Betsy DeVos

Burden: This debate is entirely speculatory, so it is the burden of the Pro to show why Betsy DeVos will actually benefit the public education in the United States. The neg ought just show why she won't to win. First, allow me to provide some history on the topic. Elisabeth Dee "Betsy" DeVos assumed her role as the 11th United States Secretary of Education on February 7th, 2017. She is a member of the Republican party and strongly supports school choice and charter schools. She attended Holland Christian High School, a private school, then went on to graduate from Calvin College in Michigan, another private institution. All four of her children, two daughters and two sons, attend private institutions. She reportedly never paid a single dollar to public education, nor received any money from public education grants. In fact, according to The New York Times, it "is hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from traditional public schools than Betsy DeVos". In today's debate, I value education, which must be provided to all fairly in an order that benefits all equally. Betsy DeVos, as education secretary, will not enable this. Here are a few reasons outlined why DeVos is actually as bad as people portray her: First. She has, like shown above, no experience with public education. Nominating her is like nominating someone for the Supreme Court with no legal experience. As Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said, "There is no precedent for an Education Department Secretary nominee with your lack of experience in public education. While past nominees for Secretary of Education have served as teachers, school system leaders, and governors, and came to the Department of Education with deep executive experience in public education, you have held no such position. " Second. She has relatively no organizational experience. Being from an upper-class upbringing and married to a rich CEO (not that that's a bad thing I will add), she is much used to using her checkbook to settle things instead of actual hierarchical work. Furthermore, she will not be able to surround herself people that she agrees with within the Education Department. Conflicts will arise, and she will sorely be able to resolve them quickly and efficiently. Third. Following up on the second point, DeVos has relatively no experience in administration. The US Education Department houses over 5,000 employees and employs a multi-billion dollar budget, something DeVos has never even dabbled with before. She has never run a company or managed a business. Simply having to run the USED, her own anti-government mentality will be put to the test and will likely crack under the pressure. Fourth. Her desperate wanting to enable vouchers will self-destruct and ruin the economy. For the leftist liberals, vouchers represent a financial attack on public schools. Millions of dollars pooling out of public education into private education simply is an attack against the fiscal capability of the education department. For the right, the vouchers put schools into binds, forcing them, when accepting federal money, to end up supporting the federal government one day or the other. Fifth. DeVos's support of Jeb Bush and Common Core, and the lack of public support for either is a deadly cocktail. Relatively no one voted for Bush in the 2016 primaries, and relatively no one within the education community seems to support DeVos's continuation of Bush's ideas. And. .. Sixth. Her record is a disaster. Back to her checkbook, her use of financial "muscle" in Detroit schools to implement her favorite reform ideas have resulted in a disaster. In fact, Doug Harris, New-Orleans educational researcher, declared Detroit a "DeVosified educational disaster area". He continues by pointing out that DeVos's new policies would only create more loopholes within the law rather than accountability. Her ideas have been field-tested, and they have continually failed. In conclusion, Betsy DeVos is as bad as everyone says. She has no experience, has no skills and is completely and utterly unprepared for the job as Educational Secretary. I urge a vote for the Con in today's debate. Thank you.