Betsy DeVos was confirmed as the education secretary of the United States on February 7, 2017, after a 50-50 vote required, Vice President Mike Pence’s vote, who obviously voted to confirm the most unqualified candidate for this position.
Grizzly Bears!
With only a small concentrated population of 1800 in the U.S, according to Betsy DeVos, Grizzly Bears are some of the biggest threats to American schools. DeVos intends on implementing guns in American schools, to defend themselves from “potential grizzlies”. She cited a school in Wapiti, Wyoming that has a fence to protect itself from wildfires, and that she imagines the school must have a gun to protect itself from “potential grizzlies”. Again, all Democratic senators and two Republican senators fail to understand what a fence for wildfires, has to do with the implementation of guns.
She has NO experience in the education department
John King Jr. Who is the current secretary of education, was a former teacher and a public school administrator, but Betsy DeVos has had no experience whatsoever as a professional educator and has never attended a public school or public university, nor have her children and other family members. During a question and answer with Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, DeVos declined to answer whether she believed in applying the same standards to public, charter and private schools.
“I support accountability,” DeVos said four times. When asked directly if she was declined to answer the question, DeVos simply stated: “I support accountability.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, forced DeVos to admit that she has never led an organization akin to the Education Department, and has never used any of the financial aid products she will offer to students as head of it.
“So you have no experience with college financial aid or management of higher education,” Warren said.
Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire circled back to DeVos near the end of the hearing, informing her the law was a federal statute.
“Federal law must be followed when federal dollars are in play,” DeVos said.
“So were you unaware when I just asked you about the (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) that it was a federal law?” Hassan asked.
“I may have confused it,” DeVos said.
Why is she so bad?
Betsy DeVos believes American schools need guns for defense.
I understand that reading this article through a series of quotes from a senate discussion may be challenging to understand, which is why I will elaborate more on why Betsy DeVos is extremely unqualified. Betsy DeVos intends on implementing guns in schools. This statement should already be a four-alarm fire for all families because following examples of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT that claimed 27 innocent lives, do guns really seem like the best things to keep in schools?
Betsy DeVos doesn’t believe in supporting campus rape laws.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) used all of his time during a Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pension Committee hearing to ask DeVos, Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, about what she would do to address the issue of campus rape.
The Obama administration had increased federal enforcement of how colleges addressed sexual violence, starting with a 2011 Dear Colleague letter that required key policies to be in place in schools. Some of those policies included how long school investigations of sexual assault cases should take, what standard of evidence to use, what information should be shared with the alleged victims and accused students, and much more.
DeVos, however, said “it would be premature” for her to commit to keeping that 2011 letter in place.
Betsy DeVos does NOT believe in an equal education for children with mental disabilities.
In her Senate confirmation hearing, DeVos responded to a question about compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by saying, “I think that is a matter that’s best left to the states.” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) continued to question her: “So some states might be good to kids with disabilities and other states might not be so good, and then what? People can just move around the country if they don’t like how their kids are being treated?” DeVos repeated: “I think that’s an issue that’s best left to the states.”
I myself work with children with disabilities in school during our daily P.E (Physical Education) class. Students that have chosen this class to help children with disabilities in their daily workouts. We play games with them, do obstacle courses, yoga, dancing, kickball, and many more activities to make the kids’ days better and to put a smile on their faces. To see Betsy DeVos take away their rights affects me personally. I’ve worked with these students for so long, and it would be extremely upsetting to my peers and I to see our class get shut down, and for there to be a possibility, that the kids would have to leave my school.
Betsy DeVos and her family have fought against LGBTQ+ rights
the DeVos family has a long history of supporting anti-gay causes — including donating hundreds of thousands to groups that push “conversion therapy” (Now labeled as a form of TORTURE)— raising concerns about how, if at all, she would address discrimination and abuse against gay and transgender students in American schools.
“The DeVos family has a long, well-documented history of funding organizations dedicated to undermining and restricting the rights of LGBTQ people,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBT rights.
Winning confirmation, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and the Republican party have allowed this woman with no experience managing money or having a previous professional education position, to run a multi-billion dollar program that directly impacts tens of millions of students. With American education deteriorated, not only are we affecting American children, but children coming from other countries to seek better education and opportunity outside of the United States. In 2015, United States universities/colleges accepted over 700,o00 international students.
image via The Institute of International Education Open Doors Report, 2015.
With Betsy DeVos as education secretary, she is ruining American education along with millions of other international students that have come into the United States before and after 2015. Nominating Betsy DeVos also directly reflects on President Donald Trump. Is this REALLY “making America great again?”
