The unexpected election of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States has been a firestorm and his selection for key cabinet positions was met with an equal amount of resistance. You may recall Andy Puzder, nominee for Labor Secretary, who eventually withdrew his name under pressure; not to mention the confirmation hearing for now Education Secretary DeVos and her remarks that schools may need firearms to protect students from potential grizzly attacks – which surprisingly turned out to be true when a bear put two Connecticut schools on lockdown.
Secretary DeVos continued making headlines during a HBCU summit convened in Washington, D.C. by key leaders from the Republican Study Committee, Thurgood Marshall Fund and United Negro College Fund. “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” DeVos said. The mainstream media, political pundits and black community leaders quickly reacted to the statement as being racially insensitive, with some even calling for Secretary DeVos to resign.
Undoubtedly DeVos has preferred to keep a low-profile since the controversial remark.
So recently while conducting research on what the new administration has accomplished during it’s first 100 days, I spent time on the Department of Education’s website and located a transcript from Secretary DeVos’s first policy speech. Naturally I had never read about it because the mainstream media chose not to cover it.
The speech was not as sensationalizing as Trump’s tax returns, mysterious connections to Russia or golfing trips to Mar-a-Largo.
However Mrs. DeVos did provide genuine insight to how she views the important role of education in the nation, why school choice is necessary in an evolving society where students often need different pathways to reach success and the critical need to refocus investments into the actual student, not in buildings.
“I am in favor of increased choice, but I’m not in favor of any one form of choice over another. I’m simply in favor of giving parents more and better options to find an environment that will set their child up for success,” DeVos stated. “I’m opposed to any parents feeling trapped or, worse yet, feeling that they can’t offer their child the education they wish they could. It shouldn’t matter what type of school a student attends, so long as the school is the right fit for that student.”
In a country where teacher unions, education administrators, local school boards, state lawmakers and federal government leaders often converge in failed attempts to “provide a quality education” – a new student centric approach is much welcomed and definitely needed.
“Policymakers at every level of government would do well to maintain a humble acknowledgement of these facts. Let’s put aside the politics of the adults and actually focus on what will best serve kids.”
Read Secretary DeVos Prepared Remarks at Brookings Institution
