Anya Kamenetz, who reports on education for NPR, said that Betsy DeVos is the most controversial of Trump’s nominees, and she wonders why. Some people don’t like her live of privatization, charters, and vouchers. Some people say she is unqualified but then so is Dr. Ben Carson, and he hasn’t generated so much opposition. Some say the unions are stirring up opposition. Some people want to protect their public schools against a woman who doesn’t like public schools.
Ah! But Kamenetz found two people who said that the opposition is multiplied by gender bias. Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute (funded by the DeVos family) says so.
I am not opposed to DeVos because she is a woman. I am opposed to her because she has the capacity to harm a foundational democratic institution. She believes in privatization. She supports vouchers. She may impose creationism when she can. I can think of many reasons to oppose her, but gender is not one of them.
She can do much more harm to our democracy and our children than Dr. Carson.
Let Anya know if you have a reason to oppose her nomination other than her gender.
@anya1anya
That is Anya 1 Anya
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I would oppose any person, male or female, who has no experience with the public school system, who has made negative comments about public schools, and who has displayed such animus toward the teaching profession. Gender has nothing to do with it.
LikeLike
Agree Anne…and who is vapid and ignorant…and trades only on her ability to buy off legislators and then brags about it…
Even women can be worthless jerks.
LikeLike
Just came to me from a local politico….
Action Alert
(Please circulate widely)
Starting calling now …
Call the Senate Committee on Homeland Security to record your opposition to the appointment of Trump’s right-hand man Steve Bannon to the National Security Council. When you call, be sure to leave your name, state, and zip code.
202-224-4751
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security will be tallying support and opposition all weekend, so please put your call in to say something along the lines of “Having an anti-immigrant xenophobe on the National Security Council is unacceptable. Please take immediate action to prevent him from serving on the National Security Council, and to prevent the removal of more experienced staff from the National Security Council” or “A bigoted person who urges to that our government must totally collapse, should not be on the NSC, and only the Joint Chiefs should be giving the President information and advice, not this biased Breitbart agitator.”
If you get a voicemail, be sure to leave your zip code in the message. If you speak to a live person, they should request your zip code.
Note, those who serve on the National Security Council weigh in on targeted killings, both foreign and domestic!
Bannon is a disaster and has far too much power.
LikeLike
LMAO, gender bias? Many could say the attack on public schools over the years has been an attack on woman since a higher percentage of woman are public school teachers compared to men. And their now saying poor Betsy is a victim of gender bias? Holy cow, you have to be kidding me?
LikeLike
I have said for years that many of the unreasonable state or federal level mandates have been leveled against a profession that is largely women. No other profession would issue a life-long license and then tell those same teachers that they now need to renew every five years. This happened in Mass in the 1990’s and teachers didn’t say anything because a) it would look like we didn’t want to do Profesional Development and b) we are mostly women who learn to just adapt to many difficult circumstances.
the Women’s March on January 21, might be an indication that women are done being complacent to keep the peace.
LikeLike
When the very core of our democracy is under a full-frontal attack, women are rising up to be the leaders in restoring justice and reason. I heard of no violent incidents in any of the cities world-wide that participated in the Women’s March, showing that women can be a vehicle for change and do it peacefully. Even if it means standing up against another woman who represents corporate interests before people’s interests.
LikeLike
It’s rich that these people NOW decry gender discrimination, when they all championed a man with horrific misogynist ideology over a very qualified woman. They can’t have it both ways.
LikeLike
Maggie Hassan (democratic senator from New Hampshire) has an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times entitled “Why I Won’t Vote for Betsy DeVos” in which she enumerates her reasons for opposing DeVos.
“Our nation recognized early in its history that public education is a necessary foundation for a democracy. It’s critical that we continue to support a strong public education system that prepares our young people, all of them, to participate in our democracy and compete on a fair footing in the work force.
“For this reason, our public officials should share a reverence for the importance of public education to our country’s success, both now and in the future. And they must show a commitment to enforcing our laws so that all students have the opportunity to succeed.
