This past week soon to be president Donald Trump has elected Betsy Devos to be the next secretary of education. I know, personally, I have been too preoccupied on how Trump is going to impact our lives on large-scale problems, such as racism and gay marriage, that I completely forgot that he has the ability to screw up the education system too.
So how will Devos be impacting the future generations of America you may ask? Throughout her career she has been a supporter of privatizing the education system. For those unfamiliar with what this means, privatizing the system is often done through market-based school reforms. Market-based school reforms are most commonly presented in two ways. The first being a charter school, you pay out of pocket or through a scholarship to go here. They are open to all regardless of where you live, as long as you are paying to go there.
The second is a voucher system. This is when an allotment of money is given to parents to pay for their children’s education. This money is used to pay for some or all of a child’s education to a private school, which may sound great in theory, but when we break it down it is easy to see how this is a flawed plan.
By giving parents money to send their children to school, this will actually further the education gap. More affluent families will use this money to help them send their children to nicer schools and pay out of pocket for whatever is not covered by the voucher. While families from with lower socioeconomic status will not have that same luxury, thus having to send their children to less expensive schools.
In doing this, Betsy Devos and Donald Trump are doing the exact thing they claim to want to stop. Not only will this keep the gap between how the poor and rich are educated, but it will make it larger.
Children are the future of this nation. They will grow up to be the next lawyers, doctors, writers, and politicians. Their education needs to be treated as a priority and it is clear the Donald Trump and Betsy Devos do not agree with this.