Betsy DeVos: Education takes a dive

By WILL ATKINSON

Every day there is a new story about President Donald Trump and his heavily questionable decision-making skills. Whether it is an attempt to ban Muslims from entering the country, his quest to build a $10 billion dollar wall, or even an extremely awkward 19-second long handshake with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, Trump has had no trouble attracting criticism and negative attention.

Within the last few days, Trump was able to cause even more of an uproar amongst the majority of the nation. Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary has been met with harsh backlash from politicians and citizens, to the point where protestors physically blocked her from entering a Washington D.C. public school while chanting, “Shame!”

Some may think this is a little over the top, but the civil unrest and anger does not only stem from her stance towards education in America, which in turn would defund struggling public schools into oblivion. Rather, it’s the way she got the nomination and senate votes.

DeVos comes from an extremely wealthy family in Michigan, so wealthy in fact that she announced she will only take a one dollar salary for her government position. Her family history has come into the public spotlight as well, including strange reports that her family has invested in bizarre homosexual conversion therapy.

What is troubling is that her family is one of the Republican Party’s major donors, which is a major reason she got the nomination in the first place. I’m not saying she’s completely unqualified for the position, but someone with such a sketchy track record advocating a major overhaul and reform in the Michigan school system and with no real plan or stance on education in the United States probably shouldn’t be the head of education for the entire country, but that’s just my two cents.

The only thing she’s been clear about is her dedication to charter schools. Basically, from what I’ve read, she’s a huge supporter of the privatization of schools, which would leave many struggling public schools in the dust.

Many people argue that she is not qualified at all, which I disagree with. Before I did research I thought that she had absolutely no background in education. She does have some experience but I don’t think being an education reform advocate in the state of Michigan is enough to be nominated to be the Education Secretary for the entire country.

There is an education problem in America. Many public schools are not funded properly and students are being forgotten and left behind. There needs to be a drastic change, but Betsy DeVos is definitely not the answer.