“That is why I oppose President Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. Throughout her confirmation process, Ms. DeVos has demonstrated a complete lack of experience in, knowledge of and support for public education. Instead, it is clear that she would pursue policies that would undermine public schools, in my home state of New Hampshire and across our nation.
She concludes with:
“Thousands of my constituents have called my office about this nomination, and nearly all have voiced concerns that Ms. DeVos is completely unqualified to serve as secretary of education. Two of my Republican colleagues have also announced their opposition. This leaves just one more vote needed to defeat her nomination.
“I hope there is another senator willing to break with the president and vote against this woefully unqualified nominee. We must listen to the thousands speaking up for our children and the public education system that serves all Americans.
No mention of gender . . . just the complete lack of qualifications. Now if she can only get that one remaining vote.
LikeLike
Also, I have always wondered why Gloria Allred and N.O.W. have sat on the sidelines for many years while females teachers have been hammered, by mostly males politicians, with accountability. They’re silent.
LikeLike
Allred only takes high profile and newsworthy cases that get her on the evening news. She does not take genuine female bias cases such in real property lenders demanding higher down payments for property purchase from females. Allred is a case in self aggrandizing for cash.
LikeLike
Dennis, after reading your comment, I do wonder if the teacher “accountability” movement is about misogyny. After many years of marriage, and talking with my wife about her life, I have seen how women are victimized in subtle and subversive ways.
LikeLike
As I recall, I opposed Arnie Duncan and Jon King too. Not only are they men, they are Democrats, the party to which I putatively–if tentatively–belong. Furthermore, I oppose all of Trump’s nominees, but the one I oppose least is Nikki Haley, who is a woman.
So I don’t buy this. I oppose Betsy DeVos because she is a callow heiress who believes (Jane Meyer, in “Dark Money” quoted her on this) her money entitles her to political power. I oppose her because she has absolutely no qualifications–save her money–for her post.
LikeLike
I’ll just ask this again: if DeVos had said the things she’s said about public schools about charter schools, would she have even be considered for this job?
Why is it okay for her to designate a huge group of schools as “dead ends”? If she had said anything as negative about charter schools the entire ed reform movement would be up in arms. Why is there a double standard?
I guess I’m just tired of hearing public schools dismissed with derogatory terms like “status quo” and “government schools” and “dead ends” – I don’t get what that’s okay.
I’m told again and again that these folks are “agnostics” but their own words contradict them. It’s rational to infer that a person who refers to public schools as “dead ends” is anti-public schools. What’s irrational is denying that. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt. I’m basing my impression on what she says. I don’t have anything else to go on.
This was raised at her hearing. Her supporters assured us “her heart” was in the right place. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know her personally. They can’t expect us to ignore everything she says and somehow impute (good) intentions to negative statements.
She is secretly a supporter of public schools? Is that it? Why do I have to guess?
LikeLike
If she says she supports public schools, consider that an alternate fact
LikeLike
I consider these types of statements to be imaginary facts.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
I am only opposed to her being completely unqualified with a biased agenda.
LikeLike
“After DeVos’s nomination, the editorial-page editor of the Free Press, Stephen Henderson—whose own children attend a high-performing charter school—wrote a searing indictment of Detroit’s experiment. “This deeply dysfunctional education landscape—where failure is rewarded with opportunities for expansion and ‘choice’ means the opposite for tens of thousands of children—is no accident,” he wrote. “It was created by an ideological lobby that has zealously championed free-market education reform for decades, with little regard for the outcome.” DeVos was at the center of that lobby; her lodestar, Henderson wrote, “has been her conviction that any nontraditional public school is better than a traditional one, simply because it is not operated by government.”
So I’m asking. Is it a problem if DeVos believes “any” nontraditional school is better than a traditional school, given that 90% of kids attend traditional schools?
