DeVos hearing yesterday

I spent this morning reviewing the DeVos hearing from the senate last evening. Thank you C-SPAN for the as always excellent coverage. It's such a great resource to be able to hear and see Congress working every day.

If you are interested in seeing this hearing: HERE IS THE FULL COVERAGE it's about 3h 20min long, It's very interesting and extremely telling on how much time is spent on discussing with Senator Alexander (TN) on why the Democrats would like to have more than 5 min questions per person and one round. There's quite a bit of grandstanding and some quite obvious fibbing going on, politics when it isn't pretty you might say. It's also a great underlying philosophical debate on how differently you might view the educational system in a country, with how it should be governed (state or federal), and how it should be paid. This is to me the underlying fundamental difference between a lot of views, and being open about how to view this would go a long way in discussions and not getting bogged down in other details. Some people think "all children should have the same opportunity", some people think "all children should have similar opportunities but shouldn't stop companies from making money and being hindered by laws to do so", and some people just don't think "all children should have the same opportunities as long as my children have a great opportunity".

There are some, to me, really sad things in this hearing. First of all, that it is extremely hard and difficult for a nominee to say "Yes, I will work to uphold the (federal) law". This would be in the context of "would you uphold the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)" and the nominee responding by moving from state to state examples of their little thought.

this video shows what I am talking about. And Senator Maggie Hassan is excellent and eloquent in her questions and responses in regards to protecting all children under the federal law. (that DeVos said "she may have been confused about").

Of course, she didn't really answer a lot of the questions from the Democrats. Most of it was spending some time saying thank you and rerouting and rewording the questions, and then ending with a "I would leave it to the states" for a lot of it. The Republicans showered with praised on her generosity of helping with charter schools, voucher programs that help children who don't get challenged in public schools to move to better schools and keeping with the faith based morality. And of course - all the donations overall that makes her a wonderful, generous great person to become Secretary of Education.

The more obvious issues to me would be simplified in some bullet points:

• If you don't answer the question "do you think everyone is entitled to a good school system" with a Yes, you are indeed saying No.
• If you don't answer "will you work to uphold the federal law" with a Yes, you are saying No.
• If you think schools should be allowed to have guns, please say so clearly instead of hiding behind "there might be a grizzly to protect from". We all know that's a red herring argument.
• If you don't know the biggest debate issues the last couple of years in Education, maybe you should have read up a little before the Hearing of the position when you are going to be in charge?
• I would've loved to hear more "do you know anyone who goes to, or have gone through public school system"? this since Ms DeVos has been quoted a lot of times in the past stating that no-one who goes through public schools goes on to become someone/succeed in life and that's why she want's to save children with the voucher system.

And finally,

• If you are going before a committee for a hearing on a Secretary position for the United States - please make sure that your CV is correct since "a clerical error" on claiming a position like "VP of a very wealthy and influential foundation" when claiming that's incorrect in person is pretty remarkable. Especially since that statement has been reported to the IRS for 14 years from the Foundation. It seems like that would be something you would like to check prior to ending up in front of the whole world.

If you want to read more about this, this article, albeit biased since it only shows the Democratic questions and Ms. DeVos' answers, you can see some of the more upsetting answers (if you want a public school system for everyone and run by someone who knows educational issues and debate that has been going on for quite some time).

Overall, since I won't drag this out forever, you can read another piece of "what might happen in the future based on previous behaviour by Ms DeVos" in the WaPo. It's pretty enlightening and, I would think, very clear and nice if you like the idea of Christian charter schools and voucher plans. Just be honest and state it clear, like she did before the hearing "not everyone is meant to go to a great school".

A little honesty and a clear vision. Like how it was done in the 1800s before most countries in Europe decided to go with "public education for all children" to increase the equality and give children a chance regardless of how much money their parents earned, or their parents' educational level.

I know, I'm such an idealist.....