Oh, I can’t wait until the House of Representatives begins to question Secretary DeVos about her reversal of civil rights protections, her reversal of federal protections for students with debt incurred at fraudulent for-profit colleges, and her continued efforts to destroy the federal role in protecting students, whether in K-12 or higher education. Instead of protecting those in need, she protects predators. She is a very grizzly Secretary of Education.
She appeared on FOX News today for 10 minutes and attacked public education and teachers’ unions.
Randi Weingarten responded:
For Immediate Release
November 27, 2018
Contact:
Andrew Crook
607-280-6603
acrook@aft.org
http://www.aft.org
AFT’s Weingarten Responds to Betsy DeVos’ Lies on Fox News
WASHNGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos attacked teachers’ unions today on the Fox Business Network:
“Betsy DeVos is showing her true colors. We are fighting for the safe and welcoming public schools that kids deserve, healthcare protections so people aren’t one pre-existing condition away from bankruptcy, affordable college without life-burdening student debt, and decent wages. Since she is against all of that, Betsy is attacking the unions that create a voice for teachers to advocate on these issues. As secretary of education, it is her sworn duty to help kids and their communities reach their full potential. Comments like these do the opposite, and she knows it.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s all DeVos does, bash public schools.
It’s a shame she doesn’t offer or provide anything of value to the schools the vast majority of students and families use.
She can’t point to a single contribution she has made to any public school, anywhere, in 2 years of “work” but she finds plenty of time to meet with media millionaires and bash public schools.
Perhaps we could consider hiring one or two people in DC who actually support public schools and intend to provide some value to them, instead of paying a huge group of professional critics.
The word “critic” implies powerlessness. D.C.’s privatizers have the power to implement destruction. Ed reform has been “brutal to Black families” (a Michigan legislator quoted in Detroit News, 11-15-2018, by reporter, Jennifer Chambers).
Shout out for the charter goal achievement of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates. Eighty percent of Michigan’s charter schools are for-profit. One-fourth of Michigan students enrolled in virtual charter schools fail to complete even one class.
ah, but the very word virtual argues PROFIT for tech billionaires…why care if kids learn or teachers are pushed out of the classrooms
These libertarians are a hoot, they claim to be for personal freedom and liberty and yet they froth at the mouth if teachers choose to form unions or to be part of a union which will negotiate for their personal freedoms. The libertarian’s advice to teachers: “Just shut up, go to your corner and do your job. No unions for you! If you don’t like you work conditions, resign, seek other employment or work at Walmart.”
“Just shut up, go to your corner and do your job. No unions for you! If you don’t like you work conditions,” buy a gun, bring it to school, shoot some grizzlies — don’t shoot the polar bears with white fur — retire early without a pension and die, DIE in poverty along with your starving, endangered, brown furred brethren. Some say Betsy isn’t stupid. Yes she is.
The libertarians don’t limit themselves to school privatization. The GOP in Michigan (Betsy’s state) introduced a bill that would create a private police force for the rich that had rules different from the rules applied to the public police force. FOIA rules wouldn’t apply to the enforcers for the rich. Sounds like charter schools?
Sadly, it’s not a surprising situation. John Arnold, working with the police, and without the knowledge of elected city leaders, funded police aerial surveillance of Baltimore communities. Town and Country magazine reported that the Pew family (worked secretly with Arnold against public pensions) is in collaboration with Arnold on community surveillance.
North Carolina, the feudal state of the Koch’s and Art Pope, already has a police force that is 10% privatized.
“Liberty and freedom” are bait and switch for oligarchy.
I could not stand to watch the video. I do force myself to watch Fox now and then in order to see what they are talking about. I also scanned some of the comments. None at the top of the roster were about education.
“Comments like these do the opposite, and she knows it.””
Um, no Randi, she doesn’t know it. . .
. . . and never will.
Randi is just a hair away from joining DeVos if DeVos offerered her the right $$ or job advancement opportunity.
Weingarten needs someone like DeVos to criticise in order to ensure that her own past actions (support of Common Core, testing, VAM etc) never become the focus of attention.
Weingarten and other Democrats who did great damage to schools during the Obama years love DeVos because she is like a squirrel in the yard that grabs everyone’s attention.
I found her “statement” to fall far short of the condemnation I would expect from the head of the teachers’ union. Pretty much a white bread joke of a statement.
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/new-bedford-charter-expansion-mind-boggling/?fbclid=IwAR1bDfSRtmBLmxgD8bjvEmYQ7yV-hkQWDulTK4RZ7qNRthSL_Tf1j2wBkUo
Off topic, but excellent article!
I watched the video and had to cut it off after five minute mark as Devos is such a bore with her same ole rederick. In all fairness, Maria Bartiromo the talking head interviewing devos was the one who brought up unions saying is it the unions who are holding up the system. That gave devos the open door
If getting rid of unions is the secret to school success, The Deep South should have the best schools in the nation. They don’t.
A question for Diane; Maris Bartiromo who interviewed devos had a graphic that showed how the US is not even in the top 10 in education in the world.
Devos keeps mentioning about how unions have a strangle hold on politicians and this is what is holing up our education system in the US. and that is the reason why the US is not in the top 10.
My question is what criteria is used to “rank” countries in education. Am I to think that Barbados has a better school system than the US as Barbados ranks 7th in the world but again how are these rankings computed?
Betsy DeVos once said that she is “not a numbers person.” Like Trump, she says whatever she wants to serve her purpose: the privatization of public education. Ignore whatever she says because it is likely to be untrue. I have no idea what she is talking about.
At the bottom of the rankings it states: The Independent/World Economic Forum. I believe they use PISSA scores for that ranking.
In other words a complete joke of a ranking.