My thoughts regarding Betsy DeVos

I have been busy lately, and I haven't had a lot of time to look into all the details of how Betsy DeVos plans on running the Department of Education. This is why I have been reluctant to write about her. Despite some of these details still being missing, I feel that I have enough information now to share my thoughts.

Before I go any further, I want you to do me a favor. Imagine a line. The far left side of the line will represent the idea that the government should have total power to control and restrict the educational process. This is the pro-schooling end of the line. On the opposite end, we represent a strong belief that individuals should be free to learn whatever they want, whenever they want, and however they want. This is the pro-education end.

The democrats and republicans have been fighting over the best way to ensure that all Americans are products of the same schooling system. The democrats are more rigid and view a single public model as appropriate for everyone. Republicans have typically supported choices between schools with relatively insignificant differences. I have long insisted that these two parties have educational beliefs that are so close that you couldn't fit a piece of paper between them.

Where are the parties on this imaginary line that I brought up. They are far to the left. Where am I? I am way over to the right.

Where does Betsy DeVos fit in all of this? Let's take a look. She is a stronger believer in school choice than most republicans. She is open to homeschooling and for-profit alternatives to government-run schools. She is clearly to the right of both parties.

On the flip side of this issue, I have not heard any dialog relating to such things as discrimination aimed at people who are educated outside of the schools. She also has not clarified whether or not homeschooling can deviate from a traditional but flawed student-teacher setup. Her views could merely be supportive of schooling at home rather than alternatives to schooling.

A lot of this comes down to the impact that school choice would have. We would have variety, and any variety right now is an improvement over a single option for everyone. Unfortunately, schools tend to share a common foundation. When a school tries to innovate, it merely tweaks a single component. Additionally, our views of education have been conditioned by what we have been told our whole lives. Any major deviation will result in a school that is nowhere near as good at being a traditional school as a traditional school. This further inhibits any meaningful change.

As far as I can tell, Betsy DeVos wants all Americans to be products of the schools. She may be willing to loosen up government constraints more than the core democrats and republicans, but she still appears to be on the pro-schooling side of the spectrum.

Despite being on the same side of the issue as core members of both parties, she needed a vice-presidential tiebreaker for her confirmation. This has made one thing very clear. There will not be a pro-education secretary of education in the foreseeable future. DeVos might be as good as we can get in this regard.

Teachers unions hate DeVos. I have seen the criticism from both the NEA and the AFT. Let me turn to an old proverb. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I have to say that soldiers in the front lines of the war on education showing hostility toward DeVos takes the edge off of her faults.

There is one more thing that I wanted to mention. One of the nice things about the pro-education side of the spectrum is that we are also pro-thought. We can always bring in issues beyond just the important educational components. In this case, I'm talking about the constitution. The executive branch has no power to legislate, but the department of education has been defying federal law. The general defense has been that they are not actually legislating but rather providing funds when states are in compliance. Since all states have money taken from them to provide the funds, this is essentially a form of fining states for defying the department of education.

This brings up another constitutional issue. The tenth amendment states that powers not granted to the federal government by the constitution are reserved for the states. Since schooling is not covered by the constitution, the federal government has no right to control the process. The department of education has been in violation of the constitution ever since it was formed. Betsy DeVos has not been an active proponent of ending the department's illegal activities, but she has at least shown a willingness to consider the idea. Again, she is not ideal on an issue, but she is better than what we have had.

I'm not the biggest fan of DeVos, but I can't imagine a better individual who could actually be confirmed. If we had a better candidate for the position, that candidate would not have made it through the confirmation process. This is why I feel obligated to show my support for the least anti-educational secretary of education that we have ever had.

UPDATE: In a recent speech, Betsy DeVos criticized the current schooling system "Because 1.3 million children drop out of school every year." This backs my suspicion that she does want everybody to be a product of the schools. It appears that she has confirmed that she is on the pro-schooling side of the war between schooling and education. Since this was already a possible concern, it shouldn't have much of an impact on my above viewpoints.