Over the last few months, President Donald Trump has been deliberately moving relative moderates like Rex Tillerson and David Shulkin out of his administration and replacing them with such hardline conservatives as John Bolton and Mike Pompeo in what seems to be an effort to consolidate his power and assuage his ego. Trump stalwarts like Scott Pruitt and Betsy DeVos—despite pointed criticism of their performances and, in the former’s case, moral and ethical lapses—have survived these purges; DeVos, in particular, somehow seems to be untouchable.
On a recent episode of “60 Minutes,” I watched—and cringed—as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos embarrassed herself during her interview with Lesley Stahl. It wasn’t her stunning ignorance of educational issues or her general cluelessness that was most appalling; it was, chillingly, her seeming indifference for her duties to public education policy and her arrogance.
DeVos was unable to adequately answer questions about public school performance, the effect that funding charters has on public schools and the status of the American educational system worldwide. Her nonchalance in answering questions about complex issues dealing with discriminatory discipline, rights of transgender students and school violence was alarming. It was almost as if these issues seemed peripheral and superficial to her, begging the question: Why had someone so unfamiliar with the issues surrounding education chosen to make educational reform her mission in life?
DeVos is simply, by any metric, not qualified for her job. She has never taught or studied education and does not even visit struggling public schools in her home state. She could not answer basic questions about education policy at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing. The sole focus of her agenda is to privatize the public school system; this is why she chose to pursue the office of secretary of education even though she has been roundly criticized at every turn and is a lightning rod in the Trump cabinet. DeVos has been the subject of protests, walkouts and death threats, and goes around protected by a security detail.
DeVos’ Troublesome Affiliations
She has been affiliated with the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), the Alliance for School Choice, All Children Matter (despite its name, a conservative political action committee), the Acton Institute (an organization which advocates conservative and religion-based agendas) as well as various other charter school advocate groups. She’s also been affiliated with a group called Part of the Acton, whose mission statement mentions its desire is “to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles;” Acton also champions free market economic policy as influenced by its idea of Christian morality. The FEE has been linked to ALEC and The Bradley Center—conservative think tanks that advocate for privatization of public schools.
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In an interview with The Atlantic in January 2017, DeVos was quoted as saying, “My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right.” So what did DeVos buy with all that influence? She bought herself something to help her fulfill her vision of privatizing public education. She bought herself that job.
In her “60 Minutes” interview, DeVos complained that billions of dollars has been poured into a dysfunctional public education system and expressed her belief that charters and private schools can do better. When pressed by the reality that test scores in public schools have gone up, DeVos refused to acknowledge that fact. Instead of looking at the educational system as a whole, the secretary chose to single out the public school system for attack. Apparently, the values of “freedom” and “virtue” to which the secretary subscribes cannot be taught in public schools.
DeVos is a creature of privilege. She extols a vision of “a free and virtuous society… sustained by religious principles.” What that looks like to DeVos, a life-long billionaire who has never known want, is difficult to say. What understanding does she have of homeless families, grinding poverty or inner-city crime? What does she know about the diverse cultures within our cities? What does she know about the special education needs of some of our students? Not much, apparently.
What Can We Do?
Public schools are run by the people. They elect the school boards that administer all aspects of the school system. If board members don’t perform to the satisfaction of the people, the people replace them on Election Day. If the community has a problem with curriculum or instructional methods, the schools, administrators and teachers are called to account. This is not true in most privately run schools, where the curriculum, personnel and student enrollment are corporate decisions, not public ones. Private schools don’t have to teach about the realities of slavery, labor unions, climate change and evolution; some don’t. Private schools don’t have to hire licensed teachers; some don’t. Private schools don’t have to serve every student; some don’t.
This is why we must protect public schools. They have problems, yes, but they are problems we are addressing as citizens, not as customers going to the complaint desk. Giving public money and public control of our schools over to private interests is beyond dangerous. We cannot allow the institutions that teach and inform our children—our future voting-age population—to be controlled by corporate powers and the obscenely rich.
When Secretary of Education DeVos was asked during her “60 Minutes” interview about her involvement with under-performing public schools, her exchange with Leslie Stahl was as follows:
DeVos: I have not… I have not… I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.
Stahl: Maybe you should.
DeVos: Maybe I should. Yes.
Yes, Queen Betsy. It’s time to leave the fairytale playground that you bought with your family’s money and step into the real world of public education. Either that, or it’s time for you to get out of the way of the people you pretend to serve.
Geoff Carter is a former Milwaukee Public Schools teacher and is the author of a novel based on his experience, The P.S. Wars. He can be reached at www.geoffreymalcolmcarter.com.
