Since January 20th, I’ve had my seatbelt on, watching in earnest as Trump and his people march into bureaucratic bodies and unforeseen corners of government with their mops and their brooms to clean house.

With lightning speed, years upon years of corruption and fraud are being exposed to the disinfecting light and if you are keeping up, you will see that much of what was built must be torn down and reconstructed, omitting the overreaches of the federal government that destroyed much of what made this country great.

In the pursuit of a global order, a powerful country like America was brought to its knees. If you doubt me, look to see where our tax dollars have been spent by keeping up with the discoveries made by the newly-created Department of Global Efficiency headed by Elon Musk. It is a horrific but revealing accounting.

Nothing makes me more hopeful than to see the Department of Education on the chopping block. Since its creation under President Jimmy Carter in 1980, America’s education system has significantly declined. The U.S. used to be a global leader, and now we rank far lower in key academic areas.

The U.S. has fallen to 14th place (or worse) in global education rankings, depending on the subject: in math, we rank 31st. In reading, we are 13th. In science, we are ranked 19th.

Before the DOE, American students were among the top performers globally. Since federal involvement increased, test scores have stagnated or declined, while spending has skyrocketed.

How did this happen? Since its creation, the DOE has centralized control and taken power away from states, local communities, and parents. The increased bureaucracy focused more on regulations than student success. Standards were lowered through policies like Common Core and, thanks to Obama, the student loan crisis made college more expensive, while using classrooms for breeding grounds for political and social agendas.

And the more we spent, the worse the results.

The U.S. spends more per student than almost any other country, yet our students continue to underperform. Countries like Finland, Japan, and South Korea spend less per student but get better results because they focus on rigor, discipline, and teacher quality.

How do we fix this? We disband the DOE. We focus on academic success and not political agendas. We should redirect funding directly to states or school choice programs. If you need an example, look to Finland and Switzerland, who have minimal federal involvement in education but rank among the best globally. We might also look to break up the public school monopoly that forces kids into failing schools based on their ZIP code. Countries like Sweden allow school vouchers, increasing competition and improving school quality.

We must reinstate civics, financial literacy, and classical education to build informed, capable citizens. High-performing countries like Singapore focus on high academic standards, not social engineering.

And how about allowing alternative teacher certification paths so skilled professionals (engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs) can enter the classroom?

How about restoring discipline and parental authority in schools? Many of the teachers I know spend more time disciplining students than they do teaching. Japan enforces strict classroom discipline, leading to high academic performance. Why have we allowed children to run our schools and in some cases our homes?

We must also stop pushing degrees that leave students in debt with no prospects, beholden to the government’s high interest rates for student loans. Our kids are in debt before entering adulthood, disabling them from gaining financial control of their lives early on. Bring back vocational and trade schools so students who don’t want college can learn valuable skills. We can partner with industries to create apprenticeship programs in high-paying fields like plumbing and welding.

After a tornado blows through a town, people slowly emerge from their homes, rub their eyes, blink into the sun, and take in the destruction. This is what we’re in the midst of doing right now–taking a serious look at what has happened to this country, to its schools, to its children, to grocery prices, to families, as well as our thoughts about who we are as a people and as individuals. It’s time for us all to look around and take an honest assessment of where we are and how we can move forward with honesty and integrity.

And then we must set out to fix it. We must roll up our sleeves and get to work. It will take time–perhaps a few generations–to make our country great again. But first we must recognize that a storm blew in, however humbling that might be.