Betsy DeVos gave the commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida and received an unfriendly reception from the graduates. Many booed and were chastised by the University President. Many stood with their backs to the speaker. It was probably not the best venue for a billionaire who works for the Trump administration, which has appealed to white males and the alt-right, no friends of African Americans.
I did not have time to watch her speech but I believe the link includes the video. I assume she spoke about school choice, the only subject in the world of education that interests her.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When considering her appearance at Bethune-Cookman I’m reminded of the paper thin distinction between arrogance and stupidity. For a devout Christian, she has some chutzpah.
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True, but the other half of that equation is that Bethune-Cookman invited her. If I were a student there, that’s what I’d be much more concerned about.
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My guess is that she was invited with the hope that she might reach out and be kinder to HBCUs.
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If that’s the case, whoever did the inviting has not been paying attention. For the last 40 years.
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The B-C President reportedly defended his choice as related to the need for “gifts”.
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If B-C expects a penny from DeVos, they will be very disappointed.
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Oh, no! Weak defense.
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One of the biggest explosions of booing occurred when Devos tried to co-opt the legacy of Mary McLeod-Bethune for the corporate education reform movement. She mentions that later, she will visiting the grave and home of Bethune, and the graduates exploded:
( 12:22 – )
( 12:22 – )
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
BETSY DEVOS:
“Later today, I will have the honor of visiting the home of Mrs. Bethune’s home, and paying my respects at her gravesite.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Then all hell breaks loose, and the Bethune College President, standing to her left, quickly leaves, exiting FRAME RIGHT, and doesn’t return for several minutes …
… perhaps he had to go return that blinged-out gold medal / necklace that he had borrowed from Mr. T.
To see what I mean about the necklace, compare these photos
this one …
and this one:
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Jack, it looks like he didn’t return for about 10 minutes!
Perhaps he had to make use of the school vomitorium.
(If B-C didn’t have one, perhaps DeVos could make that her “gift.”)
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School Choice and every creature that has ever lived or still lives on the earth was created 6-thousand years ago in a flash along with the rest of the universe are the two things she thinks about and that is about all she thinks of. The rest of her head is empty.
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I guess the dinosaurs missed the Ark.
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You know what happens when there are not enough seats. Moses must have sprayed the dinosaurs with pepper spray, beat them with a club, and then had them dragged off the Ark to make room for someone like Betsy DeVos.
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Noah! It was Noah and the Ark! 😄
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You are right. My mistake. Sorry about that. I have a lame excuse. I was in a hurry and wrote the first name that popped into my head. Isn’t that what Agent Orange does all the time?
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LOL!
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People, people… Everyone knows that the dinosaurs died off because their purpose had already been fulfilled. T. Rex was created to saw the timbers needed to make the ark with his serrated teeth. Once that task was done there was no more need for dinosaurs so they were left behind.
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Good!
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The Back Turning is quite powerful. The more unanimous, the more profound. Mrs. Bethune approves I am certain.
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I’m more perplexed by the stupidity of the University President. How can you be that out of touch with your audience? Sounds like a lot of shuffling and shucking & jiving to me.
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It would not surprise me at all if DeVos arranged for herself to “be invited” to speak. I’m positive this is not the first time an HBCU’s commencement has been hijacked… University administration usually goes along to get along.
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I read the speech. She said she’s an advocate for students.
I just don’t buy that. This idea that she can be an “advocate for students” while weakening the schools they attend just doesn’t make sense. They live in context- this abstract idea that one can attack the schools 90% of kids attend while advocating “for students” ignores reality. They act as if these kids operate as singular individuals, as if their communities and institutions are somehow apart from them. This is what they do every day. They’re real. They operate within a radius of about 5 miles. Doing nothing for the institutions they’re IN and the schools they HAVE and insisting you’re their advocate is just nonsense.
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Why would an advocate for students weaken regulations on student lenders?
They’re borrowing huge sums of money and they’re 18. They will get robbed. People with 20 years of experience with lenders regularly make poor decisions. We think an 18 year old will be parsing 10 page contracts? ESPECIALLY first generation. they don’t even know what it SHOULD cost. These sums exceed their parents’ income. They don’t even know what 100k in debt means over 20 years, let alone whether they should borrow it.
She’s throwing them to wolves.
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If you can stand it, there is video of the DeVos commencement speech, beginning at 1:04,32 at
http://time.com/4773639/betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-university-commencement-hbcu-watch-online/
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here’s her speech in text version…
https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/prepared-remarks-us-secretary-education-betsy-devos-bethune-cookman-universitys-2017-spring-commencement
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Reading DeVos’ speech made me want to puke. At an historically black college she is preaching with racist overtones at graduation… describing selected students with “issues to overcome” as if all black people come from broken homes with various problems like drug addiction, low achievement (first family member to attend college) etc… How about just honoring the students for their achievements and recognizing how hard it was to get there but THEY DID IT! I would have turned my back too. DeVos doesn’t understand hard work that is EARNED. She may work hard but it is hard “work” on things that are given to her by all her MONEY. The president of the college should not have been the least bit surprised and should have been much more sensitive when making his choice. It is terrible that he would have chosen DeVos to speak to them. Students worked hard to get there and deserve a say ias to whether to have such a controversial speaker. Who the heck was this day for anyway???? THIS SHOULD NOT BE A TIME OF PRESIDENTIAL POLITICAL GROVELING… it is a time of honoring achievements worked hard to earn (opposite of DeVos).
