The Hearing
On May 24, 2017 Betsy DeVos sat before the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee for a hearing on Trump's proposed FY 2018 budget for the Department of Education. Congresswoman Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts representative, pressed DeVos on protecting students against any form of discrimination. Clark brought up a specific incident where a federally funded, Indiana, school refused admission to students that came from a homosexual, bisexual, or alternate gender identity household. Secretary DeVos then tried to ask about previous questions, but Clark continued on, asking if in this case DeVos would overrule this Indiana school and tell them they can not discriminate against sexual orientation, race, or special needs. DeVos then says "states that have programs for the parents to make choices, they set up the rules around that." Congresswoman Clark comes back at DeVos asking if there is any circumstance that the Department of Education, under DeVos's leadership, would label a school unqualified. Clark then goes as far as giving a scenario of a school that is not accepting African American students, but it was ok with the states and asks "...do you see any situation where you would step in." DeVos once again beats around the bush and then says "Parents are the best equipped to make choices for their children's schooling and education decisions and too many children today are trapped in schools that don't work for them. We have to do something different than continuing a top down, one size fits all approach. That is the focus and states and local communities are best equipped to make these decisions and framework on behalf of their parents and students."
My thoughts
The fact that we have someone in the highest position of the education system, who is not even willing to protect the basic civil rights of all students blows my mind. In the last comment DeVos had about having to do something different and not continuing a one size fits all approach, makes me think of only one thing, segregation. DeVos said "...children today are trapped in schools that don't work for them." Now what does sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or religion have anything to do with the school working for a child. No matter where you are from, what you look like, or what you believe in, you get the same education as anyone else in America. The only time I could see the need for change to the one size fits all system is if a child is gifted or needs further help. Even now we have programs in schools for special needs and advanced children. I think we need to stop looking at the outside of individuals and just embrace who they are. Having been through the entire public school system I can say that there are much bigger problems than parents worrying about their kids going to school with a child slightly different than theirs. The school system entirely I think needs some revamping, but that is a whole other topic. I want to know what you all think about this as well, what could DeVos have meant by this? Is she just another conservative trying to turn back time, or is she actually here to better the school system?
