Column: For the public school kids

The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as U.S. secretary of education is quite possibly the worst thing to happen to education in the United States since No Child Left Behind, which touted unrealistic goals and magnified this country’s obsession with standardized test scores and the fallacy of proficiency.

Words alone cannot explain how grossly unprepared Betsy DeVos is to lead the Department of Education.

She has zero experience with public education in any form — as a student, parent or policymaker.

In spite of this lack of experience, she has gone on record stating that public schools are “a closed system, a closed industry, a closed market. It’s a monopoly, a dead end.”

As someone with no experience with public schooling, does she really have the knowledge, insight or intellect to make such an illogical, asinine assumption?

In the charter school realm, she’s not much better. As a proponent of school choice, she has been a fierce supporter and advocate of the Detroit charter school system.

In Michigan, taxpayers pour $1 billion into the state’s charter schools but the state has some of the most lenient accountability laws regarding charter schools.

In a DeVos Department of Education, it’s not a stretch to assume that this leniency would continue, if not grow stronger.

Proponents of DeVos may say that she is in the right place, as her end goal is for students and parents to have ultimate choice in school options.

This is not an objectively bad thing.

But I highly doubt that DeVos cares that the idea of school choice is fundamentally racist and prejudiced in nature.

Some may also say that the job of the secretary of education is not to protect, defend or even care that much about public education; the job is to do what is best for America’s students, regardless of what type of school they attend.

I will say this: Yes, the job of the secretary of education is technically not to protect or defend public schools, it’s to make the best education decisions for America’s students.

Yet an overwhelming majority of America’s students attend public schools. Therefore, the secretary of education has a duty and responsibility to protect and defend public schools, because that is precisely where 90 percent of America’s students are.

As the proud product of several public institutions, seeing someone with such little understanding or concern for the issues facing public education and its students be appointed to such an important position is both disturbing and distressing.

The role that public schools and their students play in the larger institution of education in this country is paramount. To ignore or belittle that is not only illogical, but immoral as well.