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I couldn’t finish the video! She is beyond arrogant. I feel sad for the graduates. After all their hard work, their President forced them to listen to her bs. They deserve so much better.
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Annat,
You are ahead of me. I know that she is reading a speech that someone wrote for her. Condescension comes from her pores.
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If a hallmark of higher education, and of democracy, is to converse with and learn from fascists, count me out. Unless the objective of such conversation is to know your enemy better, humoring fascists does nothing for democracy.
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I contribute $$ to this famously named college. In 6th grade my step up research paper was about the woman that the college was named after. What made the college President invite her knowing his smart sophificated body of students would not respond. She is determined to destroy Public Education.
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I see in her treatment the return of the American Left. Shouting conservatives have grabbed the day since talk radio began the unraveling of the left 40 years ago. Suddenly, it seems the Left is starting to shout back. Right leaning politicians may complain that they are not being fair, but fair has no meaning if shouting is the only means you have of being heard.
We may look back on screamers like French Revolution catalyst Marat with loathing. After all, he called for more and more heads until he fell victim to his own inflated ranting. Historians, however, consider why people heard his rant. Full stomachs ignore extremes. Those who are anxious about their future want to be assured that someone in charge has their back. Sooner or later, if those in charge do not see to their backs, it will cost them their jobs, or in the case of the French Revolution, their heads.
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Talking about shouting back,here is a glorious video of Paul Ryan’s reception during his visit to Success Academy:
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Thank you, President Trump, for making Betsy DeVos the new face of corporate education reform in the USA!
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In her speech, DeVos uttered the words, “speak with humility”. Trump boasting and thumping his chest, is humility? McConnell is humble?
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It’s never a good idea to turn your back upon Beasty DeVos. She might turn around, pull out her machete, and stab it.
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I meant “Betsy”, not Beasty.
What the hell . . . There is no real difference.
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Norwegian Filmmaker, you crack me up!
Unfortunately, this speech & the speaker makes me ill.
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NF,
If you’re in the US of A in October I hope you can make it to the 4th annual NPE conference in Oakland, CA!
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My heart goes out to the graduates, who deserved to have an inspiring speaker at commencement. If BCU wanted DeVos on campus, they could have invited her to speak or participate in a panel during the regular school year.
DeVos needs a better speechwriter. I forced myself to watch through the end. Parts were patronizing. Parts were inappropriate for a graduation speech. She cited biographical information about Mary McLeod Bethune for a wider audience, which may have made the grads feel used. If US DoEd staff wrote this, we deserve better results for our tax dollars. Omarosa Manigault was also there–did she preview the speech?
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Did that college really believe for one minute that her appearance might generate giving? From her? Alums? What on earth was that poor president thinking? Clearly not much.
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The President of Bethune-Cookman made a politically naive mistake. Public education is under attack and the present federal administration appears to be ready to press the attack like never before – and Secretary DeVoss is at the forefront of the attack to come.
However, there is a time and place for civil disobedience and this was not the time or place. How the crowd reacted was wrong. It was impolite and disrespectful of the event and it unnecessarily distracted from the glorious day that it should have been.
I work for a public school system so I am biased in favor of public education. However, we also have to deal regularly with parents and others who feel that the only way to get their point across is to act like they are on the Jerry Springer show. We are losing, if we have not lost, our ability to have a civil discourse. The solution is not to be more obnoxious than the “other side” – and the behavior of the guests at the Bethune-Cookman graduation should not be condoned simply because the speaker represents values different from a majority in the audience.
We can do better – we need to do better. We need to teach our children what is better. To paraphrase my daughter, who is the mother of my grandchild: “children are our non-negotiable.”
P.S.
Ms. Ravitch, please keep up the good fight.
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Johnathan,
Please consider that DeVos has unleashed predatory loan companies on students, will do nothing to ease their financial burden, and her administration is trying to take away their families’ healthcare. If I were a student at B-C, I might have booed too. How else to express your dissent?
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It is also true that students tried other means to get their voices heard. Their petition to rescind DeVos’ invitation had more than 50,000 signatures in advance of the graduation ceremony. Dialogue with the school’s administration came to naught. What other avenues were open than protest at a ceremony intended to be a celebration of the students’accomplishments?
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“We are losing, if we have not lost, our ability to have a civil discourse.”
Horse manure.
Is that civil enough?
Whenever I hear talk of civil discourse my response is how does one be civil when the other side is disemboweling you? How does one be civil when the other side prefers to see you dead and gone? How does one be civil when the other side cold cocks you from behind?
Civil doesn’t cut it. Call them out for what they are disseminators, liars, and thieves are just a few of the nicer, more civil terms I would use.
But then again I’m an obnoxious SOB like that.
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Nancy Bailey has an on-point analysis of DeVos’ appearance at her website,
“On a day designated for students—a day to honor their achievements—they have to listen to a woman of privilege tell them how she understands their struggle. They cannot even end their college journey without hackneyed political browbeating.
Perhaps if DeVos had the right ideas about schooling, her appearances would be more palatable. Perhaps if she really wanted to help public schools work for all children, but that’s not what she is about.”
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