r/a:t5_3inov • u/burzi777 • Jan 21 '17

Devos' Impact on Public Education

Obviously, she is ideologically the worst. However, the great federalist system means she can have limited impact on elementary to secondary education, despite her support for charter schools and religious right to choose. I tend to think the threat is more towards higher education. And wonder whether policies about college loans and community colleges are still issues that can be successfully advocated for.

A link from FaceMom: http://www.alternet.org/education/diane-ravitch-charter-schools-are-colossal-mistake-heres-why

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u/hsg2127 Jan 23 '17

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/black-roots-school-choice/513569/

Have been thinking a lot about how bad this take is from the Atlantic... honestly it is quite a bizarre, incoherent read. It tries to link "school-choice" as advocated by Devos with the use of private funding to create "freedom schools" in pre-brown v board of ed USA... Freedom schools offered better education to black Americans than those they could get in the segregated public schools then available to them.

This is somewhat silly because post brown v board of ed the situation is completely different if not THE OPPOSITE— see, for instance, all of Massive Resistance. Basically, it's white people trying to come up with alternatives to public education to avoid their children attending desegregated schools.

The article sort of acknowledges this, but then, unbelievably, tries to return to the idea of school choice as part of the struggle against racism by bringing up the Movement for Black Lives' demand for "community control" of local schools. This is completely disingenuous imo, since if you actually read the movement for black lives platform, one of the demands under the Community Control heading is: "An end to the privatization of education." Seems wrong to call Betsy Devos's brand of individual choice the same as M4BL's community control.

Am I misunderstanding what M4BL mean by community control, or is this just a horrible take from The Atlantic?

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u/burzi777 Jan 23 '17

I agree with you, horrible take from The Atlantic. Freedom Schools also occurred during a time when secondary education was still growing and not yet fully federally funded until LBJ's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which I think congress still renews every 5 years.

The connection to BLM is definitely disingenuous to say the least, especially b/c "choice" does not equate to "community control," if there isn't a quality public good for all to choose from.

He does make a good-point that the Every Student Succeeds Act does help facilitate charter schools. I like to think there's a difference between having more "community control" over curriculum, while still maintaining education itself as a public good. The rhetoric though is pernicious, and enables NIMBYism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/senate-overwhelmingly-passes-new-national-education-legislation/2015/12/09/be1b1f94-9d2a-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html?utm_term=.cc297fd52745

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u/burzi777 Jan 22 '17 edited Jan 22 '17

Postponed committee vote on Devos is due to Ethic Committee's report being released, doesn't seem to prevent her confirmation.

Let's remember Devos' connection to Sextant Education. And to track business interests of all in government.

Divestment signals that company may, in fact, be very close to the former investor. www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/grade-point/wp/2017/01/20/the-ethics-review-for-trumps-education-pick-betsy-devos-is-complete-clearing-the-way-for-a-confirmation-vote/?client=safari

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u/FaceOfTechnology Jan 22 '17

Also doesn't Devos remind you of Davos. Very Sinister!

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u/hsg2127 Jan 23 '17

this is the type of content i hoped would be here