The Real Betsy DeVos

In the weeks leading up to and after Betsy DeVos being confirmed as head of the Department of Education, there was so much noise coming from the liberal media that it was impossible to have an honest and constructive conversation on what the education system would actually look like under her leadership. Now that the dust has settled, we can take a look.

The first thing we should take a look at is why exactly liberals -- and the media they control -- despise DeVos so much. What is it about her that made them decide that, for many weeks, she would be the target of their ire? From leftwing bloggers to CNN, MSNBC, and everyone in between, the narrative quickly became that Betsy DeVos was (a) unqualified and (b) radical.

But when you study reality and examine the facts -- something that’s often challenging for those on the “emotional” left -- it’s obvious that both of these narratives are a little twisted and exaggerated.

“She hasn’t been a teacher, a principal, or a superintendent. She doesn’t know how to pick a curriculum, evaluate an instructor, or write an Individual Education Plan for students with disabilities. All true,” admits Michael J. Petrilli, former member of George W. Bush’s Education Department. “And if she were seeking employment as a teacher, a principal, or a superintendent, that experience gap would be damning. But she’s not.”

As Petrilli, someone who actually understands what goes on behind the scenes, explains, President Trump has elected her to be the U.S. Secretary of Education -- not a school principal. Her job is to handle education policy and politics. She’s tasked with interacting with governors and members of Congress, drafting bills, and providing support for those on the front lines.

The anti-free speech movement on college campuses is not happening by accident. It is the culmination of years of indoctrination of generations of American students, not just in the universities but in secondary and primary education. The consequence of the distortions which occur up-and-down our educational establishment are actually potentially existential.

We are producing millions of graduates at all levels who simply cannot perform up to standard which means that our economy will suffer this global world from which America cannot hope to protect itself over time. One need only consider the quality and number of scientists and engineers being produced every year in China and compare that number with our dropouts and one does not need to be farsighted to envision the time when the lines cross. So, our destructive educational establishment threatens our economy.

That means that it also threatens our security, as we enter the robot age when wars will be fought with keyboards, lasers, missiles, satellites and, yes, robots America ultimately will not be able to compete.

That means that a huge percentage of millennials now and in the future will live poorer lives than otherwise. About four in 10 youngsters are now living in mama's basement.

But for the Democrat establishment which has used education as they have used immigration, journalism and Hollywood to advance their tentacles into the American culture, wasted lives, endangered national security, and creeping poverty are as nothing against the virtue of getting leftists political power. Unless the death grip on education is broken, we will not break the hold on journalism, on Hollywood, on eleemosynary institutions, on churches, all of which have been co-opted by Democrats.

The craziness on American campuses of higher education are but a foretaste and we will soon see not just those campuses but the entire culture burst out as it did in Ferguson and Baltimore. Indeed, our campuses are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from Ferguson and Baltimore and our students increasingly difficult to distinguish between academics and Black Lives Matter rioters.

the vouchers had best be for everyone, not just the ‘poor’.

Why does every administration take money for the producers and reward the non producers?

I am sick and tired of it!

No, I don’t NEED the vouchers, but why shouldn’t my wife be rewarded for homeschooling? Just because we are producers and not suckers of the g0vt tit?

Your entire post was well said, and crucial. What they have done to education is part of the left's ongoing planned destruction of the United States as a free and powerful nation.

The left realized that she’s actually gotten results through her policies. She’s actually made “education” about educating people.

The LAST thing the left wants is an educated public. They want and under-educated underclass, with an upper class that’s been properly “groomed” and spoon-fed the leftists’ propaganda, true believers all.

Mark

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