Talking to kids about Project 2025

Explaining serious political and social issues to kids is never an easy task, even though they’re often the people asking the most questions. With so much on the line, it’s important that they get accurate information about the project. Adolescents, teens, and young adults are the future of our country.

The guide below, written by a long-time educator, helps explain the basics of the plan to middle schoolers:

Project 2025 is like a big plan created by a group of people who have very strong opinions about how the government should work. These people believe in certain ideas that are often called “conservative.” They have a certain way they think is best for running things, like schools, hospitals, businesses, and other parts of the country, and only one way.

Here are some important parts of Project 2025:

1. Making Rules: They want to change some of the rules about how businesses can operate, making it easier for businesses to grow but sometimes taking away certain protections that help keep people safe. That can be very harmful in many different parts of government.

2. Choosing Leaders: They want to find and choose people who agree with their ideas to be in charge of different parts of the government if their favorite politicians win the next big election. This includes really important jobs like running schools, hospitals, and other big agencies. Unfortunately, the people they choose are people who think like they do, and ignore everybody else.

3. Judges: They want to pick judges who think like they do, so these judges can make decisions in court that match their ideas. Judges make very important decisions about laws that affect everyone. These are judges that are appointed all over the country in different courts. This can be very dangerous if the judges are biased.

4. Planning Ahead: They are preparing a lot so that if their favorite leader becomes President, they can start making changes very quickly. They want to make sure that everything runs smoothly according to their plans, even if it is unconstitutional.

Some people might feel worried about Project 2025 because they believe it might change things in a way that isn’t fair or might hurt some people. Others think it’s a good idea because they agree with the changes that the project wants to make. It’s like when you have a group project in school, and some kids want to do things one way while others have a different idea. Everyone has their own reasons for thinking their way is best, and sometimes it’s hard to agree.

In a democracy, people try to work together and listen to different ideas to make the best decisions for everyone. In other words, if you don’t listen to other people, you can never have a good perspective on important subjects.