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The Oracle

Lincoln East High School's home of Spartan news

The Oracle

Betsy DeVos, the Worst Cabinet Member of All Time

Current+Secretary+of+Education+Betsy+DeVos+has+undergone+immense+scrutiny
Current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has undergone immense scrutiny

On February 7, Betsy DeVos was officially named Secretary of Education, after a 50-50 vote in the senate broke by Mike Pence to confirm her. This was the first time that a cabinet member was confirmed with a tie vote in senate history. The vote was so close that the republicans had to ensure she was confirmed before Attorney General nominee, Jeff Sessions, so that they didn’t lose Session’s vote in the senate. The final vote was 46 democrats, 2 independents, and 2 republicans against her confirmation while 50 republicans voted in favor of DeVos. Her nomination, and now confirmation, is highly controversial and was debated heavily leading up to the final confirmation voting.
As a student, I have higher expectations for our Secretary of Education then the Republican Party as a whole does. DeVos has no experience in education outside of being a heavily partisan advocate. Secretary of Education with zero experience in education. DeVos is completely useless however as she has managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for republican election campaigns in the past. She also is the first Secretary of Education with a history of banking or lending. There are many qualified people for this role, how did Donald Trump come to the conclusion that someone with such little experience could perform the task at hand? Trump simply wants someone in this role who will agree with him and stick to the party’s beliefs.
DeVos came from a private Christian school, and is now an advocate for them as well as charter schools and vouchers. In Michigan, DeVos’s voucher program was labeled a failure as it took away funding from the local public schools and funded private school’s, all paid for by the taxpayers. “In Michigan, we know firsthand how disastrous DeVos’s ideology is, as she has spent decades wielding her family’s money and influence to destroy public education and turn our schools and students over to for-profit corporations,” said Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook.
Despite having no school experience in education, DeVos has managed to use her common sense to sway voters, citing grizzly bear attacks when questioned on whether guns should be allowed in schools at a senate meeting. No that is not a joke. On Trump’s campaign to end gun free school zones, DeVos said she would support the President’s decisions. This should be concerning to students and parents as she is saying yes to putting more guns in schools.
Despite all the red flags, DeVos supporters remind us not to be poor losers as we put the future of Education in the hands of someone with zero practical experience. On “Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment” the United States ranked as the 14th best country, behind South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, and others. With our resources we should be much higher on this list, and the U.S. will continue to fall behind if we don’t take the issue if education seriously.

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