I mean, I guess the US Department of Education CAN be opposed to the schools 90% of kids attend, but I don’t know why I would support that. It’s crazy.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/betsy-devos-and-the-plan-to-break-public-schools
LikeLike
OK. Then how about Trump does it the way he did with the Supreme Court justice–like a reality show. He could bring in Diane or Linda Darling Hammond or Debbie Meier and the people who have jammed the phone lines of Senators across the country could decide.
LikeLike
Yeah, sure sounds like a gender issue. Reminds me of the outrage people felt when a stake was driven into Dracula– taking to the streets to denounce Vampire bias.
LikeLike
Of course poor Betsy is a victim of gender bias and worst yet, she is a Christian in America who when not confronted with the war on Christmas is constantly being subjected to religious persecution.
LikeLike
DeVos is hardly a victim. She proved she is unfit and unprepared for the job, but it doesn’t matter as she writes checks to the “right” people. DeVos is a predator, and public schools are her prey.
LikeLike
YES
LikeLike
Reblogged this on BLOGGYWOCKY and commented:
I don’t care if she is female, male, or anything else. I care that she is a right-wing ideologue with no actual education experience who seems to be determined to denigrate and destroy public schools (which over 90 % of children attend) and use taxpayer dollars taken from those schools to support non-publicly accountable charter schools, private schools, for-profit schools…..then yes, I oppose her, and not because of her gender.
And I am not impressed at all that someone from the American Enterprise Institute thinks it’s “gender bias.” AEI is a conservative think tank, and they will use any bogus argument they can think of to support another conservative.
LikeLike
Agree Zorba…and AEI was founded on DeVos cash donation.
LikeLike
I don’t follow AEI. Did they support Trump? Did they bash Clinton? Then they have NO RIGHT to claim gender bias in this case.
LikeLike
AEI is a DC-based think tank that celebrates free enterprise and deregulation. It does not endorse candidates.
LikeLike
Dr. Ben Carson’s lack of knowlege will not directly affect people like the harm that Ed Sec Arne Duncan has already done and he should have been able to know better. Most voters follow Ed Dept more than many of the other departments. The difference is the high profile of Ed Dept.
LikeLike
Dr Ben Carson didn’t spend 30 years specifically lobbying against an existing system of public housing.
It’s fine. I suppose we can all get used to a US Department of Education where the Secretary opposes public schools.
Seems ludicrous and completely counter-productive to me, but what do I know.
I’m almost curious to see this in action. Will they come to our cities and towns to oppose our schools or will this campaign be conducted from DC? Are we supposed to be happy about paying them to do it? That seems like a bridge too far. They must think we’re extremely generous people.
LikeLike
If DeVos comes to town, prepare to picket
She might do to your town what she did to Detroit
LikeLike
We are not expecting her in Newark.
LikeLike
DeVos can be, both, the worst candidate ever put forth by an administration and, be especially loathed for being a woman, by some who oppose her.
If DeVos had been as unfit for President as Trump’s is, had run and won the electoral vote for President, I would conclude, her gender did not factor in.
LikeLike
To say DeVos is being picked on because she’s a woman shows a complete lack of understanding of the qualifications and experience needed to do the job. Anyone who knows and respects the American public education system would understand that it can’t be run by an incompetent person, man or woman. I would venture to say that some people do not consider the Dept. of Education to be important enough to warrant the hiring of an experienced supporter of public education. These are the very same people who think that teachers are highly paid babysitters. The nomination of DeVos felt like a slap in the face to this 47 year veteran of public education. The element that put her there is the same element that has little or no respect for teaching. If any idiot can teach, than any idiot can run the department, male or female. After all, it’s not rocket science, right? Then who taught the rocket scientists?
LikeLike
NPR is no friend to public education. I have yet to hear anything critical of the Corporate “reform” movement come from them. So, to hear them decry gender bias at this point seems specious to me. Set me straight if NPR has been a friend of public education.
