DeVos DeBacle

Betsy DeVos has made her elitist career out of repeating a few school privatization concepts that now seem like they're based on actual facts. Like these...

1. The framework for pulling public educations much-needed funding from administrators and teachers is based on the falsehood "schools are failing."

2. The idea that competition from private schools will make public schools better? Ridiculous since district schools have been competing with each other for as long as I can remember. It's one reason families buy houses near the best schools or in the best school districts. 

Ideological Bubble Wrap: Education Sec. Betsy DeVos was not allowed to get away with wildly general talking points trashing public education. The facts made her squirm. Here's a line that couldn't be more conceptually crazy:

DeVos: "We should be funding and investing in students, not in school buildings, not in institutions, not in systems..."

Bullshit. News Flash!!! Students go to "buildings" filled with teachers, technology, and ideas. So behold the Republican style of government and their buyer beware fantasy vision of America. DeVos is another Republican victim of her own bad ideas that predictably, resulted in threats requiring armed security. She could end the threats by rethinking her positions and compromising but not Republicans:

  

Secretary Devos has cherry picked her data. She is correct that U.S. test scores are stagnant on PIRLS and PISA. They are decidedly not stagnant on TIMSS, NAEP long-term trends, and main NAEP. She is incorrect when she asserts that on international tests “we have continued to be middle of the pack at best” (in each of the international assessments there are many more countries that score below than above the U.S.). It is important for the Secretary get the facts of these matters straight.