Many people in the education world are trying to learn as much as they can about Betsy DeVos, the Michigan billionaire tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be education secretary. They are reading articles she has written, checking political donations she and her family have made, assessing her lobbying efforts and her role in education policy — and they are parsing speeches she has made, such as a very telling one in August 2015 at the SXSWedu convention in Texas. In the speech (see video below) she explains her education vision, which she says is meant to bring a wide array of “choice” to parents but that critics say amounts to privatizing America’s public education system. She made some controversial statements, such as calling the traditional public education system a “dead end,” and labeling as “immoral” President Obama’s decision to send his children to private school while trying to end a voucher program that Congress forced on the District of Columbia. Voucher program...
My name is Lee Hnetinka and I’m a journalist compromised with the youth, high schoolers are the future. I’ve been working on Commack High School several years and there is no better place to work than a place full of hungry minds.