LikeLiked by 1 person
sadly true
LikeLike
I oppose her because she neither understands nor respects FAPE. She supports states’ rights but not children’s civil rights as evidenced by her comment that federal funds for special education could be allocated to the states. Boy, will she stir up a hornet’s nest if she tries that.
LikeLike
They want us to think it is the “Unions” and the teachers. Its the parents, its the students, its anyone who knows anything about Devos’s lack of experience and devotion to privatizing and closing public schools. This is just a low blow to now say she’s being insulted because of her gender, and to get women to fall in line. Shame on Hess; what a turd.
LikeLike
Hess has a dog in the race. He co-wrote, with an external affairs manager of a Gates-funded organization, “…reformers…declare ‘We’ve got to blow up the ed schools.’ ” The article continues with a plan for the wealthy to exert influence in universities. The title of the Philanthropy Roundtable article implies the rich own America’s universities, “Don’t Surrender the Academy”.
LikeLike
Thad Domina does not realize the damage he is doing. He has nothing other than his opinion to support his quote. It is a distraction, a diversion from the real substantive issues.
LikeLike
Domina’s twitter feed announced Dr. David Figlio’s appointment as Dean of Northwestern School of Ed. and Social Policy. Figlio’s c.v. shows a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant. Figlio’s research last year surprised the Fordham Foundation by its finding that Ohio vouchers were a failure. In contrast to media reports about the research, the study did not reach findings about the benefit of school choice.
LikeLike
After the last two men that have served in this office, I would gladly have supported a qualified female to serve as Secretary of Education. The problem is, Ms. Devos is not only unqualified, but she is dangerous.Her lack of knowledge about even the most basic education policies or laws is appalling. Her influence in Detroit Public Schools further damaged an already struggling urban district. The Senate needs to vote no on her nomination. The future of public schools and our children’s education depends upon it.
‘
LikeLike
president knew what he was doing picking an anti-environment person for the environment and an anti-labor person for labor. They may be destructive but destructive in areas they know something about (so they know how to destruct it).
Is it any surprise the president selected two people completely out of their field in devos and Carson. The sole female and sole African-American – both set up for failure.
She had the audacity to respond to the Senator from Connecticut of all places that schools should not be gun free zones.
She confused IDEA. With what? In one response she managed to offend and disrespect about 13-18% of the parents of children with disabilities in schools. That’s an opt-out number on steroids and every one needs to call their Senator and then call their House rep and force them to declare their support or not.
Her grizzly bear response was just stupid. Her ignorance about schools is so bad she was on message about guns and could not come up with a reason why anyone in school should be armed. She’s so out of touch she doesn’t even realize there are school shootings out there that prompt the gun toters to want to arm the schools.
Attacks on her have nothing to do with gender nor would attacks on Dr. Carson have anything to do with race. They are complete mismatches for their jobs. (Unllike the others who are mismatches but know full well what they are talking about so they can destroy it).
What’s sad and not surprising is that these two will be sacrificed leaving only the good old white boys around the table.
LikeLike
Not to worry. Dr. Carson will be confirmed. Maybe Billionaire Betsy unless there is a Republican with a conscience
LikeLike
Great insight, Jonathan…right on. They will know how to destroy their agencies rapidly. And as to the female and Black surgeon, another good call that I had not considered. Such villainy.
LikeLike
She’s not the sole female, though. Elaine Chow has also been nominated. She’s McConnell’s wife, so there’s that whole issue, but DeVos is not the only female.
LikeLike
Chow has been in government for a long time and at least she understands the Constitution and the three part system…and she is smart. A far cry from the billionaire debutante, DeVos.
LikeLike
Gender has nothing to do with it. It is our public schools that defend our democracy that is at stake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope you saw or can retrieve Rachael Maddow’s amazing coverage of Devos Friday night. Shut down of Congressional phones, Devos company selling unauthorized ADHA products/services at $2000, gofundme projects , attempt to deliver a Pizza with opposition message to Congressional office, opportunity for even more weekend antiDeVos protests because Republicans are in Florida meeting funders.
LikeLiked by 1 person