Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education under President Trump

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   Stevennix2001posted 7 years ago

   According to CNN, Betsy DeVos was picked to be President Trump's Secretary of Education.  If you want to know more about her, then click on the link below:
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D34AJ2gCzxc
   
   Assuming you saw the video, what are your thoughts on this choice?  I would LOVE to hear from the parents on hubpages about this issue, as I know this choice will most likely affect you all the most.  However, non parents can comment too.   

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      Sychophantasticposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think it will be a great thing if she allows everyone to pick which school they want to attend. Some people believe that this will destroy public education and public schools, but should we really care. It's just a fact that some kids do better than others in school, so those kids should have the choice about which schools to attend. Often, the schools that aren't good are in areas where people don't care that much about school and those who do care about school shouldn't be forced to go there. I think that is the whole idea Ms. DeVos is trying to push and it's a good one.

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         wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe we should care, I don't know.  If too many desert public schools, taking the funding to keep them alive and well, will we end up with a class of kids that are going to public day care rather than an institution of learning?
         
         Seems possible, but I don't have any real answer.  And another one is that local people (mostly) pay for those public schools: should they be required to support and educate kids from another city, county or even state?

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   ahorsebackposted 7 years ago

   She will be totally demonized along with any other of Trumps choices ---by the left , in spite of the fact that she is a woman ,   like Kelly Ann Conway ,  A woman in an accomplished position is only celebrated IF she is a DEMOCRAT  -  she doesn't like common core , she supports  privatizing  schools ,  her common sense approach to education streamlining won't even matter ?
   That nasty old Trump guy chose her.
   
   Just watch !

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   colorfuloneposted 7 years ago

   I'm going to get a little philosophical.  The Department Of Education should never have been created. It was created in the 70's under the Carter administration. Reagan campaigned on a promise to kill the DOE because it is unconstitutional and he knew it, his voters knew it, and he betrayed that promise.  Instead he grew it into a mature organization in his two terms. 
   
   There is no roll for the federal government in education. We have seen lots of mischief done by the DOE. They are behind a lot of the social engineering that is being done in our schools. That is in part why we see students screaming in the streets and acting like mentally ill patients on campus and off.  They get fed talking points (that become triggers), that become talking points for liberal politicians and political media talking heads.  Its a form of indoctrination.  And, Hellywood reinforces those talking points.
   
   There are plenty of young people who are free thinkers who don't let them get a grip on their minds because they are aware...and self-educating. 
   
   There was a book published maybe 30 years ago title "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America", and we didn't heed its warning.   I home schooled my kids. 
   
   Schools have devolved from the local community level, with parents working in the community. It went from there to the State, and then to the Federal Gov.  That sent cold chills down my spine.  Now, increasing we are having a one size fits all education model applied nationally.  There should be thousands of different models to educate children so we can best determine which one is going to work, and which isn't.  And, the parents should be able to decide that. 
   
   There is no Constitutional legal authority for the Feds involvement whatsoever.  Donald Trump is a pragmatist who has campaigned for school choice, and it doesn't look like he is going to get rid of the DOE. So, I have to trust that DeVos is pragmatic, and under Trump, she will have practical ways of reaching goals with better education models, school choices, and a brighter future for our children. They are our future leaders. 
   
   Parents and teachers, people on the left and the right, who hate common-core do so because it was everything that could possibly go wrong with centralized education and the dumbing down of America.  Parents and teachers in communities who support school choice need to get involved and speak up now, or soon after Trump takes office. 
   
   DeVos, has worked with Republicans like the Bushs, who support common core, and is also linked to the Clinton Foundation with large donations, who also support common core. Now, she says she has opposed it? Wait a minute, maybe I have missed something.
   
   I just have to trust God, and wait and see what happens and hope that I will be pleased with educational progress that will take America in a better direction, and not create basket cases.  I have grandchildren.   
   
   Trump is way ahead of us in strategy. I wish I could see what he sees. He did campaign on starting up vocational schooling again, creating jobs, and it is skills that are needed for good paying jobs, not philosophers.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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      Paul Wingertposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      LMAO. Trust your god for what? How about trust the electoral college in hope they deny the orange man-baby the presidency?

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   Stevennix2001posted 7 years ago

   So nobody sees the downside of privatizing education?

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      Paul Wingertposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Privatizing schools is BS, like privatized prisons. Privatizing schools opens the door to let religion and other nonsense in where it doesn't need to be! Schools and prisons have a purpose and making a profit isn't one of them!

