Betsy DeVos thinks that school choice is just swell. After all, she said, people should be able to choose schools the way they choose modes of transportation, like hailing an Uber or Lyft instead of a licensed taxi.
Mitchell Robinson explains why she is wrong.
A professor of music education at Michigan State University, Robinson knows that school choice has not improved education in DeVos’s state. It has actually been a bust. Not only has it failed to improve education, it has played havoc with district budgets.
The point of choice is choice, with no discernible benefits other than investors.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Betsy was unintentionally very right in comparing school choice to Uber. Uber is an extremely ugly, cutthroat company intent only on making money for Uber. They are among the leading creators of the so-called “gig” economy which leaves workers earning less money and benefits and without protections (and, in Uber’s case, passengers and by-standers also lack protections, just like in charter schools, students and families also lack protections)) and basic standards. Just because people “like” Uber or find it cheap or “convenient” (just like some people “like” charters or find them “convenient”) does not mean that Uber is a good thing. But Uber and charter schools are destroying the basic concept of public good.
(Incidentally, the above is not limited to evil, conservative Uber. The same can be said of good, liberal Lyft.)
I REFUSE to use UBER and Lyft.
Vote with your time and money every day.
And then there’s this:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/43899-five-ways-the-gop-is-about-to-destroy-the-lower-class
I think they’ve dropped Uber as a comparison to ed reform.
These are political pros. They know bad publicity when they see it. Uber is no longer fashionable.
Next they’ll drop Zuckerberg. Summit charter schools will delete all references to Facebook.
Such is life in the burgeoning privatized school sector! It’s all about perception!
Because traditional cabs are so much better. They don’t try to rip you off. They are always on time. They are clean. The drivers are friendly. They always choose the fastest route. They welcome competitors. They are so not like mafia.
Gruff, what world do you live in? In NYC, taxi drivers must be licensed. Drivers for Uber and Lyft are not.
May I ask why you come on to my blog to be the constant nay-sayer?
You say nothing other than to swipe at others who take the time to express a cogent view. My patience for your sarcasm and churlishness is wearing thin.
It is not true that I am a constant naysayer. I agree with you and others on a number of points, but not on all of them. A simple fact that Uber and Lyft exist and are popular says enough about how they compare to “lisensed” taxi services, who fight tooth and nail to protect their business, to limit the number of cabs, to prohibit car owners from giving a ride to others. “Licensed” taxi companies as well as bus companies lobbied to outlaw hitchhiking because it is against their business. They want market when they are in charge, but when someone else wants in, they suddenly want regulation.
Gruff,
Here is the deal. When you make nasty, snarky comments, I won’t post them.
Your arguments are exactly the same as the arguments for charter schools. The mere existence of charters supposedly proves how bad public schools are – people are clamoring to get out of them.
Of course, marketing (propaganda) has nothing to do with that, right? Likewise with Uber, it has nothing to do with cost, right? Of course it does. And how does Uber get that low cost? By stiffing their drivers, not providing insurance, etc. – same ways charters were supposedly going to be able to provide “cheaper” education.
Sure, charters and Uber are “popular”, but that’s because people are selfish, not because either one is good.
Dienne77,
it was not me who compared Uber with charter schools. My comment was about Uber. If you felt that my description of “licensed” taxis was similar to public schools then there may be similarities indeed. Also, as a customer I don’t care whether the driver has medical insurance or well-paid, I care about the service. Pretty much everyone else in this country feels the same, otherwise Amazon would not get this huge. “Licenced” taxis are bad not because they provide good benefits for their drivers, but because they are monopolists. It is crazy that in a country where almost everyone has a car, only the appointed ones are allowed to give a ride.
Gruff,
Your comment on taxis shows how little you know about the taxi industry. In New York City, there is no monopoly. Some taxi drivers own their own cab, others drive for a company. They are far more reliable than Uber of Lyft. But that’s just NYC.
This is really too stupid a topic to continue. Stop wasting my time.
Gruff,
You don’t have a right to post on my blog, any more than you have a “right” to have your letter to the editor printed in the New York Times. This is my space, and if I don’t like your sneering, supercilious tone, I won’t post your comments.
First you reveal yourself as utterly callous by saying that you don’t care whether your taxi driver has medical insurance. I mean, most of them are black and/or Muslim, so who cares if they die in the street, amiright?
But moreover, you reveal yourself as utterly shortsighted and foolish because medical insurance wasn’t what I was talking about. If you are in an accident in/with a licensed taxi, the taxi company has insurance that will cover you, the driver and any other persons involved, along with any vehicles (including yours). You (and your car) will be taken care of. An accident involving an Uber driver (or, better yet, driverless vehicle)? Good luck with that.
By the way, Gruff, that driver that you don’t care about having medical insurance? He’s had a raging cough with fever for two weeks now but he can’t afford to go see a doctor. Hope you don’t catch anything from him!
The Uber drivers in nyc are demanding minimum wage right now and that would mean a 37% increase in their wages.
Competition has turned education into a wasteland in Michigan. Spreading resources around thinly and hoping for the best is not the answer. Jumping on money making bandwagons that fail repeatedly is not the answer. This is the legacy of DeVos, an unrealistic ideologue for whom results do not matter, only more “choice.” Quality education requires reason, not more so called choice.
I would certainly hope public schools are not like Uber, at least not the self driving division.
A self-driving Uber cab just killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
https://www.popsci.com/self-driving-uber-fatal-crash
No UBER-type public school for any child.
Licensed cabs never killed anyone.
Betsy DeVos
Verified account
Horrifying situation this morning at GMHS_SMCPS. Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted, and our deep appreciation goes out to the first responders.
I do think they care that these kids keep getting shot at school. What they don’t seem to realize is that the kids have absolutely no faith in their ability to address the problem.
The real threat to politicians isn’t anger. It’s irrelevance. They should worry, a lot, that there are so many young people who believe they are useless, who believe that what they do has no relevance to ordinary people.
Those high school activists didn’t just appear. They stepped into a giant, gaping void left by adults who are supposed to be serving them. If there hadn’t have been a void they wouldn’t have had to fill it and I think it’s clear they did have to fill it. People seem relieved that SOMEONE is doing it.
“Priorities”
Hearts and prayers
And guns ( for bears)
Is what they send to school
Bans on guns
And counsel funds
Are absent, as a rule
Why schools are just like Uber or Lyft! That is, IF you want to take people for a ride. Which is exactly what Betsy is doing…