For nearly a decade, public schools have been under siege by politicians and pundits. The biggest salve before now was the fraudulent propaganda film “Waiting for Superman,” which gathered together all the lies about teachers, unions, “failing” public schools, and charter-schools-to-the rescue. It launched the full frontal attack, funded by Wall Street, the Waltons, Eli Broad, and Bill Gates. They didn’t want to “reform” public schools that needed help, they wanted to privatize as many public schools as possible, starting in the poorest neighborhoods, where there was the least political power to resist the attack.
Now, Betsy DeVos has brought the plan into the open and stripped it of any pretense of being part of the “civil rights movement.”
As Gail Collins of the New York Times wrote, it is “Trump’s War on Public Schools.” Readers of this blog know that Trump is the full-blown version of reform-that-dare-not-speak-its-name (Privatization).
It is wonderful to see Collins blow up Betsy DeVos as Trump’s disastrous cabinet choice for education, despite her lack of qualification. She goes into detail about the damage that DeVos has done to Michigan and Detroit–not with vouchers, but with unregulated, unaccountable charters.
One of the most disturbing things about the Trump administration is its antipathy toward public schools.
Perhaps you remember the president’s mini-rant in his inaugural speech about an “education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”
Well, Trump’s choice for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, is responsible for Michigan’s charter school boom, which currently costs the state about $1.1 billion a year. A 2014 investigation by The Detroit Free Press found myriad examples of “wasteful spending and double-dipping.” Thanks in large part to DeVos’s lobbying in the Legislature, there’s virtually no oversight. So much for the young and beautiful students.
Take that for a rant.
DeVos is stupendously rich, and a longtime crusader for charters, vouchers and using federal funds for religious education. She was once the Michigan Republican state chairwoman, a fact completely unconnected to the $200 million or so her family has donated to the party. She’s used all that clout to make Michigan a model of how not to improve public education.
Readers of this blog know about her embarrassing performance before the Senate HELP committee. Collins sums up:
We have two problems here. One is that DeVos is obviously unqualified. While it was nice to learn that she “mentors students,” that’s not really a great preparation for running a 4,400-employee organization with a $68 billion budget. She has never actually worked in a school system or managed a large institution — she and her husband became billionaires through the old-fashioned strategy of having stupendously rich parents.
DeVos’s big selling point for Republicans is her manic devotion to charter schools. There are, of course, some great charters around the country. But there are also some terrible ones, and she is deeply unenthusiastic about any system that would weed out the losers.
She invested in K-12 Inc., the cybercharter company where students learn less each year. The bottom line is that she was picked to harm public schools. As Trump might tweet, “So sad.”
Wow…The NY Times finally got it right, but it won’t matter. This legislature is purchased body and soul, by the oligarchs, the dynastic wealth who own the judicial, legislative an now the executive office.
Public education is over!
The disgusting NYT has for more than 16 years supported all of this education reform, charters, and privaitizatio . . . you name it for the most part. Now all of a sudden that the NYT’s valuing of identity politics is under threat, it deciding to jump on the pro-public education band wagon.
The NYT blows with only the winds that don’t threaten it, not popular sentiment. Just ask the editorial Board at the NYT.
It is true that the “NY Times” have flip flopped a great deal. I am just happy that they recently started covering the negative side of reform, both Success Academy and the disastrous DeVos. The good news is that the NYT has a wide distribution that will be read by many people, and we need for the public to get this information. There is strength in numbers, and people need to see harmful impact of privatization.
May the covering of Trump’s appointee actions become very profitable and thus encourage journalists to actually EXPOSE realities which they have heretofore avoided.
Good point, Retired Teacher. The glass may be seen as half full.
It ain’t over ’till it’s over. Why are we giving up? Time to get on the phone who can be persuaded to put a hold on her nomination. It’s time for sit-ins at your senator’s local office. Make a big noise!
People who do not understand the POWER of Public Education are living in the DARK AGES.
Once again, Diane is spot on. This is it:
“DeVos has brought the plan into the open and stripped it of any pretense of being part of the ‘civil rights movement.’ …Trump is the full-blown version of reform-that-dare-not-speak-its-name (Privatization).”
After NCLB and RTTT, the only question is how the federal gov will muck it up this time. I thought Trump wanted to get rid of education at the federal level?
A “close reading” of ESSA shows how many ways DeVos can continue to “muck up” public education, not counting guidance letters and regulations that Trump can remove by executive order. The budget will probably show what parts of the federal architecture can be dismantled–assuming there is enough institutional knowledge about the moveable and removable furniture and what is hard-wired, like IDEA. IDEA of course was a mystery to the only nominee to head USDE. Look for some migration of officers in major foundations and think tanks into USDE so they can continue to manage federal policy (while pretending not to).
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé.
Whenever I see Waiting for Superman referred to, it makes me wonder what Oprah thinks, now, about charter schools. Has she donated “to the cause” since 2010? Her own school(s) (?) closed down. I wonder if she would come out and tell the truth, now.
Whether or not DeVos is confirmed, the fight continues. Too bad that too few have seen the light as Ms. Ravitch has. Ms. Ravitch, you are a crusader for good. Thank you.
I have long been an admirer of Peter Downs…I always had a feeling that his election to the st. louis school board in 2006 (reportedly outspent by a 7-1 margin) caused an explosive response from Mayor Slay, which led to the takeover and promotion of charter schools…..the irony being that the idiotic damage which began with hiring a superintendent for five million dollars in 2003 is regularly ignored in favor of blaming the easy to demonize school board by 2007. Fake history, extraordinarily dishonest…..but I was absolutely flabbergasted when I discovered his 35,000 word essay, 11 chapters, detailing what was done before he was elected. https://focusmidwest.com/this-is-reform/ (this is reform?) Peter has remained ahead of the curve…..his (not very complimentary) review of “waiting for superman” was removed when the source was taken over by Public Radio…unless I made a mistake on my search. He was allowed to write “Schoolhouse Shams: Myths and Misinformation in School Reform …” , he has written about Ferguson, and a surprising essay for the wall street journal. The post dispatch asked him to write a report of what the Missouri state tests were covering in september of 2013. School performance reviews mislead : News – stltoday.com The Post Dispatch has never asked him to write another word since.