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years ago

   Common Core lessons are complexly outlined in booklets for teachers to teach exactly and precisely "by the book." New teachers who are fresh out of college don't mind it.  It helps those who have no idea how to teach (and makes it even more confusing, only they don't realize it at the time.)  The lessons are not user-friendly for teachers or for students. Common Core goes against the progressive way children naturally learn. Teachers must teach to the test. I don't know who came up with it, but I would go so far as to say Child Protective Services needs to be consulted. I had to teach a Math lesson in a fifth grade class room (as a sub) just a couple weeks ago and I introduced the lesson precisely according to the Common Core teacher's manual. At the end of the lesson I asked the fifth graders if they understood. They shook their heads "No" while they said, "Yes." All I could say was,
   "well Good!"

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years ago

   "There is no Constitutional legal authority for the Feds (DOE) involvement whatsoever."
   Thanks for this input, colorfulone. Power back to the states, cities, towns, local school boards, parents and TEACHERS.

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      colorfuloneposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Here is a 2012 article that I read before about the Common Core agenda.
      
      Three years after the Department of Education announced a contest called Race-to-the-Top for $4.35 billion in stimulus funds, some parents, teachers, governors, and citizen and public policy groups are coming to an awful realization about the likely outcomes:
      
      * A national curriculum called Common Core
      * Regionalism, or the replacement of local governments by federally appointed bureaucrats
      * A leveling of all schools to one, low national standard, and a redistribution of education funds among school districts
      * An effective federal tracking of all students
      * The loss of the option of avoiding the national curriculum and tests through private school and home school
      
      *  http://www.aim.org/special-report/terro … urriculum/
      
      Another one of Obama's radical left-wing failures that he shared with terrorist Bill Ayers.
      
      Donald Trump Says Common Core Is a Total Disaster.

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   Stevennix2001posted 7 years ago

   What about the poor single mom that's barely making ends meet to pay her bills as it is?  How do we expect her to be able to pay for these charter schools?  Or for that matter, what happens if a family cannot outright afford one at all?  what then?  Also doesn't this kind of mean that the social divide in this country will get even worse?
   
   think about it.  there's not a chance in hell that all these charter schools will be of the same quality.  Let's just be real about that.  And if that's the case, then wouldn't the child born from a wealthy family get the best education that money can buy, while the child born dirt poor will have to settle for subpar education because his parents can't afford better? 
   
   And if that's the case, then doesn't that keep the ones in power in place, and keep the poor where they are?   I'm just saying that we need to think about this because public education, while not perfect, is still free education to all.  Education that every child has a right to, so they can better themselves in the future.  Surely, I can't be the only one that's asking these questions....

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      colorfuloneposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      President-elect Trump's "education plan".   I'm ok with his plan.
      *  https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/education

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      GA Andersonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Stevennix2001, Considering how contentious the charter school debate is, I don't think you are the only one asking.
      
      But, even though many of the charter school issues are subjective, and folks are generally heavily invested, emotionally, in their perspective, there are some points that can be objectively considered without an emotional bias. I think your worries about single moms and poor families being unable to afford charter school attendance for their kids is one of those instances.
      
      My understanding is that charter schools are public schools - as defined by their charter and our courts. They are primarily taxpayer funded. There are no tuition or enrollment fees. Many of the stories about charter schools include anecdotes of the extreme logistical efforts, (getting to and from schools), single moms and poor families make to accommodate their kids in charter schools. Such as complicated and long bus rides or commutes. You can find verification of this from several of the linked sources in this [Charter school controversy Google search]
      
      Relative to your worry about the wealthy getting the best education money can buy - I think that would be a concern related to expensive private schools, rather than public charter schools. Do you have information to contradict this?
      
      ps. I also think that a free education for everyone is not the same as a good education for everyone. The thought occurs that our current situation with the reality of Obamacare might be a good analogy for that perspective. "For all," doesn't automatically equate to good, and neither does free.
      
      GA

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         wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         That's the way it works in my area.  Charter schools are public schools with a strong academic bent, and one generally aimed at a fairly small field of study.  Engineering, electronics, something like that.  I'm not aware of anything in the liberal arts - as private industry is providing much of the funding it would seem unlikely to have a school aimed at literature or something.  Those industries are hoping to get grads that will come to work for them.
         
         Excellent grades are necessary to be accepted into one and even then there is a waiting line.  They are in many ways a school for the "gifted", where average students are excluded.  I don't have a problem with this - limiting the cream of the crop to the same studies as all the other kids get is a sure fire method of driving the country downhill in the international competition.  It may not be PC, but to do otherwise is not only foolish but cheating so many kids out of their capabilities.

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