WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Education Department to undo a freeze on the last of the U.S. relief money given to schools to help students recover academically from the COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright ©2025 Infospace Holdings LLC, A System1 Company. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Answers. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has unilaterally cut education funding and downsized the Education Department, leading to numerous legal challenges.

The Trump administration also cut teacher-training programs that helped rural schools combat educator shortages and has threatened to withhold funding from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. American students are products produced on an assembly line rather than individual works of art crafted by caring designers. Students attend institutions wired with the information that has been superficially declared important for them to know. If the students can retain and recreate the information correctly they go to the next station on the assembly line.

That is not how education should be and I plan on educating students differently. I feel that education will be better in my classroom; it will be like finger painting, much like how I learned to ride a horse. Education and finger painting are the same. This most basic form of artistic creation is made up of the handprints of children. Although each child posses a handprint that may look similar to others at first, everyone has their own unique handprint. Finger painting cannot be done wrong.

Everyone’s art is different but it all has its good characteristics and is valued. To many adults a finger painting may look small and insignificant, but it is a base for the child to grow upon. Finger painting can be done alone or by several people. The outcome of finger painting can vary greatly just as can the outcome of education. Education doesn’t need to be a precision manufacturing process, where the students produced are expected to be identical in appearance, personality, and performance.

Diversity should be encouraged and unique talents cherished. When I think of the greatest epiphany I’ve ever had I think of the process I went through learning to ride a horse. When I first rode a horse I was nervous and stiff, worried about performing the correct actions in the desired order to achieve the perfect outcome. After four lessons I loosened up. I began to work with the horse and read the horse’s body language. There came a day when I realized that horse riding is about a unity between the horse and rider, and now riding is a very natural thing for me.

After that day I have always moved correctly with the horse’s movements, going up and down with the horse, knowing when the horse is going to jump, and when a horse is going to cause trouble. After riding for about a year I began working at the barn. In the mornings I would bring the horses in and feed them. I began training some of the horses because I had learned that the real meaning of horse riding is moving with the horse and a unity with the horse.