识形态”的“视觉图像或文字内容”，例如跨性别骄傲旗帜、诗歌或引语。

在 2022 年出版的《美国思想之战》一书中，赫格塞斯认为，以基督教为根基的古典教育运动是让孩子们有机会“拯救美国”的唯一途径。

马克·谢费尔贝因/美联社

他与大卫·古德温合著了这本书，大卫·古德温是一位保守派知识分子，领导着一个倡导古典基督教学校的组织。

这本书还呼吁扩大教育券计划，资助家庭将子女送入这类学校，并推行古典学习测试（Classical Learning Test），这是一项在基督教学校中颇受欢迎的大学入学考试。该测试由一家名为“古典学习倡议”（Classical Learning Initiatives）的私营公司所有，该公司声称其旨在推广“传统教育”。古德温本人也担任该测试的顾问。

从 2027 学年开始，它将被美国三所主要军事院校接受入学资格，这些院校由五角大楼运营，但不属于美国国防部教育活动署 (DoDEA)。

本月，美国海军学院招生办公室向数十名国会工作人员发送了有关 CLT 的信息，其中包括考试公司提供的一份传单，该传单将该考试与 ACT 和 SAT 进行了比较，以及一份解释该考试的 PowerPoint。

CNN审阅的一份文件称，CLT考试能够“更清晰地区分顶尖考生”，并推荐学生购买官方指南及练习题，售价45美元。另一份文件引用了赫格塞斯的话，称该考试是“黄金标准”，并为军校考生提供50%的折扣。

一位熟悉这些文件的国会工作人员表示，他们不记得近期有任何类似的ACT或SAT考试宣传活动。虽然他们也承认需要更多信息合情合理，但通过电子邮件发送的小册子和资料更像是促销活动。

“我从未见过如此全面的测试，它是由测试公司创建，并由军事院校直接分发的，”该工作人员说。

美国海军学院发言人告诉 CNN，该学院“平等对待所有被认可的标准化考试，不会偏袒任何一种考试”。

今年，美国国防部教育活动署 (DoDEA) 学校也开始向 11 年级和 12 年级的学生提供考试，并于上周宣布将向学生发放 100 张免费考试券。

一些批评人士认为，这些改变并非旨在提高学习效果，而是为了推广某种特定的意识形态。

“他们所做的这些改变，没有一项是基于数据的。这基本上只是部长想要做出的理念上的改变，因为这符合他的思维方式，”曾在拜登政府时期担任国防部人事和战备副部长的民主党众议员吉尔·西斯内罗斯告诉CNN。