Betsy DeVos: Perfect or Privileged? The Firestorm around Trump’s new pick for Secretary of Education
President Donald Trump appointed Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, further bolstering public outrage with his Cabinet picks. The businesswoman caught the attention of educators across America at her confirmation hearing on January 17, 2017 when she could not provide professional nor clear responses to the serious questions asked by already skeptical senators. When asked if guns should be allowed in schools, DeVos replied, “I will refer back to Sen. Mike Enzi and the school he was talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the school to protect them from potential grizzlies.”
Her superficial answers only fortify the judgement that DeVos has no experience as an educator in the private schools she so passionately vouches for and has no history of administrating, or even interacting with, common public schools within the U.S. DeVos also has never held public office which created outrage within the public education community. Many Americans have the shared belief that DeVos is unqualified to be Secretary of Education. Regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA, DeVos displayed little to no comprehension of this federal law, which holds all public schools to provide appropriate and equal education to students with disabilities. The nominee defended her unawareness of the law saying, “I may have confused it.” DeVos’ extremely vague and elementary response made for an ultimately unsatisfactory performance at her confirmation hearing.
As expected, constituents from all 50 states have been calling their representatives to file complaints about DeVos. In an unprecedented turn of events, Vice President Mike Pence voted in favor of confirming Devos 51 - 50. Although the United States is now in a questionable position, we should not let our commitment to education fail.