RSS

Monthly Archives: January 2017

New York Times: Who Is Betsy DeVos?

10 Jan

Stop Betsy DeVos! Stop her now!

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times has dug deep into the political activities of Betsy DeVos and her family and produced a comprehensive analysis of the way they have used their vast wealth to impose their radical agenda on the state of Michigan.

Not it only have they led the campaignn for privatization of public education, but they have successfully fought labor unions, income taxes, estate taxes, and any effort to curb their self-interest. They even have spent money to defeat moderate Republicans. They seem to have a hammer lock on the Republican legislature in Michigan. Scheiber compares them to the Koch brothers in their use of their wealth to achieve their radical political goals. They want to restore the America of a century ago, before the New Deal.

“They have this moralized sense of the free market that leads to this total program to turn back the ideas…

View original post 23 more words

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 10, 2017 in Uncategorized

 

This Press Release Went to Media Nationwide

09 Jan

dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

The following press release was sent to radio stations, TV stations, and print media by the Institute for Public Accuracy:


Ravitch is author of many books, including Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools and The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. She is a research professor of education at New York University and served as Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 1991-1993 under the George H. W. Bush administration. She now blogs at dianeravitch.net.

She said today: “Betsy DeVos should not be approved by the Senate committee or confirmed by the Senate as U.S. Secretary of Education. She has no experience or qualifications for the job. She is a lobbyist for alternatives to public schools. Eighty-five percent of the students in the U.S. attend…

View original post 154 more words

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 9, 2017 in Uncategorized

 

Billionaire Picks Billionaire to Attack Public Schools, Destroy Teacher Unions

07 Jan
Billionaire Picks Billionaire to Attack Public Schools, Destroy Teacher Unions

John K. Wilson's avatarACADEME BLOG

BY JOHN K. WILSON

Donald Trump has nominated Betsy DeVos to be his Secretary of Education.

DeVos grew up as part of the wealthy Prince business family, and then married into the even wealthier DeVos (Amway) family. Her husband lost his run for governor and has pushed for right-to-work laws in Michigan. Inherited wealth is her primary qualification for the job, since it enabled her to rise in the Republican Party in Michigan, and to fund school choice groups.

Before the election, I noted that Trump’s one-paragraph plan for education (which still contains the two spelling errors and the run-on sentence I noticed at the time) was to attack public education by federal funding of religious and charter schools and homeschooling, even paying parents not to send their children to school.

No one actually knows much of anything about what DeVos thinks about higher education (and that probably includes…

View original post 25 more words

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 7, 2017 in Uncategorized

 
Newer posts →