As a follow up to What Seems to be the Trouble, Lady? post, the question arises concerning teacher/educator power versus “other” power, and what possible damage can Devos do?

Well, let’s take one possible walk through the Woods of Broken Pencils:

• Get rid of protections for LBGTQ students.
  • Check: http://www.salon.com/2017/01/19/donald-trumps-presidency-is-a-grave-threat-to-lgbt-students-and-betsy-devos-is-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/
• Get rid of protections for special education students.
  • On it. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/A-disability-website-disappears-Murray-10924413.php
• Let’s just get rid of the NEA and Dept. of Ed. altogether.
  • In motion:
  • Article from 2015:
    

    Here’s What Would Actually Happen If Rand Paul Eliminated The Department Of Education

  • From November 2016:
    

    Trump Might Want to Scrap the Education Department; How Doable Is That?

  • And this past week:
    

    COMMENTARY

    By Getting Rid Of Education Department, Trump Can Fulfill Reagan’s Wish

Lest you think that I was a complete fan-girl of the Obama administration’s choice for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, nope. He was a poster-boy for privilege and ed-reform, and not only didn’t change or destroy NCLB, he gave us Race to the Top, which made matters worse.

What matters, you ask?

• Measuring proficiency versus growth, and then evaluating schools, teachers, and administrators on that
• Inequality in resources throughout the nation
• Poverty rates of children never addressed by standardized testing, and withholding of funds
• Standardized testing: http://neatoday.org/2015/04/07/voters-ranks-the-top-problems-facing-education-lack-of-school-choice-isnt-one-of-them/

As usual, those who want to gut the Federal government’s role in our basic human rights: education, health, freedom of speech, religion, press, clean air/water, energy, etc. use sweeping, uninformative phrases. They say nothing and a lot of it.

But there is so much hope: teachers, parents, and administrators are speaking up, loudly and clearly. Many have had the scales fall from their eyes.

DeVos Survives Confirmation Battle But Her Agenda May Not:

http://neatoday.org/2017/02/07/devos-confirmation/