Almost everyone in Trump’s cabinet has experience with public education—except the education secretary Betsy DeVos — Quartz

Almost everyone in Trump’s cabinet has experience with public education—except the education secretary Betsy DeVos — Quartz:

Almost everyone in Trump’s cabinet has experience with public education—except the education secretary

Among the myriad of objections leveled at Betsy DeVos, US president Donald Trump’s pick to lead American public education, the most stark is the fact that she’s never actually attended a public high school or university. Nor have her four children.

The criticism becomes all the sharper when looking at Trump’s overall cabinet, which at this point is almost completely assembled.

Position	Individual	Public high school and/or university attended
President	Donald Trump	—
Vice president	Mike Pence	Columbus North High School
Chief of staff	Reince Priebus	Trempler High School, University of Wisconsin
Homeland security	John Kelly	University of Massachusetts
Defense	James Mattis	Richland High School; Central Washington University
CIA	Mike Pompeo	US Military Academy
State	Rex Tillerson	University of Texas at Austin
Housing and urban development	Ben Carson	Detroit Public Schools
Transportation	Elaine Chao	Syosset High School
UN ambassador	Nikki Haley	Clemson University
Energy	Rick Perry	Paint Creek Independent School District; Texas A&M University
Commerce	Wilbur Ross	—
Interior	Ryan Zinke	Whitefish High School; University of Oregon
Education	Betsy DeVos	—
Attorney general	Jeff Sessions	Wilcox Central High School
Treasury	Steve Mnuchin	—
Environmental protection agency	Scott Pruitt	University of Kentucky
Small business administration	Linda McMahon	New Bern High School; East Carolina University
Budget director	Mick Mulvaney	—
Health and human services	Tom Price	Dearborn High School; University of Michigan
Labor	Andy Puzder	Kent State University
Director of national intelligence	Dan Coats	Jackson High School
US trade representative	Robert Lighthizer	—
Agriculture	Sonny Perdue	Warner Robins High School; University of Georgia
Veterans affairs	David Shulkin*	—

*Shulkin attended a private university. The details of his high school are not available.

With the exception of DeVos, Trump himself, and just a handful of others, most of Trump’s administration have had some form of experience with American public education, whether that’s graduating from public high schools or attending public universities. And that’s even given their absurd wealth (Trump’s cabinet picks have more money than a third of American households combined), and the fact that affluent people usually gravitate toward private schooling.

DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who favors the idea that federal money should go to independent schools as well as public ones, was called out as an ill-fitting choice to lead the US Education Department from the start—and now the awkwardness is all the more apparent. She attended a private Christian high school in Michigan, then a private liberal arts college.

She also failed at her own confirmation hearing to understand basic education terms or take a stance on issues such as student-performance accountability and campus sexual assault. If her appointment is Almost everyone in Trump’s cabinet has experience with public education—except the education secretary Betsy DeVos — Quartz: