The Department of Education just unveiled a massive banner honoring the late Charlie Kirk as one of America’s “heroes in American education.” The banner hangs from the building’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., right next to Booker T. Washington and Catharine Beecher. Additional banners on the building reportedly feature Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Anne Sullivan.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at 31 during a politically motivated shooting at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. His killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, faces charges including aggravated murder. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
The tribute is part of a broader initiative celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. A banner beside Kirk’s image reads: “Empowering our states to tell the stories of our heroes in American education.”
There’s just one thing.
Walking along the Mall. First time I’ve seen the Charlie Kirk banner on the Department of Education. pic.twitter.com/m1j0iJMwfC
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) March 1, 2026
Kirk never finished college
Charlie Kirk dropped out of Harper College, a community college in Palatine, Illinois. He never earned a degree. He went on to build Turning Point USA into one of the largest conservative youth organizations in the country — but he did it while actively arguing that college itself was a waste of time and money.
In 2022, he published The College Scam: How America’s Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America’s Youth. The book lays out what Kirk framed as a ten-count indictment against higher education. He argued that universities had become factories for ideological indoctrination, not learning.
When he appeared on Fox News to promote the book, his pitch was blunt: “What is that piece of paper really going to do for you?”
His advice to young men in particular was even more direct — skip the four-year degree entirely and pursue entrepreneurship instead. He acknowledged some exceptions for doctors, lawyers, and engineers, but called them “a huge minority of people that go to colleges.”
Kirk wasn’t whispering this. He made it the centerpiece of his public identity. Turning Point USA grew to over 2,500 campus chapters, and Kirk himself became one of the most engaged voices on social media, reaching over 100 million people per month. President Trump and Vice President Vance both credited him with helping them win the 2024 election.
The people sharing that building told a different story
The Department of Education chose to honor Kirk alongside some of the most consequential figures in American education history.
Booker T. Washington — whose banner hangs right next to Kirk’s — was born into slavery and went on to found the Tuskegee Institute, one of the most important historically Black colleges in American history. He dedicated his life to expanding educational access for Black Americans at a time when the country was determined to deny it.
Catharine Beecher, also beside Kirk on the building’s facade, championed women’s education in the 19th century and founded multiple schools for women when most of the country believed women didn’t need formal schooling.
Other banners on the building feature Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Sullivan — who spent years teaching Helen Keller to read and write, pioneering special education — and Benjamin Franklin, who founded Philadelphia’s first public library and supported schooling for enslaved and free Black children.
These are people who fought to get more Americans into classrooms. Kirk built a career telling them to stay out.
The internet noticed
The image went viral after journalist David Weigel posted a photo of the banners while walking along the National Mall. As of Monday morning, the post has been viewed over 2.5 million times.
One reply from @JoJoFromJerz cut straight to the point: “Charlie Kirk dropped out of community college.”
Critics called the decision a rewriting of history and questioned the use of taxpayer dollars for what they described as partisan messaging on a federal building. Some pointed out that earlier this year, the Department of Justice had already unveiled a separate banner featuring a photo of President Trump.
Supporters, meanwhile, argued Kirk’s influence on young conservative voters represented a legitimate contribution to civic education — even if it happened outside of a classroom.
Charlie kirk on college is a scam.
Woah he drove 4 hours Just to prove charlie’s point pic.twitter.com/nRyi6wYDc4
— Caroline (@car_oline2001) November 15, 2025
The contradiction the Department of Education didn’t address
The Department praised Kirk for building “one of America’s most active 21st-century youth movements” and for encouraging young people to “engage one another directly, debate ideas openly, and develop the knowledge needed to participate confidently in public life.”
That may all be true. But the man who called college a scam is now hanging on the side of a building dedicated to education, next to people who gave their lives to make education accessible.
Nobody at the Department of Education has explained how those two things fit together.