The conservative media has mobilized to defend Betsy DeVos against the emerging portrait of her as a voucher-loving, out-of-touch billionaire who wants to privatize public funding and replace public schools with charter schools and religious schools.
Mercedes Schneider describes some of the rehabilitation attempts. One of them appears in the current issue of EdNext, whose editors are affiliated with the conservative Hoover Institution (disclosure: I was once on the editorial board of EdNext).
Having a sharp eye, Schneider scrutinized the photograph of DeVos that accompanied the article. She made a discovery: DeVos is looking at carpet samples! This is a strange way to portray a woman who is trying to establish her credentials as an “educator” or a serious person who cares about issues. Carpet samples? Was she redecorating the drawing room?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I feel there is an Onion story in this somewhere! But, seriously, is nothing more important than something soft and comfy under foot??
That really is funny.
The truth is this person is an absolute mystery to anyone outside Michigan politics or the cloistered confines of the “ed reform movement” – that’s compounded by the fact she has no resume and no track record with public education.
The burden is on Betsy DeVos to explain to the public her plans for public education. This notion that ordinary people have some duty to gather information and decode what she’s told various ed reform groups is just nonsense. She’s a job applicant.
Why, it’s a portrait of the vita contemplativa! Who knew the Oracle of Delphi manifests in carpet swatches? I don’t know about you, but I’m headed for the nearest floor coverings store for enlightenment and edification!
This is just the epitome of corporate ed reformers, isn’t it? Who needs professional educators? School choice is as easy as choosing carpet samples.
I’m actually pleased they chose DeVos to lead ed reform. She’s an unapologetic promoter of private schools and charter schools over public schools.
I welcome the clarity and I commend her for sparing us the nonsense about how she’s “agnostic”
She’s opposed to public schools. She prefers privatized systems. Now that we’re clear we can have an actual debate.
The question up for debate is as follows:
“should the United States privatize existing public school systems and replace them with publicly funded private contractors?” I have no idea why we’ve spent 15 years pretending we’re debating something else.
Chiara: what you said.
It would be sooooo refreshing to actually hear a shotcaller/enforcer/ideologue of corporate education reform actually say what’s on her/his mind!
Although rumor has it that truth in labeling has consequences…
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But on an unrelated note: I fear people may be overreacting to the photo.
Don’t you think the vast majority of students aka OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, would benefit from the [self-proclaimed] benignly possessive noblesse oblige of Betsy DeVos? I mean, if she is willing to treat the future hewers of wood and drawers of water with the same care she gives to picking carpet samples, there’s gotta be something good that will come out of that dontcha think? Look, they might even be so divinely favored as to work for Amway someday so let’s all just keep on the sunny side and not jump to realistic conclusions when rheeality beckons…
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I’m sort of curious what happens after ed reformers reach their goals and we go to backpack vouchers. What happens if 80% of people stay in public schools?
Do they still oppose public schools and run political campaigns against them? THAT’S a little nutty, don’t you think?
Or, will the cleansing power of ‘choice’ somehow redeem public schools and make them ideologically acceptable in The Movement? If you were opposed to “government schools” prior to paying for them with a voucher won’t you still be opposed to them after vouchers?
Perhaps DeVos is looking for a magic carpet to help her launch horrible education plans, or maybe it’s a symbol for the carpet bombing she intends to unleash on public schools. In any case the photo demonstrates the staged phoniness of DeVos as the leader of the DOE. Maybe she believes she will become the “decorator of education.”
If I met DeVos I would ask her why she feels comfortable telling lower and middle class they need to “retrain” constantly during their entire working lives to meet the demands of the 21st century economy when she never did that. She has the same bachelor’s degree she entered the workforce with. The truth is only lower and middle class people have to “retrain”. All of the people telling them to do it just get a college degree and then go on to 30 year careers without ever again training in anything.
It seems like if they’re telling 40 year old machinists to spend nights and weekends at the community college they might want to try that themselves.
How is DeVos qualified to work in the “21st century” let alone lead others in this “new global economy”? She didn’t lack the means to retrain, so why didn’t she do it?
One of the privileges of wealth, is that you need not have any education. (example: Henry Ford).
I am a telecommunications engineer. I learned mathematics using a slide rule, and I learned computer programming using punch-cards.
I have had to continually retrain, for my entire career. Without retraining, I would be as useless as a buggy-whip maker, or a livery-stable operator.
A carpet bagger looking, pensively, at carpet. DeVos owes Ohio $5 mil.
DeVos is well…fill in the blanks…who in just a glorified thief.