Q: How can liberals prevent Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from destroying public education by being confirmed?<\/p>\n
A: They can’t. Americans don’t give a rat’s ass about education policy as demonstrated by\u00a0Ms. DeVos’ confirmation. Once elevated to\u00a0Secretary of Education, DeVos\u00a0can build upon the destruction wrought by Gates, Broad, and the Walton family and finish off public education once and for all.<\/p>\n
So, what should be done? What can be done?<\/p>\n
Liberals only have one choice. They need to join conservative Republicans and agree to scrap the federal Department of Education. That’s right exorcise the Department before it is inhabited by another demon.<\/p>\n
The federal Department of Education is not an ancient governmental agency. It only dates back to 1980. Republicans beginning with Ronald Reagan have called for the end of the Department since less than a year after its inception. It is time for liberals to commit an act of political jujitsu and join the GOP in dismantling the Department of Education.<\/p>\n
The liberal case for dismantling the Department of Education<\/strong><\/p>\n Scholars like Linda Darling-Hammond document that the Black\/White achievement gap narrowed to its smallest point around 1977, a few years before the creation of the US Department of Education. This success followed a decade or more of civil rights law and enforcement, desegregation efforts, bussing, and public sector jobs, including the CETA program<\/a>. Kids were healthier, their parents had jobs, and government engaged in\u00a0overt desegregation efforts.<\/p>\n Ever since the US Department of Education was created, public confidence in public education has eroded (and in the minds of some, schools have gotten worse). It is impossible to prove\u00a0a correlation here, but the trouble began when Ronald Reagan said,\u00a0\u201cIn this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n