Education Under Mr. Trump's Presidency

Amongst President-elect Donald Trump's controversial nominees, Betsy Devos, who is the new nominee for secretary of education, seems to cause a lot of heated debates regarding her approach to enhance education. Betsy Devos spoke at a 2001 conference with her husband, Dick, about utilizing educational philanthropy to propagate their conservative Christian worldview to children. Many questions are being begged: How effective are the vouchers programs that Betsy Devos is planning to use? How efficient and reliable are the choices and competition methods? What do data and evidence say about some of those approaches?

           "We both believe that competition and choices make everyone better," said Devos and her husband about changing the structure of the education system to a business-type system, as well as firmly believing school choice program like charter schools. The first conclusion that I came to the that there is a salient, critical connection between democracy and education, meaning how can we as American people be democratic and learn the skills of asking, participating, and grappling with difference. We concurred that democracy is not guaranteed, yet it is something that we rationally and contently choose. In that capacity, it is quite apparent that education is a crucial, indispensable, and a cornerstone ingredient for democracy and prosperity.

         Education is a public good; therefore, it is argued that most people shall have an equal, fair choice when it comes to being educated. President George Bush took one approach to enhance education and make it more inclusive. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)  whom Edward M. Kennedy, a firebrand liberal, and George W. Bush, a compassionate conservative, were equally proud of it, seemed to be the new bipartisan victory of the decade. Diane Ravich, who was fond of the (NCLB) program at first, became a harsh critique of it and its methods. "(NCLB) Remedies did not work. Its sanctions were ineffective. It did not bring about high standards and accomplishment. The gains in test scores at the state level were typically the result of teaching student test-taking skills and strategies, rather than broadening and deepening their knowledge of the world and their ability to understand what they have learned," said Ravitch criticizing NCLB's effectiveness and practicality.  Ravich associates herself with the left not because of she is on the left; she does so far because she firmly believes that evidence and data reveal that choice and testing simply had their chance and failed.

            Devos's approach, which seems to have a lot of commonalities with many of NCLB's program like vouchers programs, charter schools,  testing method, and many others, should be reevaluated, scrutinized, and even altered. Ravich tone of optimism possessed a call for voluntary national curriculum, and a believe that a consensus around a better and more inclusive education is possible. It is a hard task for us to get all parents to agree on what type of education shall be given to their children. I firmly believe that data and evidence are vital when it comes to evaluating a program like the one Devos is suggesting to implement. Devos seems somewhat robust in promoting reform relying on testing and choice, despite the invigorating data calling their benefits and practicality into question. I wish we all could have the same approach, open-mindedness, and understanding of Ravich insights when it comes to accepting and scrutinizing data to enhance education. After all, I hope that education will eventually be  an inclusive public good rather than an exclusive one which widens and worsens the income and social inequality in the U.S.