DOES BETSY DEVOS MEAN THE END OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN AMERICA?
Just How Out of the Mainstream is Trump’s Chosen Education Secretary?
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education, has long sought to end free public education and replace it with vouchers and for-profit charters — even though 85% of American kids attend public schools.
She and her family have spent a considerable amount of their $5 billion fortune trying to spread God’s kingdom in their Michigan schools and have created the largest voucher system for religious schools.
Separation of church and state in education is not something that DeVos believes in.
Diane Ravitch, Ph.D., a former Assistant Secretary of Education and long-time education historian, author and professor, points out in this week’s podcast that DeVos is so far out of the mainstream that even charter groups, like the Massachusetts Charter Movement, are opposing her nomination.
Dr. Ravitch tells host Jeff Schechtman that while DeVos can do considerable damage to our nation’s education system as well as staff and teacher morale, she won’t be able to do much about Trump’s long-time whipping post of Common Core.
A set of national standards evolved during the Obama administration, Common Core is directed by the individual states. It’s now beyond the control of the Department of Education.
All this upheaval comes at a time when technological and social disruption puts more pressure on the importance of a broad-based public education for the next generation.
Dr. Ravitch is the author of several books, including The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (Basic Books, 2016); Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (Vintage Books, 2014); The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (Vintage Books, 2003).
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