A March 9 video clip of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten speaking at a World Economic Forum (WEF) panel showcased her advocating for the organization’s role in shaping educational curricula in America. In the footage, Weingarten discusses partnerships between education, labor, government, and industry to create “pathways” for students post-high school or college, emphasizing the need for integrated curricula. She specifically asks, “How do [we] use the WEF to create this kind of integrated network so that we’re all working together” to ensure opportunities for living-wage jobs in sectors such as advanced manufacturing?
In July 2025, she announced the American Federation of Teachers’ partnership with the WEF to develop a manufacturing curriculum aimed at preparing one million young people for supply-chain roles by 2035. The “SmartStart USA” program, launched in collaboration with governors, industry leaders, and educators, focuses on industry-aligned skills, hands-on experience, and certifications. Weingarten has framed this as essential for bridging education and workforce needs, but critics argue it invites international bodies to standardize U.S. schooling, prioritizing globalism over national interests.
The Gates Foundation’s Role
Weingarten’s comments are right out of the textbook for homogenized global education, reminiscent of efforts such as the controversial Common Core State Standards (CCSS), initiated in the United States in 2008. Funded heavily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — with more than $200 million invested — Common Core aimed to establish uniform benchmarks in math and English. It had been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia by 2012. Gates championed it under the pretext of ensuring “college- and career-ready” standards, arguing it would facilitate innovation and mobility. However, it insults national histories and cultural values as “parochial,” and instead fosters the “global citizen” mindset of Agenda 2030’s Sustainable Development Goal 4.7. The aim also aligns with international assessments such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Gates’ foundation has supported global education initiatives through the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and OECD, blatantly promoting fabricated “competency” standards in areas such as sustainability and equity. (Whatever happened to the three R’s?) The overarching goal was to have all students of the world learning standardized content — e.g., shared narratives on climate change or globalization — designed to erode cultural distinctions via a uniform planetary curriculum. Weingarten, who endorsed Common Core early on, shares this bias, and the American Federation of Teachers supported its implementation. Her recent WEF advocacy continues this trajectory, as seen in AFT’s “National Academy for AI Instruction” with tech giants such as Microsoft and OpenAI.
Global Citizens in a One-world Government
While proponents argue such standardization prepares youth for an interconnected world, the real goal is the formation of “global citizens” and the “world republic,” which Francis Bacon articulated in his book The New Atlantis in 1627. This utopian vision of a borderless, one-world government has had surprising tenacity throughout the centuries, first emerging in the Rosicrucian circles that Bacon trafficked in, then passing to the Fabian socialists of England in the 19th century, and on to the architects of the United Nations in the 20th century. H.G. Wells (himself a Fabian socialist) openly wrote about this “world republic,” and would doubtless be pleased that Randi Weingarten and the World Economic Forum are intent on realizing Bacon’s dream of a borderless, knowledge-driven technocracy.
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