Opinion: Betsy Doesn’t Want the Best-y For Public Education

Sabah Rana, Student Life Editor

Would you want your doctor to never have studied medicine? Or would you want your lifeguard to not be able to swim? Well that’s basically what our education system faces if Donald Trump’s pick for the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is voted in by the Senate.

You would expect someone who would be in charge of the U.S. Department of Education and of advising the President on federal policies, programs, and activities related to education in the United States to be someone who has a lot of experience with the different education systems in the U.S., yet that’s not the case at all with DeVos.

She would be in charge of public schools, yet she has never worked in one, been enrolled in one, or had her kids enrolled in one. She would be in charge of the distribution of $30 million for college students, yet has no experience with banking or managing or participating in any type of loan program, nor have her kids ever taken out loans.

DeVos has a long history of undermining the quality of public education by diverting funds from public schools to private schools and has allowed for-profit charger school corporations to operate without regulations, all while they’re being funded by taxes. As of January 31st, the Senate committee  of  Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions voted to advance her nomination with 11 Democratic votes and 12 Republican votes. But not only is she inexperienced, she literally payed her way to the nomination. DeVos and her relatives contributed $43,200 to Trump’s campaign and she has also given financial contributions to eight of the twelve republicans, ranging from $1,000 to $12,000,000.

I feel as though these facts speak  for themselves but in case you can’t hear them, they’re saying “Betsy DeVos should never have been considered for this position because of her lack of qualifications! And! Because of her blatant lack of interest in the well being of public school students! If she’s already showing this type of corruption, what’s at stake for the students of the U.S.?”.

Her inexperience is not only an insult to all the qualified people who are in office and have been in office, but it’s also incredibly insulting to the democratic system as a whole and a threat to students in all educational institutions from public schools to universities. The democratic system in the U.S. is not a perfect one, but instead of fixing its flaws, Trump is weakening it. At the end of the day, what can you expect from a president who has already proven to be corrupt not only throughout his campaign but also within his first weeks in office?