McMahon addressed criticism of her recent tour, issues of grade inflation, and a dearth of childhood literacy at her talk hosted by Yale’s Buckley Institute.
Linda McMahon (right) answers a question from Tori Cook (left). (Credit: Michelle Zheng)
Michelle Zheng
Managing Editor, The Buckley Beacon
On Thursday, Yale’s William F. Buckley Institute hosted Secretary of Education Linda McMahon for a discussion titled “The Roadmap to Restoring American Higher Education.” Tori Cook, the student President of the Buckley Institute, introduced McMahon before moderating the roughly 50 minute long conversation.
In the months prior to her appearance at Yale, McMahon was turned away by two school districts in her home state of Connecticut after protests from local stakeholders and elected officials. The Yale stop came after school district officials in Thomaston, CT canceled a scheduled McMahon-linked program at Thomaston High School, citing the need to “maintain an orderly environment for students”, especially following a higher-profile cancellation in Fairfield, CT.
In January, parents rejected her planned appearance at McKinley Elementary School as a part of McMahon’s controversial civics-themed tour, called the “History Rocks! America 250” tour. The tour has been embraced by President Trump and a collection of conservative education groups, but drawn backlash from historians, students, and liberal critics who argue the programming is light on history and heavy on political messaging.
When asked about the cancellations, McMahon attributed them to “a lack of knowledge about what these tours were about.” She told Cook that the tours included competitions amongst students to answer questions about American history and government, which students loved, and that she “can’t imagine how this is a partisan activity.”
McMahon’s appearance at Yale also drew criticism from elected officials, faculty, and students in the days leading up to her appearance. Democratic New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker questioned whether McMahon had a credible “roadmap to restore education,” accusing her and Trump of “undermining public education.”
The criticism extended to the U.S. Senate, where Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) posted a statement saying that “McMahon & Trump have cut & crippled Yale research, slashed student scholarships, demeaned & threatened academic freedom, blatantly violated statutory & constitutional protections—& worked to dismantle the entire Dept of Education.” Blumenthal notably stopped short of calling for the event’s cancellation, instead saying McMahon’s policies “deserve a retort.” His remarks came a day after University President Maurie McInnis publicly praised the Buckley Institute for scheduling the event.
Under McMahon’s leadership, the Education Department has canceled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal grants to universities across the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, Yale and Dartmouth are the only Ivy League schools that have not had federal funds punitively frozen by the Trump administration. However, Yale hasn’t been entirely without scrutiny. McMahon’s Education Department opened an investigation into Yale in March 2025 over a business school program it alleged discriminated on the basis of race.
All of this, however, is in service of a stated end goal. McMahon has been candid that her ultimate goal is her own obsolescence – framing the department’s dismantlement as the definition of success. As she put it: “[Trump] told me that I would be successful when I fired myself.”
During the event, McMahon also spoke about grade inflation, saying she had discussed grade inflation with President McInnis that very morning.“One of the things that the university is looking at is to make sure that the professors are grading accordingly,” she said about the conversation. “I think that professors should teach the information. I think they should teach it honestly and straightforward [sic], that they should challenge their students to think as much as possible.”
Concerns about grade inflation, especially at elite institutions, have been on the rise in recent years. Between 1990 and 2020, average GPAs at four-year institutions rose more than 16 percent. At Yale, roughly 79 percent of students received A’s in 2022–23.
When asked what the most important issue she was working on was, McMahon called childhood literacy her single top priority, citing that children who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade face compounding disadvantages for the rest of their schooling. The 2024 Nation’s Report Card found that only 31 percent of fourth graders and 33 percent of eighth graders scored at or above proficiency in reading, both figures lower than 2022 and 2019. McMahon’s “History Rocks!” tour, the same program that got her canceled in Fairfield and Thomaston, was framed partly as a response to a broader civic and educational hollowing-out McMahon attributed in part to a lack of literacy.
She also made a sustained case for rethinking what success after education looks like. “I think it’s really important that we kind of have a cultural shift in how we’re thinking about education… we can not focus so hard anymore on saying you’ve gotta have a 4-year degree from college or more to be a success,” she said. “The fastest growing group of millionaires in the country are those that come from trade skills. We need plumbers, electricians, HVAC operators, auto mechanics — all of that.”
Cook, who moderated the event, told the Beacon that she was satisfied with how the evening unfolded. “The Secretary’s thoughts are particularly pertinent to university campuses right now, especially those in the Ivy League,” Cook said. “I’m happy we were able to facilitate that kind of conversation with Yale students and faculty.”