What Do We Know About Betsy DeVos' Extreme Agenda, One Year In?
DeVos continues to be painted as an unqualified naif. The truth is much scarier.
In the latest episode of the Have You Heard podcast, AlterNet education contributor Jennifer Berkshire and co-host Jack Schneider examine the DeVos education agenda, one year in. They revisit some of her most controversial statements, including her comparison of public education to food trucks and her infamous hat tip to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Among their key takeaways: while DeVos continues to be painted as an inexperienced naif, she is a profoundly political actor, and deeply involved in the efforts to transform the U.S. along right-wing, libertarian lines.
The following is an edited transcript. Listen to the entire episode.
Have You Heard: Betsy DeVos is fond of invoking Uber as a model for how public education should be 'disrupted.' What does her fondness for this particular analogy tell us about her larger vision?
Jack Schneider: In remarks DeVos made at the Brookings Institution in the spring, she likened traditional public schools to taxicabs, arguing that “just like the traditional taxi system revolted against ride sharing, the education establishment feel[s] threatened by the rise of school choice.”
What’s so telling about this statement isn’t just the comparison of educating a young person to driving someone from point A to point B. It’s also the implication that there are lots of choices out there. DeVos lists them for us: Uber Pool, Uber X, Lyft Line, Lyft Plus. So far I really only hear two options. If we unpack this What Do We Know About Betsy DeVos' Extreme Agenda, One Year In? | Alternet:
