The Department of Defense’s educational arm is pulling books and lessons tied to race, gender and sexuality, in the wake of executive orders from the president targeting topics of diversity in the military. As a result, several learning materials already in the school curriculum have been labeled “do not use.”
The directive to administrators at Department of Defense Education Activity schools, released on Wednesday, Feb. 5, impacts students in elementary, middle and high school. A memo, shared on social media and directed to Department of Defense Education Activity leaders, calls for eight learning materials to be pulled from classrooms, pending a review, in order to comply with a pair of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
DODEA spokesperson Will Griffin confirmed that restrictions on some learning material are in place, and said that the decision comes in the wake of two orders from Trump. DODEA’s statement cited the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive orders and said that “DoDEA is reviewing its current policies and DoDEA-adopted instructional resources to ensure compliance with applicable EOs and Department of Defense guidance.”
As a result, books and other material that potentially don’t comply with those orders are being pulled from classrooms and libraries for further review. The directive has a large reach; the Department of Defense Education Activity operates in several states and 11 countries, with more than 67,000 students from military families enrolled in its classes.
Pulled material include a chapter on sexuality and gender in Advanced Placement psychology classes for high school students as well as elementary school lessons on Albert Cashier, a Union soldier born as a woman but who fought in the Civil War as a man and identified as such for decades. Other pulled learning material include a chapter in the comprehensive health skills for middle school course and elementary school lessons and readings on how immigration affects the United States. “Becoming Nicole,” a nonfiction book about a transgender activist and her family, is also removed from the independent reading list for strategic literacy course for grades six through 12.
As a result of the new policy, DODEA also directed a review of books in school libraries. Any book “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” will be moved to library staff collection for further review, according to Griffin’s statement One email from the principal of Wiesbaden Middle School, also shared to social media, notes that no books can be checked out from the library at that school while its contents are reviewed. Teachers are also instructed to pull any book that is related to gender ideology or equity from their personal collections inside classrooms.
The email says that the school has until Feb. 18 to comply with the new directive. It’s unclear what would deem a book as “potentially” meeting that definition. It’s also not clear if any pulled books could be reinstated pending a review.
The move at DODEA is the latest in a sweeping effort across the federal government to remove material talking about diversity and equality from public sight or curriculum and messaging. Following Trump’s executive orders, the Department of Defense issued a similar order, with different military branches sending out specific directives to their members. The changes have led to confusion and pushback as some material targeted, such as a video about the famed Tuskegee Airmen, were pulled from Air Force recruits’ training.
The wide-ranging policy shift has already hit elements of the military’s academic world. Earlier this month the U.S. Military Academy at West Point disbanded a dozen cadet clubs centered around race, gender and sexuality. This week DODEA confirmed it would not be celebrating specific cultural awareness months — or what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called “identity months” — such as Black History Month in the wake of Hegseth’s ban on official commemorations.