So Rob Portman voted to confirm Betsy DeVos

[BmorePat87]

(02-09-2017, 05:01 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Of course we can make stats reflect whatever we desire. I can point to how much we spend on average per student based on the rest of the world and the bang we are getting for our buck. If the two of you want to say the education system has been overall sucessful and the best way to determine who should head the program is to compare his or her resume to his or her predesessors; that's your opinion and who am I to say it is wrong.

I could raise the High School graduation rate, increase our performance results on internal tests, and get more kids enrolled in college overnight; however, this does nothing if the rest of the world is getting smarter around us.

I disagree. We have never had the top schools in the history of ranking countries, but that hasn't stopped us from being the dominate political and economic force in the world. 



We do not need to be number one and it does not matter if we still aren't, as long as we are improving ourselves from where we were before. Would it be awesome if we were doing this and saving money? Absolutely. Are our schools still increasingly successful? Yes. Ultimately the biggest thing that needs to be fixed is poverty. We know that having the largest share of children in poverty of all advanced nations is one of the factors dragging us down. 

http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/09/my-view-rhee-is-wrong-and-misinformed/

We're also not likely to save money by switching to charter schools. I mention this since DeVos' big thing is charter schools fix the "dead end" public schools. Charter school advocates may argue we will spend less. Their opponents argue we will spend more. Massachusetts found out that they spend about the same.

http://www.wbur.org/edify/2016/09/28/charter-district-spending-report

Quote:That's a list of qualifications for sure; however, to be qualified she must be nominated by the President and approved by the Senate. As to your list: parallels can be drawn to anyone with a business background equivalent to DeVos’. Throwing the word education into each sentence; doesn't really change much. For instance; what is the difference between enforcing laws and enforcing education laws? Nothing; it’s just a “trick” we use in business if you what to narrow your hiring scope.

I would argue that understanding what those specific laws are and the complexity of them is quite important, especially when the nominee didn't understand arguably one of the most important education laws in US history. Let me go back real quick and also say that I'd advise you against using semantics. Your response to repeated requests for qualifications shouldn't be "well technically there are no qualifications". We should at least all be honest with each other and acknowledge that we understand that every single role has qualifications that go beyond "this person has a pulse". No one here would even attempt to defend my qualifications for being Secretary of State if the President were to nominate me. 

Quote:Devos has been lauded for her fight to improve education; especially for the less privileged. I remember when Ben Carson wasn’t qualified because he believed man was created. 


So the point is: what makes one an expert at determining the qualifications of a Presidential Cabinent member; especially a department that could benefit from a change agent?

Whether or not her spending money to convince politicians to pass laws that ultimately have not resulted in the best results is really "fighting to improve education" aside, I will argue that we can determine the qualification by doing what I said in my response to you: looking at what the department does and what the former secretaries of that department had done prior to becoming secretaries. 

If you prefer the narrative that our education is getting worse, I can see why someone with no experience doing any of the duties of the Dept of Edu at the local, state, or national level may seem like a good candidate. To you, these former heads of universities and school districts, governors, heads of major humanities endowments, top government attorneys, and major policy makers must seem like failures, so I guess I can understand that. As someone who works in education, I see the success now and compare it to where we were 10, 20, 30, or 40 years ago and realize that we must be doing something right. I appreciate the fact that I was able to receive special education services for my speech issues, that I qualified for free meals, that my k-12 education was free, rigorous, and well funded, and that the government made college accessible with grants. I am thankful the Department of Education made that possible. (Shout out to the USDA for the meal program and for the fact that they also bring meals to kids during the summer for those that can walk to the school and come get it).