By Jeanette Sandoval
“He alone who owns the youth, gains the future,” said Adolf Hitler at the 1935 Nuremburg Rally.
It would unfair to compare newly-confirmed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to Hitler. She is not anywhere near as smart as Der Fuhrer. For that, at least, we should be glad.
DeVos is easily one of the least-qualified, least-capable and least-prepared cabinet secretaries ever. Most Southwestern College administrators or faculty would be more competent.
DeVos, admittedly, chose her parents and husband well.
She is the daughter of a billionaire industrialist, wife of a billionaire entrepreneur and co-owner of the Orlando Magic. She is qualified in the eyes of Trump because she is rich.
In the hours following DeVos’ confirmation hearing, millions of Americans realize how unqualified the Secretary of Education nominee was.
During DeVos’ first confirmation hearing,Washington Senator Patty Murray said she immediately received 36 letters signed from 133 organizations expressing opposition. Thousands more followed. A spokesman for California Senator Kamala Harris said her office received almost 2,000 calls opposing the nomination of DeVos days after her first confirmation hearing.
DeVos was sworn in after Vice President Mike Pence broke the 50-50 vote.
Public schools, already treated as the Republican government’s ugly stepchild, will take further kicks to the head from DeVos, a veteran teacher basher and charter schools kook. She has zero experience in education and has no business making decisions about the public school system she loathes. DeVos is part of Trump’s campaign to make the rich richer at the expense of the rest of us. She will dispense billions of our dollars to phony, flimsy charter schools owned by her friends.
DeVos wants to privatize public education, America’s greatest ever idea. It was government-funded compulsory public education that fired the American IndustrialAge in the 1880s and made this country a world economic power.
DeVos is worse than a hack, she is dangerous. Her $200 million donation to the Republican Party in 2016 bought her an undeserved cabinet post. Now she has her foot on the throat of America’s school children.
As Secretary of Education DeVos controls FAFSA, the gateway to higher education for working class America. Multi-billionaires like DeVos do not sweat FAFSA, but millions of the rest of us do. Trump has promised to reduce FAFSA funding, essential support for millions of talented, but low-income students.
The Secretary’s web page is drenched with promises to privatize education and provide taxpayer-funded scholarships to religious private schools – most of which are staples of incompetence, flat earthers and anarchists.
“Above all, I believe every child, no matter their zip code or their parents’ jobs, deserves access to a quality education,” postures DeVos on her website. She forgot to add the disclaimer saying, “J.K. public school children. Get along with less while I skim off billions of your dollars.”
DeVos said she will rewind the clock to a time with no Individuals With Disabilities Act and no Title IX. Students’ civil rights will be left to individual states, meaning California students may be okay, but kids in Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, Kansas and other backwards Fauknerian states will take a savage beating.
DeVos is as loopy as she is vacuous. During a confirmation hearing she said guns in school may be a good idea because of “grizzly bears.” (Really, YouTube it.)
During her initial hearing the ethics review was not finished. It should not have taken long because DeVos is devoid of ethics. She is an agent of wacky evangelicals and right-wingers who believe in sky gods, magical angels and no taxes, but deny climate change, the efficacy of vaccinations and the harmful effects of societal violence.
“Making American education great again” was the official slogan of the DeVos website.
My goodness, where did she ever come up with such a creative, meaningful and inspiring message? Oh, right, The Donald.
DeVos is not qualified to run a rural PTA and should set foot in the USDOE only when visiting on a tour. U.S. education needs a strong leader, not a political donor. In a pool of dreadful cabinet appointments, DeVos is possibly the worst. Trump gets a big fat F for this outlandish appointment.
