Are you trying to imply public teachers do not educate kids?
No. That’s not the issue. The argument was that the Republicans are putting party before country by going along with Trump’s nomination of this woman.
As I’ve said plenty of times, I think she would be horrible for American schools but the objection to her appointment is not her lack of subject matter experience. They wouldn’t give a shit if she was just a rich unqualified political donor that wanted to feel important by getting appointed to a cabinet position. That is not the actual reason for the opposition at the high level.
Indeed. It’s illegal for teachers in my state (and many southern states) to unionize. But every teacher I know hates her. The worst hatred comes from folks who teach kids with exceptional needs and who heard her glib and horrifying answer on IDEA.
In other words, all of us.
Private school teachers? I only know one, a brilliant math teacher at a prestigious private school. He’s appalled by her.
By the same logic, was the poster I was replying to trying to imply private school teachers do not educate kids?
My reply from Cory Gardner(R-CO)
As a Republican I will be proud to vote for his opponent in the 2020 primary and if he wins that the 2020 General (even if it means voting Dem)
I’m amazed we have a political system where Senators can vote for a huge donor nominated for a cabinet position yet a Nigerian Prince staying in a hotel room is an unconstitutional emolument.
Hm. The ones I recently talked to in Holland, MI, BDV’s hometown, actually aren’t too fond of her. Her push to keep things loose and unregulated gives privates and charters a bad name, in their opinions. They’re not against private and charter schools, obviously, but Betsy’s lobbying and advocacy here has absolutely wrecked the reputation of charters in Michigan.
And I was replying to a poster who said “teachers unions” instead of the more accurate “public school teachers,” presumably to make some sort of political point. The reason I didn’t say “public, private and charter school teachers” is because most private and charter teachers don’t belong to unions.
Ummm…Richard Riley was Governor of SC for almost a decade. And has a law degree. And was partner in a law firm.
DeVos has a) never held any elected position, b) does not have a law degree, and c) has never held a job (other than ones she made up for herself).
As a child, I read a children’s book about a girl who was very good, but who could only hold one thought in her head at a time, and was always getting into trouble thereby. I was fascinated by her stupidity.
Do you think liberals can only hold one thought in our heads at a time?
Of course we oppose her policies; but we also oppose her incompetence and her inexperience. The idea that we’d be fine with an unqualified political donor who wasn’t ideologically disastrous is silly and without evidence.
I just read through the Wikipedia bios of all the previous SecEds. The ones with the least relevant experience were a governor known for his expansion of educational funding; and the first SecEd, who had extensive experience as a judge.
DeVos doesn’t approach even the least qualified of these previous SecEds.
No, the poster you were replying to was referring to the fact that private school teachers don’t typically belong to unions. *That’s *what I was addressing. Saying “teachers unions hate her” is a loaded term in these kinds of arguments that implies it’s a special interest third-party lobbying thing, instead of actual educators behind the dislike.
He could’ve just said “teachers hate her,” as that would’ve been more accurate. I specified public school teachers in my correction, since he singled them out by referring to their unions.
Here are some snippets from Wikipedia for you:
Shirley? I’ll give you Shirley. She was the first, and while she had extensive government experience, later presidents nominated folks with more relevant experience.
No, the contrast there was unions vs educators, YOU flipped it to public educators vs private.
Seems like a good place to leave this nugget: Someone Paid Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos’s Confirmation
Apologies if this is a repost; had neither time nor stomach to wade through it all. Trump will get the cabinet he deserves, one way or another.
Listen to their projections. “Airport protesters are paid Soros schills.” You do the math.
She demonstrated that she was willing to spend $200 million to get the nomination. A little more won’t bankrupt her.
As she said (from your link): “I have decided,” DeVos wrote in Roll Call in 1999, “to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”
Well, pointless to complain at this point. She bought the position. It’s done. The corrupt Republican senators who she bought off voted her in. Great.
We tend to be ok with giving some cush jobs to cronies. Jobs like ambassador to Bermuda.
Bush II got caught out when hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans and it turned out his crony, Michael Brown, who headed FEMA didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing and a big disaster became a bigger disaster.
We’d rather not have the incompetent in positions where they can do real harm. You’d think it was obvious but Katrina drove that lesson home.
Secretary of Education is a place where someone can do harm. We have seen that harm done in Michigan at the urging of Betsy DeVos. It’s right there for all to see. She has no useful experience and her meddling has caused real and apparent harm pushing her personal agenda. The only reason for getting the appointment was massive amounts of money she gave to politicians.
So yeah, there is good reason for anyone to oppose her appointment. Surely there is another conservative out there who would meet muster.
I know several, and they hate her with a white-hot passion.
There are probably thousands of them, all with the experience and credentials to more than qualify.
But that number dwindles when you realize the credentials include “has given millions to the GOP” and “wants to destroy the department of education.”
Of course it does. Priorities and all that
So what? She’s not going to be a teacher herself. Like I said upthread, over here in the UK what is expected is that she masters her brief.
So…in the UK you would have expected her to know the difference between measuring growth versus measuring proficiency?
Or that IDEA is a federal program?
Or know what Title IX is, and whether she supports it?
She couldnt be bothered to do her own homework.